Rear locker automatically engaged in 2wd?

[Martial Fartist]

Driving (2WD) today and noticed the locker icon in the instument panel and the light at the switch flashing. I did not try to turn on my lockers but they won’t turn off. The screen says for a brief second that it’s disengaging but does not. How are they even on in 2WD?!

In an attempt to get them to turn off, I went in 4LO and engaged all the lockers, then disengaged them. The rears stayed on.

Whats going on and what would the remedy be?

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[crux360a]

Just had the same thing happen to us during a road trip. There is a locker sensor (locker position sensor) in the rear diff. Metal particles and oil intrusion shorts the sensor and causes the fault. If its still under warranty the dealer will install new sensors. If not under warranty its a relatively easy fix. The new sensor comes in a pack of 5 and you have to swap them out until the light on the dash goes away.

 

[Martial Fartist]

Just had the same thing happen to us during a road trip. There is a locker sensor (locker position sensor) in the rear diff. Metal particles and oil intrusion shorts the sensor and causes the fault. If its still under warranty the dealer will install new sensors. If not under warranty its a relatively easy fix. The new sensor comes in a pack of 5 and you have to swap them out until the light on the dash goes away.

Did you fix or dealer fix?
Cost?

 

[crux360a]

Did you fix or dealer fix?
Cost?

We own our own repair shop and work closely with the local jeep dealership. So they warranted out the parts (sensor & 2quarts of diff fluid) for us and we installed ourself. So I don't have a cost for ya.
ball part price sensor and fluid is around 500$ not including labor

 

[Martial Fartist]

Found other posts about this on the forum. Sorry for adding another one. Search feature didn’t turn up results.

 

[crux360a]

Found other posts about this on the forum. Sorry for adding another one. Search feature didn’t turn up results.

i did edit my post with a ball park price

 

[GATORB8]

Just had the same thing happen to us during a road trip. There is a locker sensor (locker position sensor) in the rear diff. Metal particles and oil intrusion shorts the sensor and causes the fault. If its still under warranty the dealer will install new sensors. If not under warranty its a relatively easy fix. The new sensor comes in a pack of 5 and you have to swap them out until the light on the dash goes away.

This, Z Automotive's ZLocker is a less expensive remedy if you are comfortable with the sensor not being accurate. It is a driveway 5 minute install.

 

[Martial Fartist]

Found another thread that had posted a

TSB about this. I’ll have to reach out to the dealership to see what they say.

 

[GATORB8]

Found another thread that had posted a

TSB about this. I’ll have to reach out to the dealership to see what they say.

In addition to the DTC, IIRC I could confirm which locker it was with a good scanner.

 

[crux360a]

Found another thread that had posted a

TSB about this. I’ll have to reach out to the dealership to see what they say.

that is correct! your warranty should cover it..
before they started replacing the sensor they were issuing new axels

 

[Mocopo]

Looks like you got the issue under control, but just to add my experience, same thing happened to me, while on a trail, at about 10,000 miles on my '22 jlur, fixed under warranty by local dealer, no questions asked, zero cost to me. Can confirm they don't need to replace the axle anymore, just the sensor.

 

[GATORB8]

Looks like you got the issue under control, but just to add my experience, same thing happened to me, while on a trail, at about 10,000 miles on my '22 jlur, fixed under warranty by local dealer, no questions asked, zero cost to me. Can confirm they don't need to replace the axle anymore, just the sensor.

Ours started go out midway through a wheeling trip 2k miles from home. Luckily it was just picky on trail, and didn't fail until we were off. An important note, the failure disables both lockers, impacting our trail selection for the remainder of the trip.

 

[Martial Fartist]

Thanks everyone. Will be reaching out to the dealer. Fingers crossed.

 

[Mocopo]

Ours started go out midway through a wheeling trip 2k miles from home. Luckily it was just picky on trail, and didn't fail until we were off. An important note, the failure disables both lockers, impacting our trail selection for the remainder of the trip.

Yep! I was lucky that even though it happened mid trail for me, I had just got past the last real obstacle that needed lockers. Was able to use skinny pedal to get through the rest of that particular trail easy enough. I didn't have a winch yet at the time, and there is one part of the trail if I had gotten stuck there with no lockers I'd be calling a buddy to come rescue me.
It's an annoying thing to go wrong, for sure, but the blow was lessened by the dealership fixing it very quickly at no cost.

 

[crux360a]

Ours also happened while on a huge wheeling road trip in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana, and happened on our way to Oregon.. Thankfully we didn't have to use our lockers at all in Tillamook forest BOH . 2,000 miles away from our house in Indiana, thankfully Oregon was our last BOH state before returning home.

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