Re: Vehicle turns on by itself

From: Rick Barnes (rsb7424@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Jan 08 2009 - 17:26:14 EST


What is going on with the battery that it is getting low? Does this
happen often? I saw this one time on a mustang so take it for what
its worth..(not very much), turned out it was the diode bridge in the
alternator. Maybe its worth checking the charging system,
specifically the alternator. If the charge on the battery is bleeding
down, this could be a sympton. Just a SWAG. Good luck, keep us up to
date, that one is really weird.

Rascal

On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Dustin Williams
<dustinewilliams@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This is on my wife's 97 Grand Cherokee but I hope someone may have
>> some insight since there seems to be a lot of overlap here.
>>
>> When the battery voltage gets low, the vehicle turns on by itself.
>> The lights come on, the HVAC, the center console, everything is just
>> like the key was in and it was turned on. I can put the key in and
>> try to start it, but there isn't enough juice, when I remove the key
>> everything will stay on. This is a wonderful feature that completely
>> drains your already low battery. Once the battery gets a good charge
>> everything is fine. It has done this twice in the last year. Any
>> thoughts?
>>
> First thought that comes to mind is the fact that intermittent
> electrical issues are the hardest to troubleshoot. Unless you
> intentionally drained your battery, which will shorten it's useful
> life, it could take 5 years of trouble shooting to find the problem. A
> short in the ignition switch or it's wiring would seem to be the most
> logical, of course it seems really odd due to the fact that it's when
> your battery doesn't even have the amps to crank the starter. I'd
> start with checking for compromised wires somewhere between the
> ignition switch and battery, of course odds are that it would be in
> some ungodly difficult location to find and work in.
>
>



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