Wiring issue with center control panel

Ben_Amstutz

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Joined
Dec 22, 2021
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Indiana
Hello! I have a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited and recently ran into an issue with the center control panel. I went to turn up the fan speed, and suddenly everything on the control panel went dark and the climate control fan stopped running. I later found out when I got home that my hazards, axle locks, diff disconnect, traction control, and 12v outlets also are not working. However, while trouble shooting, I found that if I shut my door harder than normal, everything boots back up. If I shut it hard again or change the fan speed, everything shuts down. I've checked all of the fused associated with the control panel, cleaned and tightened the associated ground points, and am still having the same issue. Any idea what else could be causing this?

Thanks for the help!
Ben
 
Anyone have any ideas?

Electrical problems suck. Did you check the ground points located under the seats?

Heavy vibration causing it to intermittently work is your clue. I mean clearly something is loose/rubbed through somewhere.

I'd see if I could find a wiring diagram and figure out what cables/grounds share a common connection and start there.
 
I would agree that is almost certainly an electrical connection issue. Somewhere there is a connection that has failed most of the way. Jeeps annoyingly have some strange connections. You may have an issue in the door wiring that is affecting this, or under the drivers dash... or pretty much anywhere else in the vehicle. There are dozens of grounding points scattered around.

My advice is to disconnect the door wiring and test to see if that changes the results. If not, start poking around under the dash with a flashlight. If you have an impact gun, pull the driver seat out to give yourself more room. Hopefully you can find it without having to dig too far into the dash.

I hope you have a garage. I would have to wait until spring
 
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I have an update.

After driving around a little more, everything seemed to work as it should for about 1000 miles. However, I went wheeling the other day and as I had some bigger bumps, it was intermittent again. Towards the end, everything shut off and has not come back on since. I've tried slamming the doors, hitting bigger bumps, etc and nothing would flip the control panel back on. I have checked and cleaned just about every ground on the jeep (I know) and they all seem okay. I also chased each wire going to the control panel and each fuse that could possibly be associated with it and everything checks out. Any ideas on what would cause the entire control panel (HVAC, Traction Control, Axle Lockers, Sway Bar Disconnect, and 12 power) to go out?

Thanks for the help.
 
Thanks for sharing. It looks like there are multiple power sources for the different switches in the control panel, yet they are all on/off at the same time. Anybody know of a common point between the entire control panel that could be causing everything to turn on/off?
 
Thanks for sharing. It looks like there are multiple power sources for the different switches in the control panel, yet they are all on/off at the same time. Anybody know of a common point between the entire control panel that could be causing everything to turn on/off?


If there are multiple Power Sources then it's possible that there is one ground for all of them.
 
Maybe start by figuring out what does work when the key is on? Then identify the power source for the items that work and eliminate that source.
Also, there are several grounds attached directly to the body, firewall, etc. that could explain how the door slam effected the circuit. Personally, I believe it's a ground somewhere.

https://store.mopar.com/oem-parts/mopar-ground-strap-5064283aj

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I have an update.

After driving around a little more, everything seemed to work as it should for about 1000 miles. However, I went wheeling the other day and as I had some bigger bumps, it was intermittent again. Towards the end, everything shut off and has not come back on since. I've tried slamming the doors, hitting bigger bumps, etc and nothing would flip the control panel back on. I have checked and cleaned just about every ground on the jeep (I know) and they all seem okay. I also chased each wire going to the control panel and each fuse that could possibly be associated with it and everything checks out. Any ideas on what would cause the entire control panel (HVAC, Traction Control, Axle Lockers, Sway Bar Disconnect, and 12 power) to go out?

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for sharing. It looks like there are multiple power sources for the different switches in the control panel, yet they are all on/off at the same time. Anybody know of a common point between the entire control panel that could be causing everything to turn on/off?

You could also try disconnecting the power plugs to everything except the dash, and only running power to the cluster.

One of the most frustrating problems I had with my old FD3S was something similar.

After going through the wiring schematics for days, I found there was a common pass through for power that went into the heater/ac controls, then out of there and into the cluster.

Well, I took it apart and found corrosion on a circuit board inside the heater/ac control that was creating a short.
 
Electrical problems just SUCK plain and simple. I would run a temp. wire from the neg. side of battery and connect to the separate ground wires to see if anything powers up. If that don't find anything do the same with a power wire to the different power side of the plugs to see if anything works.