Locker sensor failing

[word302]

Do you have a link to a cheaper fix? That Mopar harness for $80 would add to the thread and help folks. I'd spend $80 in a heart beat to keep my rig out of the dealers hands. And how long is their replacement sensor going Last ?

If they haven’t failed yet just pull them out and pot them. It’s free other than a few quarts of gear oil and a tube of potting compound.

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[word302]

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/locker-position-sensor-potting-dana-44.59581/

 

[JayJay]

Yes, I think I also remember something about a Mopar by-pass harness for $80 but I don’t remember the thread. A sticky thread with the harness by-pass fix might be a good idea. a lot of folks have swapped gears and voided the axle warranty.

I believe that @rocky was the first one that I saw posting about doing this.

Later,
Johnny

 

[aldo98229]

For FCA is less about the cost of a sensor and more about paying the dealer for the labor of diagnosing things correctly, opening up a differential, fixing it, putting everything back together, and the ever present risk of doing something incorrectly.

Swapping an entire axle is a no-brainer; even the daftest tech would have a hard time screwing it up.

 

[word302]

For FCA is less about the cost of a sensor and more about paying the dealer for the labor of diagnosing things correctly, opening up a differential, fixing it, putting everything back together, and the ever present risk of doing something incorrectly.

Swapping an entire axle is a no-brainer; even the daftest tech would have a hard time screwing it up.

I highly doubt that is the reason, since new gears are available and several dealers I've talked to are willing to install them. Eventually the sensors will be available. Why they aren't yet is a mystery. Do you honestly think Jeep wants to eat the cost of a new axle every time one of these sensors fail? Replacing the sensors couldn't really be any easier, would take about 30 minutes.

 

[mgroeger]

I highly doubt that is the reason, since new gears are available and several dealers I've talked to are willing to install them. Eventually the sensors will be available. Why they aren't yet is a mystery. Do you honestly think Jeep wants to eat the cost of a new axle every time one of these sensors fail? Replacing the sensors couldn't really be any easier, would take about 30 minutes.

At this point I think FCA is still doing axle swaps because it's Dana that is eating this. These axles are built and shipped to FCA by Dana.
It truly defies all logic and it literally takes all of 30 mins to swap the sensor. I took the sensor out of my wife's Jeep since she is running the axles after market and doesn't need it and it took all of 30 mins to crack open, replace and put back together the diff.
What I can't understand is why new threads are being created when there are several out there with detailed info on how to handle this

 

[word302]

At this point I think FCA is still doing axle swaps because it's Dana that is eating this. These axles are built and shipped to FCA by Dana.
It truly defies all logic and it literally takes all of 30 mins to swap the sensor. I took the sensor out of my wife's Jeep since she is running the axles after market and doesn't need it and it took all of 30 mins to crack open, replace and put back together the diff.
What I can't understand is why new threads are being created when there are several out there with detailed info on how to handle this

I doubt Dana is just eating it. The sensor is obviously available, FCA just refuses to let anyone buy it individually yet. I’m sure Dana is just as frustrated as all of us, but I doubt their just eating the costs every time one of these fails. I just potted mine at 18k miles when I did my gears, the rear sensor already has a good amount of fluid in it. The other issue here is what the hell are they doing to keep this from happening going forward? Somebody’s building sensors for them that get immersed in fluid that don’t seal worth a crap. I hope somebody’s head somewhere is rolling.

 

[sourdough]

What I can't understand is why new threads are being created when there are several out there with detailed info on how to handle this

Why? threads are spread all over the forum. This post is in General discussions section, others in Tech- warranty and axle sections too. The info gets lost, buried and hard to search without the right phase. These threads need to be combined into a sticky in the axle section only IMO.

 

[BuffaloBill]

I’d sure like to investigate one of these sensors, to see if we couldn’t identify the specific components in there. Hall sensors are made by many manufacturers. I would expect this position sensing to use a very simple type Hall sensor. I also assume it’s the Hall sensor itself that’s failing, but wouldn’t know that for certain before troubleshooting one.

I imagine it may be difficult to acquire a failed one, since it goes back to FCA if the axle is being replaced under warranty. But, if anyone out of warranty has a failed non-potted sensor and sends it to me, I will do my best to find a fix for this.

Hall position sensors are not what I typically work with, but I have been doing circuit design since 1984, and have many contacts with component manufacturers, Hall sensors Included.

Does anyone know of this sensor ass’y communicates over CANbus, or does it emulate a simple switch closure? How many wires go to the sensor itself?

 

[BuffaloBill]

CaJLMetalHead diagramed the wiring here... https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...ailable-for-puchase.54531/page-4#post-1256842

Awesome, thanks for pointing me to that. Much groundwork has already been discovered! Attached is a crude sketch and rationale on how we might emulate the currents measured by CaJLMetalHead.

We’d have to verify what voltage is present at the sensing wires, to select the right R1 value. We’d also have to land on the right magnetic Gauss trip points. There are various part numbers having different trip points, etc.

R1 may very well be integrated inside the TE proprietary Hall sensor, explaining why we don’t see a discrete resistor on the pcb.

”R1” could be replaced by a regulated current sink circuit, to make the sink current independent of supply voltage.

 

[CaJLMetalHead]

good job.. unfortunately, I do not own a Rubicon so I cannot further test the interaction between the module and the sensor.. I did some search for Hall Effect sensors with similar characteristics as the one I found in the sensor module.. and I found a few... but then I gave up because I needed to reassemble my axle housing and also because I naively thought FCA was going to solve the issue in short term... LOL.... this is so pathetic.. having to replace an entire axle because of a simple sensor..

I wonder if Jeep Cares has better access to the current state of this issue... is TE Connectivity going to release the sensor to the market ? are we going to be able to buy the sensor from MOPAR or other sources?

I actually think the addition of the sensor to the locker is a really cool feature allowing the computers to know if the locker is actually working ... pretty neat.... now, TE Connectivity... please fix the damn sensor! LOL

Awesome, thanks for pointing me to that. Much groundwork has already been discovered! Attached is a crude sketch and rationale on how we might emulate the currents measured by CaJLMetalHead.

We’d have to verify what voltage is present at the sensing wires, to select the right R1 value. We’d also have to land on the right magnetic Gauss trip points. There are various part numbers having different trip points, etc.

R1 may very well be integrated inside the TE proprietary Hall sensor, explaining why we don’t see a discrete resistor on the pcb.

”R1” could be replaced by a regulated current sink circuit, to make the sink current independent of supply voltage.

 

[BuffaloBill]

I see Diodes Inc makes a specific line of Hall sensors for this application. They use only two pins, and switch the supply current between a low and high value, based on proximity to magnet.

Here is a link to a datasheet:
https://www.diodes.com/assets/Datasheets/AH323xQ_AH327xQ.pdf

Now if we could identify the correct Gauss operating point to pick the right part number. I’d guess these are the type of sensor in our assemblies. Digikey has these for just over $1 at quantity of one.

Any other electronics people out there to either concur or offer different thought?

 

[BuffaloBill]

good job.. unfortunately, I do not own a Rubicon so I cannot further test the interaction between the module and the sensor.. I did some search for Hall Effect sensors with similar characteristics as the one I found in the sensor module.. and I found a few... but then I gave up because I needed to reassemble my axle housing and also because I naively thought FCA was going to solve the issue in short term... LOL.... this is so pathetic.. having to replace an entire axle because of a simple sensor..

I wonder if Jeep Cares has better access to the current state of this issue... is TE Connectivity going to release the sensor to the market ? are we going to be able to buy the sensor from MOPAR or other sources?

I actually think the addition of the sensor to the locker is a really cool feature allowing the computers to know if the locker is actually working ... pretty neat.... now, TE Connectivity... please fix the damn sensor! LOL

I agree. Isn’t that ridiculous, to replace the whole axle ass’y! Geez.....

I interact with a few component distributors and a couple TE people. I suppose they couldn’t officially share much if anything about the specs on that TE sensor. But I am going to ask.....

 

[Roky]

I hacked my lockers a week after I bought my rig back in 2018. I wanted to use the rear lockers in 2wd, and front and rear or front only if needed in 4H and 4L. Since then the Tazer allows me to do the same thing. I use it for the lockers now but still have my harnesses for my aux switches in place. Now they’ve become my security blanket, or back up plan. I’m not having any trouble at the moment, but it’s a nice feeling to know if the module fails , all I have to do is unplug and plug in, and I’m off and running again. Here’s link....

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/lockers-whenever-i-want-them.18939/

It’s just another option if you’re like me and don’t plan on potting modules until I re-gear or if your waiting for whatever reason. You can get the pair of harnesses for 150.00 and it takes about 30 minutes.

 

[BuffaloBill]

Check out page 3 of the datasheet. The off state and on state supply currents basically match those you measured. I bet it’s one of these.

https://www.diodes.com/assets/Datasheets/AH323xQ_AH327xQ.pdf

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