Quick Help!!!

[bmrrwolfe]

I am down in NC visiting my dad with my sisters 03 KJ everything has been fine this whole trip and now when you start it all the gauges are dead and the dash reads "NO BUS"
What is going on???
Thanks!!

 

[Straight6Jeff]

Take a look under the passenger seat, at the airbag wiring harness. See if it is chaffed or cut or damaged. Mine got cut by the seat rails and caused the NO BUS error, along with shutting the whole instrument cluster down.

 

[LibertyTC]

It is trying to tell you that it needs attention and "No you don't want to take the Bus"
It could be that air bag wires, check both sides under seat.
Ok all kidding aside one of the main connections at dash or BCM is probably loose, generally related to bus connector (wire/ connection gone bad somewhere.) check fuses too.
These are a few things that come to mind.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Battery is newer and the jeeps runs normal.

 

[LibertyTC]

YA I hear YA ...check the wiring, and fuses...I edited out the battery, as Bus is generally the bad wire /connections.
One day I am going to replace all the fuses in the jeep, with the ones that light up when they are blown.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

YA I hear YA ...check the wiring, and fuses...I edited out the battery, as Bus is generally the bad wire /connections.
One day I am going to replace all the fuses in the jeep, with the ones that light up when they are blown.

That's a good idea and thanks for the help. We drove down to my dads work. He managed a high end european car service department (its funny seeing the jeep among the benz porshces bmws and maseratis and one real nice new GTI) and were looking to see what we can find. Hopefully just a fuse or something simple..
Oh and it drove perfectly normal for the 20 min drive and I checked the basic wiring and nothing looked bad.

 

[LibertyTC]

You should get a photo with all the high end cars there...and post one!

 

[bmrrwolfe]

You should get a photo with all the high end cars there...and post one!

I got a couple pictures of the one shop on my phone and I will upload when I get home.
Update on the jeep they think its the cluster and just went bad? Anyone ever heard of that???

 

[liberty84]

One day I am going to replace all the fuses in the jeep, with the ones that light up when they are blown.

"it glows when it blows" yea they are pretty cool ive seend those, just a little over price i think

 

[LibertyTC]

I got a couple pictures of the one shop on my phone and I will upload when I get home.
Update on the jeep they think its the cluster and just went bad? Anyone ever heard of that???

You can't "think" it the cluster you got to Know if it really is. Sounds like they don't know, and don't want to...or spend the time.
Yes I have heard of bad clusters but it is rare. BUS= Most of the time it is a wiring problem /connection problem or maybe even bad wires at speedo (diff) /sensors?
I am no expert on all of this but man I would want a second opinion and consider dealer, 03year KJ and how many miles on it?

 

[LibertyTC]

"it glows when it blows" yea they are pretty cool ive seend those, just a little over price i think

I am thinking of taking a complete inventory of how many of what amps are required and just do it. Nothing worse than having something out in the middle of no where and having to guess which one is it!!!
Even for $60 it would be worth it in the long run.
Here is a 42 piece set for under $20.
http://www.amazon.com/Littelfuse-00940400ZGLO-Smart-Assorted-Multi-Pack/dp/B0000TX800/ref=pd_sim_auto_4

 

[bmrrwolfe]

You can't "think" it the cluster you got to Know if it really is. Sounds like they don't know, and don't want to...or spend the time.
Yes I have heard of bad clusters but it is rare. BUS= Most of the time it is a wiring problem /connection problem or maybe even bad wires at speedo (diff) /sensors?
I am no expert on all of this but man I would want a second opinion and consider dealer, 03year KJ and how many miles on it?

Well it is my dads shop so I know they will take care of us but they never work on jeeps and so they aren't getting behind on other work since they are pretty busy they took a quick look at it and they said they could not connect to the cluster. But my dad use to manage a jeep/chrysler and even eagle when that still existed dealer/body/service place for 17 years so he knows jeeps a bit.
They found a used cluster in town my dads probably going to pick up to try out if they can't figure anything else out on it.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Update. Its not a fuse its not the cluster since they tried another used cluster with no luck... Anyone else have this happen to them? Or maybe some ideas of what to check??
Thanks!
And heres a few pics of his shop:

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They didn't really have anything too fancy at this time.

 

[JeepinJarhead03]

Have they tried disconnecting the ecm on the drivers fender checking for corrosion or pulled wires and reseating it (and giving it a battery disconnect reset in the process)

if this works, one of the wires in the block harness may have vibrated or pulled loose enough to not get a good connection

pretty sure i'm remembering the drivers side module feeding back to the cluster

it's a 15 minute check at worst

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Have they tried disconnecting the ecm on the drivers fender checking for corrosion or pulled wires and reseating it (and giving it a battery disconnect reset in the process)

if this works, one of the wires in the block harness may have vibrated or pulled loose enough to not get a good connection

pretty sure i'm remembering the drivers side module feeding back to the cluster

it's a 15 minute check at worst

Yeah the disconnected and cleaned all the connections on it and the battery...
I really hope they can figure something out tomorrow as we have to drive back home Wednesday to get back to work and may need to leave it here...

 

[JeepinJarhead03]

tbh.. i'd probably try smacking things

sounds quite annoying, either something is shorted, but not blowing a fuse

hey, maybe try pulling the ABS and Air bag fuse, disconnecting heated seats and i can't think of anything else, if you're 03 is like mine, all you've got is the air bag fuse

question tho, are ya sure it's not the dash cluster? pretty sure they have to be programed in order to function properly as the ODO info is kept in the cluster and in the ECM and they have to match (IF i recall that information correctly)

this could be something that could be easily overlooked by those not familiar with jeeps if that's indeed the case?

 

[bmrrwolfe]

tbh.. i'd probably try smacking things

sounds quite annoying, either something is shorted, but not blowing a fuse

hey, maybe try pulling the ABS and Air bag fuse, disconnecting heated seats and i can't think of anything else, if you're 03 is like mine, all you've got is the air bag fuse

question tho, are ya sure it's not the dash cluster? pretty sure they have to be programed in order to function properly as the ODO info is kept in the cluster and in the ECM and they have to match (IF i recall that information correctly)

this could be something that could be easily overlooked by those not familiar with jeeps if that's indeed the case?

Yeah I'm afraid of them not knowing much about Jeeps as they were honest about that up front but they were willing to help out and even stay late to help out. They are great for European cars, but most have no experience with Jeeps. He has one mechanic that knows some about American cars that kinda moves around the few shops they have in town and hopefully he will be there tomorrow to help out. They still have the other used one to play around with, but hopefully something will work out tomorrow!

 

[LibertyTC]

Very nice shop Dad's got. A few nice older cars in there!
Unfortunately I can not offer anything more that has not been covered without the factory service manual. There must be a section on diagnostic regarding the bus/cluster and programming of it.
In situations like this, the older cars were sure easier to work on.

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Very nice shop Dad's got. A few nice older cars in there!
Unfortunately I can not offer anything more that has not been covered without the factory service manual. There must be a section on diagnostic regarding the bus/cluster and programming of it.
In situations like this, the older cars were sure easier to work on.

Haha yeah its a pretty nice shop, kinda small but I guess they a few of them around the city. Hopefully they will figure it out, but shes had it for 2 years now without a single issue so its alright.
Thanks for the help though!

 

[bmrrwolfe]

Well went into the dealership down here and its the BCM shorted out. It would take a couple days to fix and it be about $950... We test drove a 09 Patriot Limited that was loaded and she likes it.
Let's see what they can give her for a trade in and finance it.