This has morphed from a for-sale thread into a build thread (much to my disappointment).
Every post on Wranglerforum with a diagnostic question direct people to Wranglerfix.com. Absent a definitive diagnosis, I called & spoke to the owner of Wranglerfix about my issues. I was a little disappointed with how he just insisted it was the PCM w/out any actual diagnosis. They have a bunch of TJs in their parking lot to test PCMs. I was hesitant to ship my PCM off w/out more confidence that was the failure. In an effort to get the jeep back underneath my house before the last storm I went to the U-pull-in & bought a spare PCM from a 4.0 Grand Cherokee of the same year. With that PCM installed I could hear the fuel pump priming & it would start & run poorly for 10 seconds, stalling at 500 rpm. This gave me confidence that the PCM was the issue.
I paid the $200 repair fee & dropped off my PCM (I was in SoFL for work). It's a nice business with a good reputation. A few people on the phone & likely a few techs repair/rebuiding parts.
Same day they called & said it wasn't repairable & I'd have to pay another $375 for a replacement because the capacitors leaked onto the board. I wonder if these things are ever deemed "repairable"...but at that point I'm already comitted. It stings a bit, but that's market rate for a PCM. Even Jerry the jeep guy in Daytona wanted $600 or more for a used PCM (not rebuilt).
Apparently there's a hack to use a phone charger to convert 12V to 5V & trick car into seeing a pulse from the PCM. There didn't seem to be much information on this hack & I really needed to just get it running.
The Jeep is now running so I can get it moved out of the rain before the next storm. I'd really like to get it sold, but there's a chance I'll have free time this fall to repair the rust before trying to sell it. It's all up in the air at this point.
