Alarm won't stop, can't start

bpm5cm

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Joined
Oct 30, 2020
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3
Location
Charlottesville, VA USA
Hello, my wife has a 2014 Wrangler JK Unlimited. Yesterday she was leaving work and called me because her key fob wouldn't unlock the door, so she did it manually and the alarm went off and she was stuck. I loaded the kids, drove out with my key (thinking her fob battery was dead). I got there, tried to hit the lock/unlock button on my key and nothing. Used a voltmeter on both keys, batteries were fine. When you get in and turn the key, every indicator light comes on, says CHECK TPM System, all tires show 0PSI, hot oil alarm etc. The interior lock button works, the unlock does not. We have disconnected the battery overnight, hooked the two leads together for 5+ minutes, checked all sorts of fuses, swapped a few important sounded relays with non-important sounding ones, replaced the battery in the Jeep. Nothing. As soon as the battery is conneted, the hazards start flashing and the horn (would) go off (if we didn't pull the fuse). My cheap OBDII reader gave me U0101 (lost communication with TCM) and another code it can't read. To me and my limited car but slightly less limited electronics experience, it sounds like nothing is communicating. It's been stuck at her work for 2 days now, I'm home (30 minutes away) with our sick baby and can't keep driving to fool around with it, we will probably tow it tomorrow if we can't get it fixed...but does anyone have any other ideas or things we can try? She has a cousin that has a full diagnostic tool, but I'm doubtful if nothing is communicating that it would be very useful. Is there a way to override the security system or a single connector that would cause so many problems? Thanks for any input.
 
Clean your battery terminals, cables and check the ground points all about the engine bay. Just so anyone reading this realizes that today, everything is electrical and run by computers. So if the battery terminal, cables and ground points have issues, this will send on not send signals to the main computer. Cleaning the terminals and allowing the system reset while cleaning the above items should eliminate the issues. I suspect the terminals, cable and grounds have not been clean in a while. As for the ground point/s, these are located all about the engine bay compartment. often if one off roads or just doesn't take the time to clean their engine bay, these ground points will be come rusted and lost their connectivity. So once in a while its good just to remove the nut/bolt holding the ground wire to the engine bay and sand scuff that area and re-seat the bolt on the ground point.
 
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Like said above and I always say bad grounds can cause alot of problems, doesn't cost anything to do it and if it works it's a cheap fix.
 
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Your TIPM is likely failed. It controls everything like HAL 9000. Common problem if you have 2012 and newer.
hal.jpg
 
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So just to update everyone (in case anyone else is having problems or has thoughts), the dealership called today to say a wire harness above the gas tank has at least 3 damaged wires from mice or something. To drop the tank, repair the wires with whatever special wire they require and special solder and lift the tank, was going to cost us ~$700 (on top of the $300 we've already accrued for "diagnostics", which I think is BS. I've never paid a diagnostic fee if I've paid for the repair). They are "really sure" this will solve the problem, but won't guarantee it. I'd hate to drop a grand on a "solution" and not have it fix the problem.