2003 Liberty 3.7 Sport - electrical issues

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wjg743

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Any help/comments will be appreciated for my 2003 3.7L Liberty Sport that is now seeing electrical issues after mechanical repairs. All 3 of these issues are new after replacing the starter and the actuator pin to resolve the jeep not starting. The rest of the vehicle seems to operate as expected including windows, radio, lights (high/low), power locks, fog lights, brake lights, parking lights, interior lights, front and rear power outlets. This is a lot of detail so thanks for your time reading and responding.

My current symptoms/issues to resolve:
1. Airbag indicator remains on. The light will turn on during initial startup, turn off and then within about 5 seconds come on and remain on.
2. Turn signal indicators do not turn on. The chalk will function mechanically and switch up and down, but there are no indicators interior or exterior that come on when the car is running or just in accessory mode. The turn signal lights will all work normally when the hazard indicator is turned on as they all flash.
3 Blower motor is not turning on. Regardless of the position of the blower motor switch there is no airflow from the vents.

Investigation:
1. Interior fuses. Using the owners manual fuse list, 3-5 fuses that were checked relating to turn signals and blower on the interior side panel and they all looked good and measured positive for continuity.
2. Steering column connectors. All electrical connectors that were taken off during the actuator pin replacement were reseated.
3. Relays/fuses engine compartment. The relay for the blower was swapped with the one next to it of the same P/N and no change in function noticed.
4. Attempt to measure voltage at blower fuse. When measuring for 12V at the blower fuse no voltage was measured across any leads. Moving the blower switch to all positions and all measuring across all 5 pins did not result in any voltage being measured.

Recent symptom (Saturday - 2 days ago) that was resolved
1. After driving the Jeep twice in the morning, on the 3rd stop the Jeep would not start or show signs of starting at all but there was power to the basics like lights, radio, locks, windows, etc.
2. After measuring and finding 12V at the battery, trying to tap on the starter, jumping the vehicle, the first repair was the starter.
3. After completing the extremely painful process of replacing the starter, the jeep showed the exact same symptoms and would not start.
4. The starter relay ((under the hood) was swapped with another relay that was the same PN from the engine fuses, the exact same symptoms.
5. The steering column was opened up and after taking off the ignition switch it was noticed small pieces of the actuator pin had broken off. To test the ignition switch a flatblade screwdriver was used to turn the switch and start the car. This seemed to confirm the actuator pin, and when a new one was put in, the car started well each time with the new starter and pin.
6. NOTE: during the testing of the ignition switch at one point I think the switch was in the on position when the negative cable was put on, or something else but smoke was seen coming out of the ignition switch briefly. This is currently operating fine and showed no signs of issues or burn.
7. The jeep is starting good and other than the 3 issues above does not seem to have anything else wrong.
 

Billwill

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OK the Actuator assembly ie, the stalk for the turn signals is most likely bad...fail quite often. The turn signals use exactly the same fuses as when the hazard switch is used so there is nothing wrong with the hazard switch assembly or the wiring to the turn lamps themselves. The actuator assembly merely touches ground to one side inside the hazard switch for a right turn and then touches ground to the other side inside the hazard switch for a left turn. So either the ground connection for this center contact of the turn signals has gone missing or the Actuator assembly has failed.
You can find the ground point for the turn stalk in the wiring diagrams otherwise replace the actuator assembly....make sure you buy the correct one depending on if you have factory fitted front fog lights or not.

The blower motor not working usually is the resistor pack which sits behind the glove box or could be a blown fuse or ground missing on the blower motor itself although you state that + 12 volts is not present there...once again check the wiring diagrams.

Lots of things can cause airbag problems:

The clock spring could be faulty...usually initially shows up as airbag light coming ON when turning the steering in one direction mainly.

The cabling coming from the clockspring or from one of the air bag squibs could be bad.
Before messing with airbag problems always disconnect the battery completely and place the Red battery lead onto chassis for a half hour to discharge any capacitance in the system!

A new clockspring comes with a plastic shipping pin in place which you remove once the spring is in place.

Trace the wiring from the clockspring through the connections in the harness. You may need to have the Dealers read out the airbag codes to see which airbag is faulty....could be a connection under passenger seat or seat belt tensioners also.

You can download the 2003 KJ Service Manual here...gives some Theory of Ops and the wiring diagrams: Index of /manuals/Jeep/KJ
 
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turblediesel

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Put a new ignition switch in it.

Not a Jeep but... I was riding my excellent motorcycle in town one drizzly day, stopped at a light; When I noticed a small mushroom cloud come out of my ignition switch. "That can't be good", I thought. Light changed and the bike died 50 feet down the road.

Nothing works better when the "smoke" gets out.
 

wjg743

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After looking at the wiring diagram I took some measurements at the connector that feeds the turn signal multi function switch (chalk ?).

I first verified that at fuse 11, there was 12V present.

I think section 8W-52-2 Turn Signals refers to this connector but the color codes didnt match and Im not sure what the readings would indicate, which were taken while the key was in the accessory ON position and the hazards flashed correctly before the readings were taken.

pin 1 OR/RD = 5V
pin 2 WT/BR = 5V
pin 3 empty
pin4 WT/GR = 0V
pin 5 GR/OR = 5V
pin 6 LB/WT = .15V
pin 7 GR/WT = 12V
pin 8 BL/BR = 0V
pin 9 WT/GR = 5V
pin 10 BL/YL = .15V

I have a few picts to show the connector that I used to take the measurements but apparently I need to downsize them somehow to get them to meet these requirements for inserting a image.
 

Billwill

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Your 8W-52-2 wiring diagram would appear to be different from my 2003 KJ wiring diagram 8W-52-2 which mainly shows the flasher unit and a section of the Multifunction Switch namely the stalk for turning left or right.

The wire colors you mention are completely different to what I have. Are you using the 2003 KJ Service manual from Index of /manuals/Jeep/KJ

This diagram shows for the hazard switch:

Pin 1 Pink/Orange 12 volts.....direct from the battery at all times.
Pin 2 Black/Orange Ground at all times....check this with reference to + 12 v post on battery.
Pin 3 Brown/Red is the right turn signal....should pulse 12 volts if turning right or hazard switch is pressed in.
Pin 4 Dark Blue/Pink is the hazard lamp control coming from the BCM
Pin 5 Light Blue/White is left turn sense...should switch to ground when stalk is moved to the left.
Pin 7 Dark Green/Red is the left turn signal..should pulse 12 volts if turning left or hazard switch is pressed.
Pin 8 Dark Blue/White fused +12 volts from fuse 39 when ignition in Run position
Pin 9 Light Blue/Yellow Right turn switch sense....should go down to ground when stalk moved to right turn.
Pin 10 Orange Fused panel dimmer switch.

You need to check that you have the 2003 KJ Service manual downloaded...different years have changes.

The fact that the hazards work OK means the pulsed output to the turn signal are working fine...only difference when using turn stalk is that pin 5 and pin 9 should go to ground when turning left or right. On the Multifunction switch itself which is the switch on top of the steering column and has both the left and right stalks fitted...pin 8 Black/Tan Must go to ground and pins 6 and 10..Light Blue/White and Light Blue Yellow Must go to ground when turning left or right.

You can downsize pictures using Picasso...I am having problems doing this with this horrible Win 10 laptop...I will downsize some pics on my old XP machine and send you some if you need them.
 
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wjg743

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Where there is smoke there is a defective switch. Tonight I replaced the ignition switch that I had seen smoke from and the new switch resolved all 3 electrical issues.
 

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