Generational JKUR

[TRevs]

When I was a kid in ‘80’s, my family went camping and traipsing through the Rockies in a 1980 F-150. In 2019, I wanted to get a vehicle that could do the same and more with my own family and kids. I got a 2006 LJ, built it for moderate trails, and it’s been great.

I work in Texas but visit Colorado a lot so the LJ stays in Colorado; a few years ago I decided I wanted a ’Texas Jeep’ so I bought a ’95 YJ. Also lots of fun as mainly a city cruiser.

My kids are growing up now and one of them is now going to college in Colorado and wanted to get out of his Honda Civic and get something rugged that can haul his mountain bike. Criteria were 4-door with manual transmission and hardtop.

We searched for weeks and drove a lot of mediocre vehicles, but he found an ad for a good-looking jeep at a good price. We jumped on it and now there’s a JK in the family. (Nevermind the JL in the background.)

 

[TRevs]

It’s a stock 2014 Rubicon with 121k on the odometer. One-owner, with the most regular oil change record I’ve ever seen on a CarFax.

Factory leather seat, with some torn stitching, factory nav/bluetooth, Gobi roof rack. Virtually no rust, body in good condition.

I’m glad it’s not lifted and still has stock tires. We might go that route someday but it’s great for now.

 

[TRevs]

The first problem is that the power locks don’t work. The M38 fuse was missing and when we put one in, only the driver’s door lock works. Both front door lock switches will activate the driver’s door only.

At least the fuse didn’t blow. Hard to believe that three actuators have failed…? Have to start researching that.

 

[tJKrider]

When I was a kid in ‘80’s, my family went camping and traipsing through the Rockies in a 1980 F-150. In 2019, I wanted to get a vehicle that could do the same and more with my own family and kids. I got a 2006 LJ, built it for moderate trails, and it’s been great.

I work in Texas but visit Colorado a lot so the LJ stays in Colorado; a few years ago I decided I wanted a ’Texas Jeep’ so I bought a ’95 YJ. Also lots of fun as mainly a city cruiser.

My kids are growing up now and one of them is now going to college in Colorado and wanted to get out of his Honda Civic and get something rugged that can haul his mountain bike. Criteria were 4-door with manual transmission and hardtop.

We searched for weeks and drove a lot of mediocre vehicles, but he found an ad for a good-looking jeep at a good price. We jumped on it and now there’s a JK in the family. (Nevermind the JL in the background.)

View attachment 129864

Looks good, congrats! I bet you son is excited.

 

[Anybodyhome]

Get yourself an OBD dongle. I've been using this one for a few years now:

Them get the JScan app set up and go from there.

The issue with the power locks intrigued me. Can the power lock default setting be changed with a JScan? It turns out, yes. So, other than identifying any codes or other vehicle settings, seeing live engine data across a wide variety of areas, you can also set up things like daytime running light configurations, etc.

 

[TRevs]

The first problem is that the power locks don’t work. The M38 fuse was missing and when we put one in, only the driver’s door lock works. Both front door lock switches will activate the driver’s door only.

So there seems to be a parasitic drain on the battery. My son tells me the battery has died 2-3 times after sitting for a few days. If he drives it daily it starts. He had it load tested at O’Reilly’s and the battery tested good.

He’s tested the terminal connections and they’re tight.

It didn’t have this problem before we plugged in the M38 fuse for the power locks. I suspect the prior owner had the drain from that circuit and just pulled the fuse.

Since my older jeeps don’t have power locks and I can’t seem to find a factory service manual I’m not sure how to troubleshoot. Any advice welcome!

 

[pc1p]

So there seems to be a parasitic drain on the battery. My son tells me the battery has died 2-3 times after sitting for a few days. If he drives it daily it starts. He had it load tested at O’Reilly’s and the battery tested good.

He’s tested the terminal connections and they’re tight.

It didn’t have this problem before we plugged in the M38 fuse for the power locks. I suspect the prior owner had the drain from that circuit and just pulled the fuse.

Since my older jeeps don’t have power locks and I can’t seem to find a factory service manual I’m not sure how to troubleshoot. Any advice welcome!

Does your interior light stay on? Do you have a multi-meter? You can usually configure it to test for current draw (usually up to a few amps).

You can check your baseline current draw with all doors closed. Then, open each door and observe the amperage draw. The door that you open that DOES NOT cause an amperage change is likely the one that has a failed switch or some other issue.

 

[TRevs]

Does your interior light stay on? Do you have a multi-meter? You can usually configure it to test for current draw (usually up to a few amps).

You can check your baseline current draw with all doors closed. Then, open each door and observe the amperage draw. The door that you open that DOES NOT cause an amperage change is likely the one that has a failed switch or some other issue.

Thanks! I found a post on another forum about using the multimeter for amps; makes sense and we’ll try it!