Adding Auxiliary Switch Kit

[Punkngladiator]

I had a run in with owner of the dealership and went as far as reporting him to FCA. He is such an a**hole and now will never go back. Won’t give him another dime of my money and I am referring as many as I can to the nearby town. As FCA says they are owner operated so they can’t do anything. BS if it would have been a salesman that talked to me like that he would have been fired but owners can apparently do what they want.

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[Scenario]

Hi @Scenario,

If you are referring to our Twitter conversation, I would like to clarify that there was no mention of warranty in our message exchange. I stated that as the Customer Care Team, we cannot provide advice regarding aftermarket accessories (defined as any features added to the vehicle after rolling off the factory line) and I recommended following up with your dealer for the inquiry.

Additionally, all dealers are independently owned and operated, and therefore we do not have influence over pricing.

Darlene
Jeep Cares

Sorry if I mischaracterized anything, Darlene. Warranty is not the same as support, you’re right. I would like to suggest that if Mopar parts require a dealer flash like this, that procedure should have a set price, disclosed up front. Ideally though, an add-on like the AUX switches should be self-configuring.

I went back to my dealer and they flashed my system, but clearly they were untrained on this feature. The service rep said they kept getting an error code for "Can't communicate with switch bank." They asked me where its fuses were and I told them they're all inline on the Mopar harness. He came back and said all the fuses are there but I'd have to troubleshoot it myself since I installed it. "You should check all your wiring."

So yeah, I paid the $100 ransom and went home. There, in less than a minute, I found that the 5 Amp fuse was blown. Its cap was partly open so I know a tech opened it. I replaced the fuse and all four switches light on/off beautifully when pressed.

However, there is still no new Settings > Aux Switches screen in uConnect.

As for the blown fuse, this is due to faulty instructions included with the Auxiliary Switch Bank kit. They direct you to connect to the battery in steps 12 & 13 before connecting all the other terminal connections in step 37.

So part way through the install I heard relays clicking. Then I saw sparks from the unterminated pins that were jostling each other at the end of the harness that plugs into the switch bank connector.

Clearly, connecting to the battery should be the last step because you are guaranteed to blow that 5 Amp fuse otherwise.

 

[JRobes]

I did the same with mine, followed the directions to the t (which DOES say to attach the harness to the battery before routing wires through the firewall and to the UConnect), and also heard the relays clicking during install. Hopefully this doesn't cause me issues with my UConnect flash. I'll be sure to check my fuses before bringing it in though.

I also went to the dealer 5 minutes from my home asking for the price of the flash, he said flat rate $130ish dollars. What a joke for a 10 minute job. Called around to a few other dealers and found one about 45 minutes away that said $50 was all he'd charge, so heading there this weekend hopefully, just a bummer to have to deal with that.

Edit; just checked my harness fuses, the 5 amp one by the battery terminal was blown. Glad I found this before I brought it in for the UConnect flash.

 

[Punkngladiator]

Mine was blown as well. Stupid instructions.

 

[JRobes]

Mine was blown as well. Stupid instructions.

Did your buttons all work right after the flash? And UConnect shows them on the screen as well?

 

[Punkngladiator]

Yes but I think you need to have that fuse changed before the flash. I caught it before as my switches weren’t lighting up when pressed so I started looking. Found it thankfully before the flash.

 

[JRobes]

Yeah, i already replaced it, buttons don't light up though yet, guessing they will after the flash?

 

[Scenario]

Yes but I think you need to have that fuse changed before the flash. I caught it before as my switches weren’t lighting up when pressed so I started looking. Found it thankfully before the flash.

Actually tonight I went out and restarted my Jeep and the Settings > Aux Switches screen appeared. No reflash. So apparently Mopar and Jeep don’t know what they’re talking about. Especially whoever wrote these instructions.

 

[Scenario]

The only thing that’s not working right is the backlighting in the switches don’t dim like all the other controls. Can anyone confirm whether that’s normal or a defect on the factory install versus add-on?

 

[JT_Jeff]

I installed the auxiliary switches this weekend. With the included instructions and a couple of youtube videos it was fairly easy. I had to make a tool to get the included fender rivets installed. Then I used the Tazer to activate the auxiliary group...no need to go to the dealership. Works great.

 

[aegiscpo]

Post intended for all, but hoping @JeepCares sees it as well:

So today I went and got the Dealer installed Aux Switches, was not aware that they only come with 4 interior wires and do not have the BATT and ACC wires like the factory installed Aux Switch Group, wonder why the difference?

 

[JRobes]

I think the extra wires are part of a different main wiring harness the vehicle gets if the aux kit is a factory option.

 

[aegiscpo]

From what I have seen they are all part of the same wire loom/harness that come from the factory. But when you see pictures of Factory Aux Group and Dealer Installed Wire harnesses, there are definitely 2 additional wires, I was hoping for the extra wires, but either way adding the switches is worth it in my opinion.

I'm still perplexed though Jeep advertises the switch group with the two additional wires, but when you have a dealer install it you don't get them. So hypothetically if a factory installed Switch group wiring harness had to be replaced would it be different than the one the dealers order to install? (MOPAR Part #82215798AD)

 

[JRobes]

The extra wires you see in some online images/instructions are used to communicate with the vehicle and plug into a harness in the passenger footwell, they're not additional batt/acc wires.

At least, I'm assuming you're referring to these?

 

[Scenario]

Can someone confirm whether the factory-installed Aux Switches dim to match the rest of the dashboard?

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