My friend here at work has a Jeep Commander and he is having a major issue with it. It’s only about 3 years old (just old enough for the warranty to expire) and now it is having trouble occasionally with not starting. It will work fine while he drives to work, or the mall, or whatever. Then he’ll get in and nothing will happen when he turns the key to “start”. The lights come on in the car as he passes the accessory notches in the ignition, but when he goes to start it, nothing happens. No audible click, the lights don’t dim… just nothing. Like the car is unaware that he is trying to start it. So he’ll get it towed, but by the time the tow truck shows up, it’ll start again.
He had it at the dealer twice now. The first time, they couldn’t replicate the issue in the time they had it, so they tested the alternator, starter, and battery and everything was OK. Bewildered, the technician tried cycling the battery (drain and then recharge). There are no codes either.
The second time it went to the dealer was when he was out with his wife this weekend. They went out and it worked just fine, but when they tried to leave, nothing happened. He had it towed again. The dealer has it now and still cannot replicate the issue.
It never dies while he’s driving it, and this has happened at least 4 times that I am aware of. It usually happens while it’s at his house or close to home, so he didn’t have it towed every time.
What the hell is going on here?! There are no recalls on his model or year, the Jeep doesn’t seem to think it’s behaving funny, and the dealer cannot get the problem to surface while it’s there… but it’s a BIG problem!
Help is appreciated!
