Jeep Renegade SERVICE ENGINE Light ON = NO 4WD

[wayoflife]

Over the weekend, Cindy and I got a chance to take our Jeep Renegade Trailhawk out on an exploration trip, to the middle of Nevada and while we were roaming around, we had our check engine or "SERVICE ENGINE" light come. Of course, being that this was more than likely an emissions related problem, we didn't give it much thought and continued on our way. Certainly, nothing appeared to be wrong and really, there wasn't much we could do until we could get our Renegade to a dealership and have them scan it to see what codes are being thrown. Anyway, the reason why I'm posting this is because there was one point along the way where I really wanted to lock in our 4WD to help get us up a rutted hill and was surprised to see that it wouldn't turn on - or at least, pushing the 4WD lock button wouldn't get it to light up. I tried turning off the engine, waited a bit and then restarted it but still got nothing. Fortunately, the 4WD system on the Renegade is always kind of on anyway and so I was still able to get up the hill in spite of not having it locked in but had I wanted to use the 4LO mode or any of the other traction control options, they would not have been available to me. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed by this.

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[FLKEYSJK]

Wow good thing you weren't somewhere where you needed 4Lo to get unstuck. I realize jeep is probably just trying to prevent anything from breaking but if this were to happen when you're stranded somewhere then it wouldn't turn out so good.

[wayoflife]

Wow good thing you weren't somewhere where you needed 4Lo to get unstuck. I realize jeep is probably just trying to prevent anything from breaking but if this were to happen when you're stranded somewhere then it wouldn't turn out so good.

Agreed. The whole push button electronic 4WD thing is nice in that it's convenient but I have to say, this incident reminded me why I prefer mechanical systems.

[10frank9]

So the service engine disabled the 4LO? That's a bunch of malarkey.

[cjmenma]

Glad you weren't into any hairy situation because of the 4WD not working and hope it will be an quick/easy fix at the stealership. That is exactly the first thing that comes to my mind everytime I see the electronic 4wd systems and why I also prefer manuals.

[NevadaZielmeister]

So I see a friend run into trouble with their vehicle, especially a newer vehicle and I feel bad. I did a little bit of checking, for what it's worth, and it might be the instrument cluster. I guess with the heavy integration of the computer systems and the transmission, this is happening a bit with the Renegades.

I hope everything works out with the dealer.

[wayoflife]

So the service engine disabled the 4LO? That's a bunch of malarkey.

Well, to be fair, the Renegade doesn't have a transfer case and therefore, it doesn't have a true 4LO or "low range". What it does have is a nifty electronic system that will lock in the front and rear drive shafts and that will give you significantly better traction and almost to the point where it can feel like you have lockers. With the check engine light on, this options is NOT available. And yes, it is totally LAME.

Glad you weren't into any hairy situation because of the 4WD not working and hope it will be an quick/easy fix at the stealership. That is exactly the first thing that comes to my mind everytime I see the electronic 4wd systems and why I also prefer manuals.

I'm with you 100%. The more plumbing you have, the easier it is to stop up the drain.

[wayoflife]

So I see a friend run into trouble with their vehicle, especially a newer vehicle and I feel bad. I did a little bit of checking, for what it's worth, and it might be the instrument cluster. I guess with the heavy integration of the computer systems and the transmission, this is happening a bit with the Renegades.

I hope everything works out with the dealer.

I'll have to get our Renegade to the dealership to get this looked at but for now, it seems to drive fine. Cindy did a bit of looking and our problem may have been caused by a low battery. We were running our ARB fridge freezer and it could have been pulling enough of a draw to cause the computer to think there was a problem.

[WJCO]

Wow. That's a bunch of crap.

[MR.Ty]

Damn, at least for the most part it is still driving normally. I'm interested in hearing the final out come and hope they get it resolved quickly.