Jeep Patriot - Body Control Module

[kb01]

My wife is currently about 1,500 miles and 5 states away.

She called over the weekend and apparently, the running tail lights stopped working on her Jeep Patriot during her trip. There were no blown fuses and replacing the bulbs didn't do anything. All the other lights still work and there are no OBDII faults.

She took it to the mechanic her family uses and he traced the wiring and determined it's not getting power from the Body Control Module and it needs to be replaced ($$$).

Does anyone know...

1) Is the Body Control Module the same as the Totally Intergraded Power Module (TIPM), as in the box under the hood with the various fuses and all of the electric connections?

2) Is it possible a Chrysler dealer, with their proprietary scanners, might be able to diagnose/reset the fault, and it doesn't need to be replaced? The mechanic did mention that he tested the rear bulbs and determined that one of them was burned out. I'm wondering if it's possible that the burned bulb caused a short, and the module shut off the circuit and the whole thing just needs to be reset? Or is this just wishful thinking?


This whole thing is really frustrating, especially since it's so far away.

Thanks!

 

[dishdude]

I would get a second opinion from the dealer. It certainly could be the BCM, or something minor.

I don't even think an independent shop can properly replace a BCM without the proper factory scan tool to flash it.

 

[JTK]

What year Patriot? Any possible charging system or battery issues? Anything less than ~14VDC across the battery on a idling engine can cause this type of issue.

I'd try disconnecting the battery to see if that 'resets' anything.

 

[kb01]

It's a 2008 with about 110,000 miles. I put a new battery in over the summer. I'm not sure the condition of the alternator.

She has an appointment at a local dealer tomorrow. I'm somewhat paranoid about them trying to rake her over the coals by throwing the most expensive fix at the problem.

Looking online, it appears that the same year Dodge Caliber have had similar isolated electrical issues, that could be alleviated by disconnecting the battery and holding cables together for 10 minutes. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

 

[doitmyself]

I did a quick search at JeepPatriot.com and came up with no hits for Body Control Module.

A few hits for brake lights, with one fix being a loose wire connection near the brake pedal.

I will search more tonight.............I did get some hits in the electrical forum using "brake lights" and TIPM.

Looks like the TIPM is about a $900 fix. One poster said there might be a federally mandated 8 year warranty on TIPM????

Some posts alluded to faulty tow package wiring installs.

Good luck.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Yes, it could be the BCM. Chrysler had issues with the BCM on many 4th generation minivans where the headlamps would randomly lose power. I'm not sure if they were formally recalled, but if you Google for "chrysler bcm recall", you'll be presented with all sorts of links to minivan problems with BCMs.

I'm not saying that the BCM is at fault with your Patriot, but lamp power often is passed through the BCM, so it COULD be the problem.

 

[kb01]

Is the BCM the same as the TIPM, or is it something different? The mechanic quoted a price of $625 for the part, which makes me think it's something pretty essential.

 

[Brybo86]

Does the car have an off, on, auto mode? if so mb try to see if the lights work in either auto or force on mode?

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I don't know about the Patriot, but I recall JK owners having problems with brake lights and that being related to the TIPM.

 

[NHGUY]

Those TIPM have a lot of little relays inside them.I bet one is gone.If someone had time to remove it,I'm thinking a bad relay could be replaced.

 

[eljefino]

The relay idea is plausible, a bunch of crown vic headlights are lost in a similar issue.

Glad, for now, that they aren't using PWM transistors to make one bulb/ LED do several things at several brightnesses.

 

[meep]

Yes check the relay. they are like $8 and swappable under the hood by the owner. if the relay is bad, I would expect the amber marker lights in the headlamp assemblies would also be dark, though most folks won't notice this immediately since they are drowned by the headlamps. turn signals will not be affected.

 

[NHHEMI]

I read something on the Patriot forums a while ago about similar problems and it was actually corroded wiring going to the BCM not the BCM itself.

 

[caravanmike]

Originally Posted By: kb01
Looking online, it appears that the same year Dodge Caliber have had similar isolated electrical issues, that could be alleviated by disconnecting the battery and holding cables together for 10 minutes. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
you are esentially rebooting the bcm. sometimes it does work.

 

[kb01]

For those that care...

I called my wife last night and walked her through disconnecting the battery, as well as an aftermarket trailer harness that I installed a few years ago. No luck in that department but I'm very proud of her for getting her hands dirty. Outside of the running tail lights, all other lights worked fine, including the parking lights.

She took it to the dealer this morning. The dealer traced the wiring and found a short in the driver's side fender. All in all, it came to a little under $200 to diagnose and repair.

 

[Vikas]

Was there a collision damage in that particular area? One does not usually have these kind of problem otherwise.

 

[doitmyself]

Thank you kb01 for following up, because it helps us all learn...........in my case, the foibles of immediately starting to swap parts.

Even though it is hard to stomach dealer labor rates, in this case they found the problem and avoided even bigger expenses. Kudos to them. Electrical problems are challenging.

Vikas, I googled "bcm wire problems" and it "seems" that a bad wire somewhere in the harness is as prevalent (maybe more) than the actual bcm going bad. This is across many brands, not just Jeep.

Or, kb01's wife might be a sneaking out to do some rock crawling with the Pat and it's starting to show.

 

[artificialist]

A failed electrical connection to the BCM of my 2003 Saturn ION happened once. In my case, it was related to the electric power steering. Thankfully it was under warranty.
First the OEM BCM got reprogrammed. That solved the problem for a few days.
Next they installed a replacement BCM. That solved the problem for a few days.
Finally, they had some guy check all connections, and he repaired one.

To this day sometimes I think that the BCM never needed replacement.