I’m an idiot. Now my truck won’t start

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TrailRunner

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Hey everyone, I’m have trouble getting my 2012 to start… probably simple but I’m at my wits end.

I picked up my mom from the airport today and drove home with the windows down. We got home and I shut off the engine but she opened the door before I could roll up the windows so I turned the key to “start” to roll them up. I forgot to turn the key back to “off” when I was helping her get her bags in the house. Came back later in the afternoon and the truck wouldn’t start. Too easy… I figured I’d just jump start it. Not the first time I’ve jumped a car but this time it wasn’t working after trying two good vehicles and two sets of jumper cables.

Disconnected/reconnected the battery but now the check engine light is on and I’m getting the following codes from my SCT programmer:

P1636 - Inductive signature chip communication error
P2107 - Throttle actuator control module
U0422 - Invalid data from body control module

All codes seem to be electronic related. Windows and exterior/interior lights seem to be working. Solenoid seems to be firing, but the starter won’t crank. Any ideas how I ruined the first day of my mom’s trip to SD? Is this serious? Any suggestions for getting this thing running??
 
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TrailRunner

TrailRunner

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Location
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Put a good charger on the battery. See if that fixes the issue(s).
Put a good -charge- on the battery? It should be good. The battery is good and always cranks. I charged it for a good 15-20 min with two other good vehicles. I observed small sparks when I reconnected the battery after disconnecting it in an attempt to reset the electronics. So the voltage SHOULD be good… I’m about to find my old multimeter which I trust about as much as month-old milk.

Maybe put the shifter in neutral and see.

No dice. Something interesting I noticed tho is that the starter was firing the solenoid but not cranking…NOW the starter will grunt once then nothing, much more similar to my experience with a dead battery. Except that all of the lights/electronics seem to be working just fine.

My next thought is to test the battery voltage with a multimeter and start replacing fuses?? Either way, looks like I’m taking the TJ to work tomorrow…
 
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TrailRunner

TrailRunner

Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2022
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Location
Oceanside, CA
Maybe clear the codes, and retry.
Codes cleared. Still nothing.

Ran the jeep so long that the neighbors complained while I was trying to charge the battery. It hasn’t had any of the typical issues I’m used to seeing with a dying cell but I’ll replace it tomorrow/this weekend and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!
 
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