"It's Alive And Possessed!"

[vetygud]

I wanted to share an incident that occurred the other night. While watching TV, my Jeep, which was parked in our attached garage, had the panic alarm go off. I had just started a load of laundry and immediately realized that a key fob was being washed. The wet and dripping fob was retrieved. After pushing the fob buttons multiple times, I got the panic alarm to shut off but it would start back up. I had to remove the battery from the fob which was full of water. I completely disassembled the fob and removed the PC board to shake and wipe off the water. I reassembled the fob and it appeared to function properly. Bullet dodged, sooo I thought!

I placed the fob on one of our forced air HVAC floor registers when I went to bed so that the warm air would help to evaporate any remaining moisture. We have a smart thermostat which automatically lowers the temperature during the night and then increases in the morning. Normally at this time of year the heat will not kick on during the night. Morning came and I new the furnace had started up. I heard my Jeep in the garage beep twice several times. This caused my German Shepard to bark as she was letting us know "someone" was in our garage. Then it happened, the Jeep started up and was running. I do have Remote Start. I grabbed the fob went to the Jeep, which unlocked when I got to the door and I turned it off.

I disassembled the fob again and blew air into the four micro switches with my air compressor. It is back together and appears to be working properly. I am glad it didn't start up during the night while we were sleeping. I priced fobs and they are not cheap. I could swap the cut key into a new fob but would need to get it programmed. At least the fob is clean.

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[rsmith56]

Try opening it up, remove battery, then cover in a bowl of dry rice overnight. Had it work on submerged cell phones, worth a try.

 

[NWJeepr]

The Jeep should only run ~10 minutes on remote start, and can only be restarted once after that using remote start -- or something to that effect, as described in the owner's manual.

I'd probably remove the battery until I was sure the circuit board was completely dry, and then I'd test it during the daytime when the Jeep might not be parked in your home garage?

 

[CaboJim]

Good thing your Jeep is an automatic.

 

[melendez69]

Geez... how dirty was your key fob?

 

[mgroeger]

Good thing your Jeep is an automatic.

Stick Jeeps do not have the remote start option.

 

[CaboJim]

Neither did this one.

 

[mgroeger]

Neither did this one.

Yes it did... " I do have Remote Start. " Read the post.

 

[CaboJim]

I stand corrected! I need my glasses

 

[vetygud]

The Jeep should only run ~10 minutes on remote start, and can only be restarted once after that using remote start -- or something to that effect, as described in the owner's manual.

I'd probably remove the battery until I was sure the circuit board was completely dry, and then I'd test it during the daytime when the Jeep might not be parked in your home garage?

Blowing out the four micro switches with compressed air seems to have done the trick. No further problems and the fob appears to be functioning properly. It was my wife's fob, so I still have mine with no issues. She rarely drives the Jeep.

 

[SargeDiesel]

The Jeep should only run ~10 minutes on remote start, and can only be restarted once after that using remote start -- or something to that effect, as described in the owner's manual.

I'd probably remove the battery until I was sure the circuit board was completely dry, and then I'd test it during the daytime when the Jeep might not be parked in your home garage?

Remote start will run for 15 minutes before it shuts down... you can activate up to two times consecutively if needed.

 

[Richard Boone]

I purchased a two year old Jeep Wrangler JL 2-door sport. I’m accessorizing it with all the furniture, but the furniture which is applicable to driving the backroads, finding the next great stretch of river. I was in the garage cleaning it up from my trip to Wyoming and I noticed the two red slit lights alit right by the upper front rearview mirror. I thought, “What do these do? I’ll just push them to see what turns on.”

Pushed them twice, nothing.

Wife comes out to the garage. I asked her what she thought the two small buttons with the red slit lights were all about. She got into the jeep and looked at them and said, “They’re emergency buttons.”

“Emergency Buttons?” I asked.

“Emergency Buttons,” She said again.

Hmmm, emergency buttons? She went back into the house and I went back to cleaning the jeep. Didn’t think much more about the red slit buttons. But there was dust everywhere in every crack and cranny of the vehicle. The mountain roads were fine, powdery dust. They need rain something terrible.

I look up and there is a guy in a big white pickup truck with blue flashing lights pulling up my driveway. He gets out and I asked him, “What can I do for you.”

He asks me if everythings alright? I’m thinking why’s this guy asking me if everythings alright, he looks very serious. I see his wife sitting in the passenger seat of his truck while he’s telling me he’s a volunteer emergency responder when boom . . . the emergency buttons!

The emergency buttons!

I couldn’t apologize enough, and after he was certain that all was well, and that he was just relieved that there was no emergency . . . while I’m still begging for forgiveness . . . the first of two Sheriffs pulled up. All of this happened within ten minutes of me pushing the red slit buttons.

After I had begged them all for forgiveness, and after they were all relieved there was nothing amiss, I asked them if I could get my wife. She came out and was confused as to what was going on. I said, “Rember the little red lights.” We all watched her expression changed as` she did the math. She went right into apologizing and I got to laugh along with the gang as she did.

We thanked them all for their service, they told us to have a great rest of our day, and I learned what the red slit lights were all about.

 

[mgroeger]

I purchased a two year old Jeep Wrangler JL 2-door sport. I’m accessorizing it with all the furniture, but the furniture which is applicable to driving the backroads, finding the next great stretch of river. I was in the garage cleaning it up from my trip to Wyoming and I noticed the two red slit lights alit right by the upper front rearview mirror. I thought, “What do these do? I’ll just push them to see what turns on.”

Pushed them twice, nothing.

Wife comes out to the garage. I asked her what she thought the two small buttons with the red slit lights were all about. She got into the jeep and looked at them and said, “They’re emergency buttons.”

“Emergency Buttons?” I asked.

“Emergency Buttons,” She said again.

Hmmm, emergency buttons? She went back into the house and I went back to cleaning the jeep. Didn’t think much more about the red slit buttons. But there was dust everywhere in every crack and cranny of the vehicle. The mountain roads were fine, powdery dust. They need rain something terrible.

I look up and there is a guy in a big white pickup truck with blue flashing lights pulling up my driveway. He gets out and I asked him, “What can I do for you.”

He asks me if everythings alright? I’m thinking why’s this guy asking me if everythings alright, he looks very serious. I see his wife sitting in the passenger seat of his truck while he’s telling me he’s a volunteer emergency responder when boom . . . the emergency buttons!

The emergency buttons!

I couldn’t apologize enough, and after he was certain that all was well, and that he was just relieved that there was no emergency . . . while I’m still begging for forgiveness . . . the first of two Sheriffs pulled up. All of this happened within ten minutes of me pushing the red slit buttons.

After I had begged them all for forgiveness, and after they were all relieved there was nothing amiss, I asked them if I could get my wife. She came out and was confused as to what was going on. I said, “Rember the little red lights.” We all watched her expression changed as` she did the math. She went right into apologizing and I got to laugh along with the gang as she did.

We thanked them all for their service, they told us to have a great rest of our day, and I learned what the red slit lights were all about.

Pics of the lights?

 

[JLRyder]

Went swimming with mine after my canoe flipped, and it did the same as yours. I put mine in a dehydrator we use for jerky overnight. Worked like a champ.

 

[Richard Boone]

Pics of the lights?

This is the first time I actually looked at the buttons up close. I have the car under wraps. I started the car up to see if the lights would come on, they didn't. I was afraid to play with them. I must have pushed them when cleaning which turned them on. An acquaintance did a similar thing while fishing the North Platte in Wyoming. A helicopter showed up.

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