Ask The Expert- 2016 JKUR Hard Rock Electrical Issue

AMcBride423

Jeep Owner
Vehicle: 2016 JKUR Hard Rock - 6-Speed, 43k miles, brand new battery.
Here is a link to a video of my dash: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xXLoEqnXBVgEeQrd7
Story Time!
Been a wet and rainy day here in Ohio. I drove 2 hours from my apartment to my families home in the rain, no problems. Drove around town, ran some errands, and visited with my great uncle, no issues. I then head to return to my apartment, roughly 45min to an hour into my drive my dash starts to spaz out. Warning lights start to kick on and off, the guages start jumping around. I hit the next town and pull into a gas station, pop the hood and check my batter thinking a connection may have come loose. Everything is tight and its all dry. Jump back in, wont start, wont even turn over or click. Get out and disconnect the battery for a minute. Reconnect, jump in, it starts. Start driving again, issues become intermittent. Get onto a major highway and issues return. I used my flashcal to monitor my battery voltage after stopping at the gas station. The voltage was fluctuating between 14.3-14.6 but never dropped lower or spiked higher.

I had an issue similar to this back in the beginning of December driving on a shush covered highway. Passed a semi who was throwing a large amount of spray, almost immediately after I lost my entire dash for almost a minute. Every light came on and gauges went to zero. There was no loss of power though, I was able to keep driving as normal. After passing the semi and everything came back, i didnt have another issue the rest of the drive. In the beginning of February, something similar happened again, but this time in the semi-dry. Was headed to the airport to catch a flight, had been raining previously, but the roads were mostly dry. Almost imediately, the check engine light chime was sounding randomly but no lights on the dash. As I got on the highway and continued towards the airport, dash lights started to come on and guages were fluctuating. Did not experience any power loss and made it to the airport. Parked the Jeep, shut it off and immediately tryed to start it back up, wouldnt start, not click, no attempt to turn over. Said screw it and caught my flight. Returning 3 days later, got into the Jeep and it started right up, drove home no problem. Then we had a severe cold snap that killed my battery. Battery wouldnt hold a charge and I kept having to jump or bump start the Jeep. Replaced the battery towards the end of February, have not had a single issue until today.

Has anyone experienced similar? Any ideas of fixes? This definitely seems to be a moisture issue, but I am unsure as to what is getting wet that would cause this. Looking in from the top, everything appears dry. I have vented inner fenders, but no major water seems to be coming in through them. I ran for a while without inner fenders and never had an issue, until the night I passed that semi truck (the inners were installed by then)
I have a video that I will add once it finishes processing.
 
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WillysJKJeeper

Jeep Owner
I have seen this happen on my friends jeep and when we looked at the battery i saw that he had some acc on the battery terminals hold down clamp nuts so we took them off and moved them over to the other nuts and his problem went away. Make sure u have nothing on the clamp nuts it stops the terminals from clamping tight against the battery terminals.

The nuts in green are the ones im talking about.
 

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AMcBride423

Jeep Owner
Update:
I had the Jeep towed to the dealership as I couldn't get it figured out. It sat in their lot for a day before they finally got around to it. When the techs went out to bring it in, it fired right up no issues. They hooked it up to their code reader and pulled 26 different codes all for loss of connection. Water appears to be getting into my computer and harness plugs somehow. So, I will be going through and re-waterproofing my entire engine compartment next month. I have not had an issue since as I have avoided driving in the rain. Dealer charged me $150 to read the codes...then wanted to charge another $500 to trace my wiring harness. Said no thank you, I will do that myself.
 

AMcBride423

Jeep Owner
Little Update to my Update:
Over the summer I had not gotten around to water proofing my engine bay and got hit by a super heavy rain and puddles while driving. Engine died on me when I had stopped and shut it off for a bit. Had to bump start it and limp it home. Opening up the hood, I discovered water sitting in the bottom of my battery tray.
My solution for the issue was drilling holes in the tray to prevent water collection. I also pulled the fuse box and pumped all the connectors under the box full of dielectric grease as well as the wiring harness that runs along the battery box. Large amounts of water was entering through the vents in the top of my hood (Rubicon Hardrock Hood w/ the plastic vents which I cut the bottoms out to allow more airflow). Since doing all this I have not had another issue..
 

Pthorpe84

Moderator
Staff member
Little Update to my Update:
Over the summer I had not gotten around to water proofing my engine bay and got hit by a super heavy rain and puddles while driving. Engine died on me when I had stopped and shut it off for a bit. Had to bump start it and limp it home. Opening up the hood, I discovered water sitting in the bottom of my battery tray.
My solution for the issue was drilling holes in the tray to prevent water collection. I also pulled the fuse box and pumped all the connectors under the box full of dielectric grease as well as the wiring harness that runs along the battery box. Large amounts of water was entering through the vents in the top of my hood (Rubicon Hardrock Hood w/ the plastic vents which I cut the bottoms out to allow more airflow). Since doing all this I have not had another issue..
Thanks for the follow up. I will have to keep an eye on mine as I have the same hood with the cut mod
 
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