Hello fellow jeepers,
I have long been a lurker here for troubleshooting and "how to" guides but unfortunetly I've now had to make and account to ask for your help as I am pretty desperate!
A few days ago, my 05 TJ shut down randomly while I was commuting. My dash didn't give me any check engine light, but it did show a low fuel light and that my gas gauge was suddenly empty (I was definitely not out of gas). I glided into a nearby parking lot and started to take a look at things there. I noticed my ASD fuse was blown (Automatic Shutdown) so I threw in another fuse I had stored in a toolbox with me and it blew again before even trying to crank. No clicks, nothing, it didn't even seem to try and engage the starter.
First attempt at a fix: I took a look at the starter and noticed the wire on the solenoid portion of it looks a little rough, so I cut some of the rough wire off and threw the remaining good looking wire into a new terminal and back onto the starter. Went to try and start again, blew another fuse before even attempting to crank. So out of curiosity I disconnected the little wire to the solenoid. (Still left the power and ground on starter connected) Tried to start again, blew another fuse the same way. So then I took a screwdriver with some good insolation (don't judge), turned the key to on, replaced the fuse, and connected the screw driver from solenoid of the starter to the power wire connected to the battery. At this point the engine at least turned over, but wouldn't start. I figured it might be a bad solenoid on the starter and had it towed home.
Second attempt: So bought a new starter, connected everything as before. Blew ASD fuse again. Disconnected starter again, blew fuse again.
Third attempt: At this point I was pretty sure there is a short somewhere causing the fuse to pop but I didn't even know where to begin (I'm a VERY amateur car mechanic). I called my dad who has worked as a mech for years and after explaining everything to him, and shooting the starter for continuity, he seemed pretty convinced it was a PCM issue. So I ordered a new PCM and just installed it today.
Fourth attempt: So I changed the PCM tonight, left the starter disconnected as before, and blew the ASD fuse AGAIN. So I took out the new PCM and put the old one in (going to return it obviously) and spent a few hours just following wires looking for anything noticeably messed up/frayed/etc. Nothing looks bad really at all...
I'm almost sure there is a short somewhere connected to that ASD system and I just don't know how to locate it. This Jeep is my daily and I'm renting a car until I can fix it so I've obviously been stressing it a ton and I just feel totally stumped...
Has anyone else had this issue before? Or does anyone have an idea of which direction I should go from here?
I have long been a lurker here for troubleshooting and "how to" guides but unfortunetly I've now had to make and account to ask for your help as I am pretty desperate!
A few days ago, my 05 TJ shut down randomly while I was commuting. My dash didn't give me any check engine light, but it did show a low fuel light and that my gas gauge was suddenly empty (I was definitely not out of gas). I glided into a nearby parking lot and started to take a look at things there. I noticed my ASD fuse was blown (Automatic Shutdown) so I threw in another fuse I had stored in a toolbox with me and it blew again before even trying to crank. No clicks, nothing, it didn't even seem to try and engage the starter.
First attempt at a fix: I took a look at the starter and noticed the wire on the solenoid portion of it looks a little rough, so I cut some of the rough wire off and threw the remaining good looking wire into a new terminal and back onto the starter. Went to try and start again, blew another fuse before even attempting to crank. So out of curiosity I disconnected the little wire to the solenoid. (Still left the power and ground on starter connected) Tried to start again, blew another fuse the same way. So then I took a screwdriver with some good insolation (don't judge), turned the key to on, replaced the fuse, and connected the screw driver from solenoid of the starter to the power wire connected to the battery. At this point the engine at least turned over, but wouldn't start. I figured it might be a bad solenoid on the starter and had it towed home.
Second attempt: So bought a new starter, connected everything as before. Blew ASD fuse again. Disconnected starter again, blew fuse again.
Third attempt: At this point I was pretty sure there is a short somewhere causing the fuse to pop but I didn't even know where to begin (I'm a VERY amateur car mechanic). I called my dad who has worked as a mech for years and after explaining everything to him, and shooting the starter for continuity, he seemed pretty convinced it was a PCM issue. So I ordered a new PCM and just installed it today.
Fourth attempt: So I changed the PCM tonight, left the starter disconnected as before, and blew the ASD fuse AGAIN. So I took out the new PCM and put the old one in (going to return it obviously) and spent a few hours just following wires looking for anything noticeably messed up/frayed/etc. Nothing looks bad really at all...
I'm almost sure there is a short somewhere connected to that ASD system and I just don't know how to locate it. This Jeep is my daily and I'm renting a car until I can fix it so I've obviously been stressing it a ton and I just feel totally stumped...
Has anyone else had this issue before? Or does anyone have an idea of which direction I should go from here?
