dmwil

Has anyone had their sway bar disconnect cause a problem with the PCM? Last fall, a month or two after taking apart, cleaning, and regreasing my sway bar disconnect mechanism, I was driving along, saw a voltage spike, and a minute later, my engine cut out and my dash lit up like a christmas tree. I had just put in a new alternator and the dealership said the new alternator must have been bad and fried the PCM. They replaced the alternator under warranty, but I had to pay for the PCM. I remember reading on this forum years ago something about the swaybar disconnect module causing a problem like this, but after searching, I still can't find the thread. My sway bar disconnect now won't disconnect, so I'm guessing the actuator is shorted out or fried. I know the mechanism works, as I totally cleaned and greased it and it worked very nicely several times afterward.

Has anyone else had a problem like this? I'm ready to take that sucker out and put the EVO manual disconnect in its place. I just have a strong suspicion that this is why my PCM was fried.

dmwil

Ok, after a little research I'm seeing this has happened to others. One guy said his did the same thing. He unplugged the actuator plug and his Jeep ran. I think I spent a bunch of money on a new PCM when all it would have required was disconnecting that sway bar actuator. Uggh. Well, at least I now know what to do if it happens again. I'm pretty sure my actuator is shorted out. I'm ording the EVO manual release today and will be done with this issue. Man, I wish I'd know to try unplugging that thing. Dang it!

I'd still love to hear from anyone else who has experienced this.

Mr.T

Haven't had this happen with the e-disco , but many times I've fixed similar by cleaning the electrical and/or ellectronic's with alcohol (or plastic safe electrical cleaner), and then either air dry or use a hair dryer on cold days. Also, circuit boards can be coated (or re-coated) with a spray-on conformal coating to keep moisture and crud from forming shorts on the board.

When it was apart, is there a circuit board inside that could be cleaned?

dmwil

I didn't see it. I think it would have to be disassembled to get to it. Might be worth pulling it apart and looking. When I get the EVO on there, I'll have plenty of time to take this thing apart and check it out. Thanks for the tip!