2000 Jeep Cherokee Insrument Panel Warning Lights

MALIBU66

MEMBER
2000 JEEP CHEROKEE
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
198,000 MILES

I started the Jeep this morning and everything seemed fine. 2 kilometers later the first warning of no key was displayed, second the airbag light came on, 3 the engine light, 4th I relized that the RPM and the Speedometer were not working as well. All my other gauges showed fine ( oil, temp, fuel and voltage). After about 5 km more the RPM and Speedo came back and the airbag light turned off. The engine showed no signs of stalling at lights or any hesitation. 2 months ago I did have the Battery, Fuel sending unit and Signal relay replaced. Approx 2 years ago I had the issue with the airbag light staying on. This was a t-clock issue that was reset, and everything was ok until today.

Could the repair for the sending unit be related to my issue or is this a new Gremlin.

4 Replies

JASONRAY

MECHANIC
213 POSTS

You're possibly losing a ground, intermittently to the instrument cluster. Also, the PCM controls a lot of what happens at the instrument panel. This could have been a glitch in that department. It sounds like it all corrected itself. If so, and it doesn't happen again, just monitor it and if it continues, take it in for diagnosis.

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Sunday, October 19th, 2008 AT 4:40 PM

MALIBU66

MEMBER
4 POSTS

I forgot to mention that in the instrument panel was a " no bus " message. I thought that migh have been just the display because I had never heard or seen this message. Also, when I got home I disconnected the battery for about 2 hours then reconnected. Everything cleared and seem to work fine for the next two days. This morning it happened again. This time the only gauge that was working was my temperature gauge. All warning lights were on along with the no bus msg. After about 8 kilometers all warning lights disappeared except the no key and engine light. All other gauges came back to life.

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Monday, October 20th, 2008 AT 2:12 PM

JASONRAY

MECHANIC
213 POSTS

By disconnecting the battery, basically what you're doing is clearing/resetting the PCM. All freeze frame info is lost concerning any trouble codes and it goes back to it's basic programming. It has the capability to 're-learn' certain things such as idle speed, these type of things. Since you cleared the PCM and everything worked for a couple of days, I would lean towards a new PCM. You may call, or take it to a dealer and see if there's a flash program that can be performed that may correct the problem. The 'no bus' indicator means that basically, it's not communicating with the PCM. "BUS" wires are just a common set of wires that the PCM uses to communicate information to other devices on the vehicle, such as the Body Control Module, Istrument Cluster, etc. There's a possiblity that the Instrument Cluster is failing but I've never had any success with disconnecting the battery when that was the problem.

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Monday, October 20th, 2008 AT 9:48 PM

MALIBU66

MEMBER
4 POSTS

I thought I would add a bit to this problem. Upon first start up I have no gauges at all. I still receive all the warning lights etc. Also we have entered the colder months of Winter here in Alberta. So after running the Jeep for about 4 to 5 minutes on the highway, with the blower fan on defrost. My gauges will return to normal. I would think it would be some type of moisture problem in the instrument panel.

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Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 AT 3:07 PM