Jeep just died ( electrically) after 20 mile journey

Pull the battery terminals and clean them.

The guys have a good starting place with the battery and after you check it, head towards your alternator. Did the alternator die or did you break an alternator belt? It may be that it has gone bad causing your wife to drive home on just the juice of the battery and making it go completely dead.

When you figure it out, let us know wouldya ?

KJKate

This would be my first guess, perhaps the alternator died on the drive and she drove home on the battery.

I charged it up overnight and it seemed to start ok this morning, I'll check the battery as you guys suggest. I'm hoping it's not the alternator. I have had nothing but problems with this Jeep, I miss my 1988 $700 one, never had a days problems with it. This one is a piece of s*it, excuse the language.

Hp

In spite of the fact that it's running, I'd do the following

-have a local shop do a battery check on the machine. If the battery was really low or going bad, it will show. A 2002 on the OEM battery is clearly ready for a new battery now or shortly. I'd even consdier getting a new battery at your local discount place. A battery costs $10 a year, you wife will appreciate not having a dead battery late at night. (Major understatement here!)

-Pull and clean the battery terminals. (I've already been down this road this week with my tractor: no lights no click. Cleaned terminal, away it went)

-Check tensi>>Hi there

In article , RoyJ wrote: #DO NOT PULL THE BATTERY CABLES WHILE IT IS RUNNING!!!! This was OK #advice on older cars, on new cars with all the electronics you take the #chance of frying multiple computer boxes! The battery moderates all the #nasty voltage spikes coming from the alternator.

OK, then it's the voit meter, I guess...

Thanks for the update. I did not know that.

/herb

First up thank you all for such speedy and numerous answers. I decided to drive the piece of s*it down to my favorite four wheel drive expert Thom's Four wheel drive in Chicago see below for details.

he took it in immediately, despite many trucks ahead of me, and dispatched me down to the White dove diner for brekkers. I got back in about an hour and he was still running tests. They sat me down in front of the tv with coffee and newspapers where I caught up on Mail Call, that B52 is an amazing craft isn't it? Anyway he came back and said that the ONLY thing he could find was a rusted ground connection. He checked the battery, the driving output of the alternator etc and nothing was wrong. He mentioned that it might have been the fact that my wife had the headlights on, the rear windshield heater, the interior heater set at 70f so drawing much more power than normal. We used to have the drivers seat set to glide back on exit but this takes power straight from the battery, we will never use the heated seats again because they A) don't really work B) can cause shorts. The drivers side heated mirror seems to be on the blink so we won't use that again, instead we'll just open the window and clean it by hand.

I still think the thing is a pile of s*it and probably will dump it in the next few weeks on Carmax, where I bought the @##king thing in the first place. So far , in ONE year, I have had to replace the window motor assembly, the heater control module, replace two tires due to blow out. I have driven it 5000 miles around town. Contrast this with my old Jeep Cherokee 1988 I bought for $700 nothing for four years, not a damn thing!!! I really am considering buying a Jap car next because all my friends own one and have had NO trouble with them at all. Anyway thanks again for the great advice and warnings, I hope this helps someone else.

Has it occured to you, that the improper grounding, MAY have caused some of the other electrical problems?

Just a thought.

KJK

Harry, The ground connection is actually a popular issue, and is a first and easy thing to check. It's not an 'only' thing, it is a critical thing. Like Kate noted, I bet that this affected your other electrical issues as well, as the Jeep was hunting out other ground pathways, changing things. I would just go ahead and use all of the stuff. I see no need to not use them, now that you likely have the root problem fixed. I know you are frustrated and being skittish, but go ahead and use the stuff, It might just all work now. You don't know unless you find out. Tomes

I really don't care about that, I was ASSURED by Carmax that they perform a number of rigorous checks and I would have assumed that this check, if it were able to cause this amount of harm, would have been one of them. I really don't like this thing and can't wait to dump it. I hate to say this but I really might be looking at a new Jap Suv. I never thought I'd say that.

thanks to all for your help

Harry

Sage advice and I will take it. This weekend I will take the POS out for a long drive around Lake Michigan and leave pretty much everything on, I will also periodically hit the rear heater etc. ONE @#ck up and the POS is in the lake and I'll go get something that works. Thanks for the advice to you and Kate.

Harry "very pissed" Palmer

LOL Harry! Good luck with this. Tomes

"Harry Palmer" hacked up a hairball and the stain left behind looked like this:

Let me know which point around the lake. I'll come up and drag it out. Hang in there Harry! Good Luck!

Hey, you have a right to be pissed. Sometimes it's all you can take to get through the next day with a vehicle that keeps giving you trouble.

Been there, done that.

Kate

Yep, some days it isn't worth chewing through the leather straps. Emo Phillips.

Great signature by the way.

good luck. I'm taking a sledge hammer as well just to make sure this POS is dead.

Hope your cell phone is charged so you can call for a ride home! :)