freebird_78
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #16
Update on this...
Took it in last Wednesday. The tech pulled codes indicating that the ECU lost communication. They reflashed the ECU and sent me on my way. Worked OK for a couple days...
Friday, on the way to do some light wheeling, the engine shuts off. This time, it doesn't fire back up on its own. Jeep is completely dead and unresponsive. Coast over to the side of the road and pop the hood. As soon as I open the hood, Jeep comes to life, responds to key and even starts back up. I manage to get a few hundred yards down the road, then it repeats. Does this about 4 times before I decide to call for a tow. During one of these, I got to see if there was anything obvious like a loose battery cable. As I'm checking, I set my hand on one of the ECU harnesses, and the Jeep came to life again. Touch the harness again, dies. Repeated this several times to determine it was repeatable.
6 phone calls to roadside assistance and 3 hrs later, the tow truck finally arrives. Keep in mind, I was on my way to wheel, but still on paved roads, not far from town.
I explained what I saw with the ECU harness to the service advisor. Monday afternoon, the SA calls me and confirms that they found an issue with the ECU harness, specifically with the return. He explained to me that the returns (grounds) for the ECU bundle together and end up on the large ground point on the fender, just behind the ECU. These are tied to the ground point via a large soldered lug. Evidently, the heatshrink that terminates the harness, over the lug, was placed sloppily and there was heatshrink over the lug itself, acting as an intermittent insulator. They pulled back the sleeving, re-flowed the solder lug and applied new heatshrink to the lug. The re-flowed the lugs on the negative of the battery as well.
One thing I did immediately notice is that boost was MUCH more consistent (just by seat of the pants and by ear). Before this, boost (and consequently power) was very inconsistent. One minute, it would run well, laggy the next. This is not my first diesel (not even my first EcoDiesel), so that stood out. Now, since the ECU actually has a ground reference, the engine runs much more consistently.
Time will tell.
Took it in last Wednesday. The tech pulled codes indicating that the ECU lost communication. They reflashed the ECU and sent me on my way. Worked OK for a couple days...
Friday, on the way to do some light wheeling, the engine shuts off. This time, it doesn't fire back up on its own. Jeep is completely dead and unresponsive. Coast over to the side of the road and pop the hood. As soon as I open the hood, Jeep comes to life, responds to key and even starts back up. I manage to get a few hundred yards down the road, then it repeats. Does this about 4 times before I decide to call for a tow. During one of these, I got to see if there was anything obvious like a loose battery cable. As I'm checking, I set my hand on one of the ECU harnesses, and the Jeep came to life again. Touch the harness again, dies. Repeated this several times to determine it was repeatable.
6 phone calls to roadside assistance and 3 hrs later, the tow truck finally arrives. Keep in mind, I was on my way to wheel, but still on paved roads, not far from town.
I explained what I saw with the ECU harness to the service advisor. Monday afternoon, the SA calls me and confirms that they found an issue with the ECU harness, specifically with the return. He explained to me that the returns (grounds) for the ECU bundle together and end up on the large ground point on the fender, just behind the ECU. These are tied to the ground point via a large soldered lug. Evidently, the heatshrink that terminates the harness, over the lug, was placed sloppily and there was heatshrink over the lug itself, acting as an intermittent insulator. They pulled back the sleeving, re-flowed the solder lug and applied new heatshrink to the lug. The re-flowed the lugs on the negative of the battery as well.
One thing I did immediately notice is that boost was MUCH more consistent (just by seat of the pants and by ear). Before this, boost (and consequently power) was very inconsistent. One minute, it would run well, laggy the next. This is not my first diesel (not even my first EcoDiesel), so that stood out. Now, since the ECU actually has a ground reference, the engine runs much more consistently.
Time will tell.
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