mauser

While driving from Las Vegas to Pasadena for the holidays, I ran into a little problem about 25 miles west of Baker on the I-15. The jeep started being non responsive to the throttle, and after about 5 minutes, the Electronic Throttle Control and ESC warning lights lite up on the dash. When this happened, the engine completely dropped in power. My wife quickly looked up the lights in the owners manual, and basically it says to cycle the ignition and the problem will go away. If it doesn't, take it to the shop.

At 9:30 at night, in 33 degree weather, 25 miles from a small dessert town with a one year old and wife, this is not a very satisfying solution. I didn't want to stop for fear of the engine not coming back, and the manual said the condition is drivable. However, after about 5 more miles, the engine completely cut out and I pulled over.

I basically cycled the ignition key, the engine fired right up, the warnings disappeared and we finished the drive no problem at all and no problems since.

I purchased the JK with 22K miles on it, and since then have put about 8K more, so, I am a still new to JK's. The engine and drive train are still stock.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Is this common?

Since a cycle of the ignition "solved" the problem, it seems that this is a computer issue. Does this seem correct?

I can't complain much, since the solution was in the owners manual, but telling me to stop the engine and cycle the ignition takes a big leap of faith when the engine is behaving like it is not going to idle, and in fact didn't.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

RubiDude

I had the exact same situation today...ETC liight came on...looked up code and cycled engine....no more problem. Then drove 5 mins down the road and went to lunch...Jeep started up fine after lunch. The only pisser is that the Check Engine light is still on! Sorry you have not had more answers...not sure why some posts get dozens of answers and others languishj like this one!?

echofoxtrot

This happened to me recently as well. It was in very cold weather -25C or so. I fired the Jeep up and started clearing the snow off the top. I noticed that the idle just didn't sound right. Sure enough I look on the dash and the ETC and ESP/BAS lights are on. I shut the Jeep down immediately and looked in the manual. It said to recycle to clear the faults and it worked like a charm.

I can understand your concern about restarting the Jeep though. When it happened to me my first thought was that I'm screwed, being 150km from the nearest dealer and 550kms from my home. After going through this once I would be comfortable shutting down the Jeep to clear it again though.

I wonder if a severe environmental change can cause this? The day before I was on the coast, where of course I'm at sea level, with very damp air and tempertures are well above freezing. This happened after a drop of over 35 degrees C and a 2500 ft climb in elevation since the last ignition cycle.

whyhike

i've had that same thing happen twice (with less than 17k on the jeep). seems to be a sticking pcv valve. at least thats what the computer says.

RubiDude

Interesting about the miles...I have 14k on my 08.

ronjenx

Did you mean ETC?

cletusthepipeman

Ok here it goes. I've been a GM tech for a few years, and GM has used fly by wire throttle controls for a while and started using them in the corvette, escalade, and denali in the early 00's. I remember the denali having a rough idle due to diposists in the throttle body. The fix was to get an "induction service". We used BG service products which cleans the intake, throttle body, and injectors. I would recommend that you remove your intake ductwork and open the throttle body with the vehicle OFF. Then get a aerosolized fuel/carb/injector cleaner and spray it around the lip where the flapper and housing meet. You should see a ring of cabron build up. This should fix it for a while. I would recommend that you put a can of injector cleaner in your jeeps fuel tank every 10,000 miles.

By the way, I have had the same problem. If you take it to a dealer, they will probably not pay for this service and you will have to fork out a ton of your hard earned money for a quick and simple fix. Take your jeep for a little drive after your spray out your throlttle body. It may smell a little funny after, but this is normal since the injector cleaner makes your engine run a little hotter, and will burn those carbon deposits away that were removed.

Enjoy, It's really easy to fix. Remember to buy good quality fuel. I like shell, and mobile, but I go by price as well.

cletusthepipeman

Anymore problems? Did you getit fixed?

emirates81

hi,

I had the same issue 2 years back.

cleaned the throttle but didn't put any injector cleaner no help


changed the throttle pedal position sensor (seems to be the whole pedal assy with the sensor) problem fixed for about 1 year now again i am facing the same issue

TXCheney

My 8 month old jeep started having the same issue this weekend. 4 times this weekend then again this AM. Given I have less than 9k on it plan on letting dealership fix it.

They also messed up stereo last time I had it in and "forgot" to fix the OD button so we'll see how it goes this time.