Caught a weird electrical gremlin, but it fixed itself

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 01/07/2015 at 10:57 • Filed to: None

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Remember how on Saturday night !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ? One thing I failed to include in that post is along the way, my Grand Cherokee caught a weird electrical gremlin.

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I was driving along on U.S. Highway 14 between Darien and Janesville, somewhat stressed out because of all the waggling the Jeep was doing when I'd hit an ice patch. I used the rear windshield washer, and then the Jeep dinged at me, put a message on the dash saying SERVICE ELEC BRAKING SYSTEM, and turned on the stability control light.

Given that I was in the middle of nowhere on a 2-lane highway in the dark, it was icy as fuck out, and my tires were proving not up to the job, I was more than a little concerned at my sudden unexplained lack of stability control, and possibly other electronic nannies.

When I reached Janesville, which is a big enough town to have several chain restaurants and auto parts stores, I hit up O'Reilly to pull the code and see what was up. I also intentionally slammed on my brakes at an empty intersection to see if at least the ABS was still working—it was.

The scanner said C2205 - Steering Angle Sensor Internal.

I took the above picture of the code to remember it, and started googling for more info. Turned out this is a semi-common fault on WK Grand Cherokees and other Chrysler vehicles of similar vintage. I asked the guy to not clear the code so I could have the light on when I bring it to the mechanic. Feeling confident that I at least had ABS, I headed back home to Madison.

Monday morning I made an appointment with my mechanic to bring the Jeep in today, Wednesday. I kept researching to see if this was something I could sort out myself. But there's no one single fix. Possible causes included faulty ABS wheel speed sensors, faulty brake light switches, mis-aligned clocksprings, faulty steering angle sensor which means replacing the whole steering column control module ($$$), or simply needing to recalibrate the steering angle sensor.

That last one is the easiest fix: turn the car off then back on, center the wheel, crank it to the left lock, then right lock, then back to center, and turn the car off. I figured I'd at least try the recalibration process since it was so simple. I did that, and nothing happened. Light was still on. In a moment of frustration I said screw it, I'm going to try and clear that code and see if it stays away. Went to my local O'Reilly, and the scanner kept saying it cleared the code but the code wouldn't actually clear. I resigned myself to making a visit to the mechanic.

Last night however, the gremlin mysteriously left. I stopped for some groceries on my way home from work, and just randomly decided I would open the tailgate glass rather than the whole tailgate. I guess because it was damn cold out and I thought that would let less cold air in. I started the Jeep up, the SERVICE ELEC BRAKE SYSTEM message and stability control light came on as usual, but then halfway through the parking lot miraculously turned off.

I went home, and in the 2 more trips I've made since then, the light hasn't come back. I canceled my appointment with the mechanic, and we'll see if the warning returns.

My only thought is, something to do with the rear windshield had a random short with something to do with the steering angle sensor, and my opening and closing the tailgate glass to load my groceries somehow cleared things up. But that's circumstantial at best. There's no conclusive evidence as to what caused the message.

505Turbeaux > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 10:58

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maybe it takes a few start cycles to clear the code out. Hmmm

Textured Soy Protein > 505Turbeaux 01/07/2015 at 11:00

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That was another thought I had. Who knows? At least for now the problem appears to be sorted out.

Takuro Spirit > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 11:28

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Cixelsyd > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 11:29

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I've run into similar intermittent electrical gremlins at times. For a while, my passenger power door lock only worked about 10% of the time. Really annoying when you'd get out and press the lock button, only to have the system refuse to work because the passenger door wouldn't lock.

I was planning on having it fixed during the next scheduled service, but a few weeks before that happened, the issue cleared itself and the door has been working perfectly for about six months now. I figured it must have been some sort of issue in the code that finally got cleared somehow.

kincai28 > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 12:36

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My Jeep has had this code on and off for a year or two. It most recently came on the whole month of October and I finally figured I would go have it fixed while I got some other work done. Then mysteriously turned off again and hasn't returned since.

My Jeep (an 05' with the Hemi) has had all sorts of electrical gremlins over the years and I have yet to get any of them fixed. They always just heal themselves eventually.

Textured Soy Protein > kincai28 01/07/2015 at 12:41

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Mine is also an '05 Hemi. Good to know that if/when I catch another gremlin I should just ride it out a while before making any mechanic appointments.

kincai28 > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 12:45

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Yeah as long as everything works might as well. When I had the Service Elec Brake System light and traction control light I never got to check whether or not the traction control worked but as far as I could tell it worked (AWD & Michelin's will do that though I very rarely lose traction).

I also had one issue where my entire dash would turn off (this would happen about once a month, sometimes more frequent than others). Gauges, headlights, everything. That was a little sketchy at night but once I turned the car on and off again it fixed it. It hasn't done that in about a year though so I'm happy.

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 15:44

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Hey.... leave me out of this

I was NEVER a gremlin!

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Textured Soy Protein 01/07/2015 at 20:52

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I don't remember you mentioning more than ice, but if there was also snow and slushy crap, it can build up on ABS sensors and stuff, which can make readings a bit cloudy and trigger a malfunction warning. My parents' old minivan used to trigger the ABS malfunction light whenever the roads were crappy (ironically when you needed ABS the most is when it would fail) although it mostly did still work at least somewhat even when the light was on.

Textured Soy Protein > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 01/07/2015 at 23:24

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There's definitely a chance there was some slush too. The temp was just below freezing and while there weren't a ton of cars on the road, the ice wasn't exactly solidified. So that could've had something to do with it, I suppose.