Jeep01dad said:
ok. she got a code reader and pulled code P1686, no SKIM bus received. apparently this thing has a theft deterrent on it.
FWIW, a friend with a '99 WJ had a similar problem about two years ago. Basically, the key had twisted like taffy over the five years he'd been twisting it in the lock and would occasionally fail to make contact. No contact, no start.
the dealer never told us when we bought it last year (and she paid cash) and we didn't know it had the option. they only gave her one key too so i can't even program it.
The dealer (read: salesman) probably didn't even know it had it. The easy way to tell: if the plastic on the key is grey, it has it. If it's black, it doesn't.
i didn't think anything about it then, figured we'd just cut another. negative. the dealer has to cut one for her and program it at a cost.
Yep, about $90. Found that out the hard way after I bought the current one.
she would not have ordered the option. at least they should warn you about this stuff. you know like, "you can buy this jeep, but...." is there no way around this without a new computer and ignition or whatever?
I generally don't trust what the codes tell you, but given that it's saying "SKIM Bus", I'm guessing that there's a possibility of this being an intermittent connection issue somewhere. Beyond that, I have zero practical experience tracing faults in that particular system. I'd say replace the key (cheapest possible fix if you get it right the first time, and you need a spare anyway) and see if that solves the problem. If not, go from there.
Incidentally, it may have been standard based on the trim level or packages she ordered... So yeah, while it's annoying that it doesn't work, it likely got there legitimately. And even if it somehow found its way in outside of the ordered spec, the dealer's likely to tell you how lucky you were to get a valuable extra-cost option for free and leave it at that.