Friday, April 7th, 2023 AT 6:04 AM
I'll start by describing the issue. I have a 2014 Jeep JKU Sport. Two times in the last month or so we were driving the vehicle, parked it, and then when we jumped back in to leave the store, the vehicle would not start. We get a lot of DTC's so it's hard to determine the cause. We get a HOTOIL flashing on the dash and sometimes the lock/unlock from the fob stops working. The first time it happened, the vehicle was left for a few days with the battery unplugged, and then it started up, we connected our scan tool, erased the codes, and all seemed well but we did not know the cause. The second time, I could not get the scan tool to connect and disconnect the battery for a short amount of time, 15 minutes or so, did not help. Ultimately, I followed procedures to reset the TCM manually. That got the vehicle to start and then we drove it home but with a lot of error codes and HOTOIL flashing. Once home, I unplugged the battery for a couple of days, then the vehicle started up and I was able to erase the codes, and the vehicle seemed fine again. I do not think the HOTOIL message is accurate since I got it even after the vehicle sat overnight the first night. I have checked the battery and alternator with a load tester, and they passed, although the battery is slightly bloated. I have checked all of the fuses and relays in the fuse box and the only thing of note is the starter relay has some extra resistance across the load circuit when energized, but that does not seem to be affecting the starting since I was able to erase the codes.