Well, I don't post much here, though I do check in once in awhile!
Monday afternoon, wife and I were about 25 miles from home when we stopped to get some gas. Jeep started right up after pumping, and I pulled up to a parking spot as my wife was inside paying. Jeep stalled out on me. I started it back up, no problem. Then it died again, and I figuured I'd wait for her to get back in - Maybe the Jeep didn't like this brand of gas (my GM cars HATE BP gas - but thats another story..) So she hops in, and low and behold, there is NOTHING when I try to crank it over. No radio, no heater, no dash activity whatsoever. Being not familiar with the town, we had it towed back to the dealer where we live (a Jeep dealer), after I checked every single fuse, hoping to find a bad one.
Dealer called the next morning, and said they knew what the problem was, but not where it was. A wiring harness that goes from the ignition switch, and basically all over the front of the Jeep (driver's side, enngine compartment, front bumper, passenger side) was apparently bad somewhere, and they'd have to trace the entire harness of about 10 wires to find the bad spot, and cut it out and repair it. They also had to remove the front bumper as the harness travels behind it. And sure enough, that's where the bad spot was... They warrenty it and all (since they looked over the entire cable!!) and even saved the bad portion to show us.
Is this a common problem? Has anyone experienced or known anyone with this problem? I can't see how rubber insulation and the wire itself could get eroded. I've driven cars here in northeastern Ohio my entire life (30 years for those counting) and NEVER had ANY vehicle have salt erode the insulation of a wire! It really seems lind of hookey(sp?) to me, or something that should be considered for a recall. I mean, if I were driving highway speeds instead of moving in the parking lot, I could have caused an accident. I'm of course thankful that I wasn't, but I still don't think it's right! So hit me back and let me know if this is familiar territory etc... Incidentally, my ride is a 1998 JGC/LTD 5.2l w/ Inf. gd. package.
One goodo thing did come of this though.. I found out there IS a recall on the differential switch or something - Recall work was done on that - If ya want info, lemme know and I'll dig it back out of the filecabinet!
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Jeep died this week - Cost $500 to repair ;(
Maybe it is a rare thing to happen afterall...
