I haven't even had my 08 Patriot for a week yet and I went to check out the flashlight last night and I could not get it to work!!?? It did work at the dealership, but I can not get it to work now. Anyone else have any issues with the flashlight, or is it that the flashlight is smarter than I am? Thank you for your time.

the minute i picked my pat the flashlight wasn't workin...they took one out another vehicle....works fine ever since....9 mounths now

Maybe it didn't get seated properly back into the holder when checked at the dealer and has lost it's charge? Or was put back in turned on? I'd try putting it back in for a day or so's worth of driving, then check it again.

I actually had a similar problem recently. The flashlight used to work, then after my 3 yr old was playing with it one day for about 2 mins it ceased operating. It's been plugged into the Jeep since, and a week later it still wasn't working. Then this morning, I got it off and suddenly it works again! I'm not doing anything differently...
The only thing that has changed is this- I had inadvertently turned my instrument lights down all the way, which makes the forward map lights not function as interior lighting when the door opens- they just stay dark. I finally found the dimmer (after my wife looked in the book as we drove last night) and turned the inst lights back up, and now the interior lights work with doors open. And then this morning the flashlight works again. I wonder if when the dimmer is fully down the flashlight doesn't get charged? May be something to check...
All I know is it worked, then it didn't for a few weeks, now it does again. Not really much help there am I??
Den

That's interesting. Would Jeep have designed it that it only charged while the interior lights are turned on? I suppose stranger things could happen.

The flashlight should charge anytime the ignition is on or in the 'start' position. Below is the excerpt from the service manual:

The rechargeable lithium battery within the flashlight automatically recharges while the flashlight is nested in its receptacle within the cargo lamp housing and the ignition switch is in the ON or START positions. The flashlight has a pair of electrical contacts that mate with contacts within the cargo lamp housing that provide a source of recharging current regardless of whether the cargo lamp is illuminated. The red Light Emitting Diode (LED) unit on the side of the flashlight behind the ON-OFF push button illuminates when the charge of the flashlight battery is becoming depleted.

my flashlight will drop down out of the holder after I hit some bumps or close the rear hatch (door) hard a couple times
I used it last night when I was changing the spark plugs on my wife's tahoe (105K miles on them) I used it for 5 mins and the red light started flashing.

Now, based on what the manual said, I wonder how much current you can pull of the flashlight feed...

Mine works ok, in that I turn it on, and it lights up, knock on wood. But it doesn't emit any usable light as so far as my pocked maglight.I know it sounds contradictorily, but I don't find it all that useful.

The day I picked up my Patriot the flashlight never worked,my first thought was it had been standing in a compound for a bit and the battery had discharged flat.I decided to strip it and found that the contacts inside had tarnished as they are copper,I gave them a clean bent them slighly refitted the battery and hey presto it worked.I am not saying this is the problem but it worked for me hope this helps.

This is what I tried so far. The switch is a 3 position switch, low, high, and off. One day I hit the button once, tried it at night, nothing, next day, another push of the button, tried at night, nothing, 3rd day, same thing, and same results. I look at it like this, it's not even a week old, at least to me it isn't, I'm just gonna take it to the dealership where I got it at and let them deal with it. I wouldn't think that it would give off alot of light, but it's suppossed to work and it will work, but not at my expense. I figure since I'm at the dealership, they can take their "free advertisement sticker" off the back as well, unless they want to pay me to advertise for them, which they don't. Thank you all for your time. This place is full of alot of useful info.

:smiley_thumbs_up:

Hmm, 3 positions. Mine seems to respond to on and off only.

Do all models come with the flaslight? The dealer that I went to didn't show me any flashlight!! Where is it?

Do all models come with the flaslight? The dealer that I went to didn't show me any flashlight!! Where is it?You must have at least he E Package to get the light. The D trim level does not have it. It would be where the rear dome light is.

My pat just got out of the shop for the leaking lights and the flashlight not working. They found a copper connector for the charging wasnt connected all the way so there was no connection.

i already lost mine ;(

Use some Deoxit on the charge contacts. That should help eliminate the contacts as potentinal source of the problem.

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-deoxit-progold-twin-pack--pi-2104746.html