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08 patriot diagnosis help?

1K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  TKPat 
#1 ·
not sure if this is the right forum but I need some help with my 08 patriot.

so to start off I went out today and drove to the gas station. everything started as usual and was running fine but I noticed on the drive my radio sound wasnt working (radio was on and i could switch modes/stations but no sound came out)

I turned off the car and fueled up and when I hopped back in it wouldn't start. I tried a few times but nothing, not even a click. This time the radio wouldn't turn on at all, all the lights on the dash came on but some would flicker on and off and also my tpms on my dash was reading my front left and back right tires as empty, but then other two were fine.

I left the key turned in the ignition as I called my roommate to come and give me a boost hoping that would help and as we were talking the radio lights came back on so I tried to start and sure as **** it started, only my odometer and rpm were reading 0. I drove the short distance home, the caring dinging at me every 30 seconds or so.

once I got home I turned it off and tried to restart and it wouldn't. same issue. should also mention my key unlock/lock buttons weren't working properly, it would work occasionally but about 80% of the time no lock/unlock. so I tried a boost but it changed nothing. I tried my spare key to see if it was some issue with the immobilizer but nothing. I than tried disconnecting the battery and restarting the computer. it didnt take.

so I went inside I did some googling. got a few ideas but nothing too concrete so I decided to post here and get your guys opinion. but heres the kicker, i decided to go out to the car and try and get a good description as to what is happening and wouldn't you know it the car turned over just fine 3 times in a row.

obviously I'm a little nervous about driving it now, would hate for that to start happening again. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this problem?
 
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#2 ·
AYK, electrical gremlins are challenging. My '08 had an electrical problem that, after much consternation, was traced to a bad spot in the wiring harness directly under the battery. Of course I have no idea where your problem is, but its a place to start looking.

If it continues to be a problem I would definitely take it to a franchised Jeep dealer. They work on Patriots all day long and they have a much better chance of having run into this problem before, or maybe gotten a service bulletin that a local shop would never see.

If you've taken care of your Patriot and haven't spent much on repairs this far, I'd say bite the bullet and see if it pays for itself. Mine did.
 
#3 ·
The first thing i would check would be the battery condition. Then i would check the battery cables (positive and negative) and make sure they were nice and clean. I would also clean all of the chassis and engine grounds i could find (with sand paper and/or a wire brush).
 
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