I know, I know, I know. There's a million of these but I'm stumped man.
One day I fire up my Jeep to go to Church, ease out of the driveway, and it dies in the street. Push it back in the driveway. Gauge cluster says wrong key, no fuel (I know it had gas in it), gas gauge and batt gauge don't read, gauges don't flicker or react in any way to movements of the key or attempts to start it. Actuator pin and all the physical ignition switch stuff is good, so I presume SKIM module. Send my PCM off to get the SKIM deleted, unplug my SKIM module from the ignition system under the column and discard of it, just like the company I sent it to said to. Get my PCM back, giddy as a little boy in Legoland, reinstall, still nothing. I'm super bummed, and ignore it for a while, opting to focus on other projects.
I've come back to it recently. I have since pulled the SKIM fuse in the glove box fuse block, which I either overlooked on the company website or was not told to do, and NOW, it clicks when I turn the key to start and the gauges flicker for a moment, but still nothing. But it did perhaps seem to help. DOES NOT TURN. It also seems to have developed a mysterious battery drain while it sat, which irritates me. I've replaced every fuse in the fuse block under the hood and a few in the glove box for good measure. I've tested the Crank Position sensor and the Cam Position sensor, but am paranoid that perhaps I did it wrong? I seemed to get a different readings everytime and every guide on how to check them that I see says something slightly different. Some people say that a bad CPS will only cause a no-start condition and won't even cause a no-crank condition so I don't even know if it's a possible cause. Radio and in car lights come on. Turn signals and headlights work just fine and dandy. And now the speedo and tach "jump" sometimes when I turn it to crank and get the single click, but the gas and volt gauges still are absolutely dormant. Note that I have been hooking the Jeep up to a big ol' battery charger on a 10-40 amp charge when I'm testing, and a 200 amp charge when attempting to start, so even if it's a bad battery I believe it should still work under these conditions. Could a bad battery still be possible? I have two keys for it, one that I use frequently and one that I barely use and when it initially died in the street that one lovely Sunday morning the first thing I did was try the other one and have since then been alternating between both in my tests, so the keys themselves are not to blame on either a transponder nor mechanical level.
Also my one question about testing the crank and cam sensors, when using a multimeter: which lead goes to which post inside them? I have an '03 so the Crank Position sensor is the flat layout, "A B C" style connnector as opposed to the older round " B " style connector (that "ABC" explanation probably won't make sense if you're on a phone).
A C
Does the pos or neg lead from the multimeter go to the B or C post? Should I incorporate the A post? Should I be looking for infinite or finite resistance as a sign of a faulty or functional sensor? Is it even worth my time testing the Cam sensor with these symptoms? Is my PCM flatout trashed? I don't even know if any of these things would cause a failure of just the two little gas and batt gauges.
Also, if you're going to explain the multimeter testing question to me (or likely any of this for that matter), explain it to me like I'm a complete moron, because the moment computers and sensors enter the equation I turn into one. I can rebuild a Holley in an hour, but I can't for the life of me figure out this PCM stuff. All the oldheads don't know what to do with me because I'm an energetic whippersnapper who can't comprehend technology any newer than a decade before I was born. I have been using my multimeter varying between 2k and 20k ohms so I think at least I'm doing that part right.
Thanks fellas. This Jeep was my daily for years on end and I'm going stir crazy having to drive automatics everywhere.
One day I fire up my Jeep to go to Church, ease out of the driveway, and it dies in the street. Push it back in the driveway. Gauge cluster says wrong key, no fuel (I know it had gas in it), gas gauge and batt gauge don't read, gauges don't flicker or react in any way to movements of the key or attempts to start it. Actuator pin and all the physical ignition switch stuff is good, so I presume SKIM module. Send my PCM off to get the SKIM deleted, unplug my SKIM module from the ignition system under the column and discard of it, just like the company I sent it to said to. Get my PCM back, giddy as a little boy in Legoland, reinstall, still nothing. I'm super bummed, and ignore it for a while, opting to focus on other projects.
I've come back to it recently. I have since pulled the SKIM fuse in the glove box fuse block, which I either overlooked on the company website or was not told to do, and NOW, it clicks when I turn the key to start and the gauges flicker for a moment, but still nothing. But it did perhaps seem to help. DOES NOT TURN. It also seems to have developed a mysterious battery drain while it sat, which irritates me. I've replaced every fuse in the fuse block under the hood and a few in the glove box for good measure. I've tested the Crank Position sensor and the Cam Position sensor, but am paranoid that perhaps I did it wrong? I seemed to get a different readings everytime and every guide on how to check them that I see says something slightly different. Some people say that a bad CPS will only cause a no-start condition and won't even cause a no-crank condition so I don't even know if it's a possible cause. Radio and in car lights come on. Turn signals and headlights work just fine and dandy. And now the speedo and tach "jump" sometimes when I turn it to crank and get the single click, but the gas and volt gauges still are absolutely dormant. Note that I have been hooking the Jeep up to a big ol' battery charger on a 10-40 amp charge when I'm testing, and a 200 amp charge when attempting to start, so even if it's a bad battery I believe it should still work under these conditions. Could a bad battery still be possible? I have two keys for it, one that I use frequently and one that I barely use and when it initially died in the street that one lovely Sunday morning the first thing I did was try the other one and have since then been alternating between both in my tests, so the keys themselves are not to blame on either a transponder nor mechanical level.
Also my one question about testing the crank and cam sensors, when using a multimeter: which lead goes to which post inside them? I have an '03 so the Crank Position sensor is the flat layout, "A B C" style connnector as opposed to the older round " B " style connector (that "ABC" explanation probably won't make sense if you're on a phone).
A C
Does the pos or neg lead from the multimeter go to the B or C post? Should I incorporate the A post? Should I be looking for infinite or finite resistance as a sign of a faulty or functional sensor? Is it even worth my time testing the Cam sensor with these symptoms? Is my PCM flatout trashed? I don't even know if any of these things would cause a failure of just the two little gas and batt gauges.
Also, if you're going to explain the multimeter testing question to me (or likely any of this for that matter), explain it to me like I'm a complete moron, because the moment computers and sensors enter the equation I turn into one. I can rebuild a Holley in an hour, but I can't for the life of me figure out this PCM stuff. All the oldheads don't know what to do with me because I'm an energetic whippersnapper who can't comprehend technology any newer than a decade before I was born. I have been using my multimeter varying between 2k and 20k ohms so I think at least I'm doing that part right.
Thanks fellas. This Jeep was my daily for years on end and I'm going stir crazy having to drive automatics everywhere.