NHTSA Complaint #10290468 — 2004 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE

1) FIRST, THE CAR CRANKS (IGNITION) SLOWLY AND THEN STOPPED CRANKING. 2) AFTER IGNITION IS TURNED OFF OR CAR STALLED, CAR DOESN'T START ANY MORE. NEED TO WAIT FOR ABOUT 15 TO 30 MIN. BEFORE CAR STARTS AGAIN. FIRST INTERMITTENT, NOW ALMOST EVERY TIME. THE CONSEQUENCE IS THAT WE BLOCKED RAILWAY CROSSINGS, DRIVEWAYS, INTERSECTIONS AND SO ON. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERN ! 3) - ON 8/14/09, THE BATTERY WAS DIAGNOSED TO BE BAD. REPLACED, DIDN'T FIX THE PROBLEM. ($200) - ON 8/18/09, THE CAR WAS IN THE SHOP AGAIN, BUT MAINTENANCE GUY COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING SINCE IT WAS INTERMITTENT. ($0) - ON 9/1/09, THE CAR WAS IN THE SHOP AGAIN. THIS TIME SOME WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON. (TRANS TEMP, CHECK GAUGES) THIS TIME THEY FOUND THAT (POSSIBLE) TRANSMISSION TEMPERATURE RANGE SENSOR WOULD NOT ALLOW STARTUP. TRANSMISSION SERVICE WAS RECOMMENDED AND PERFORMED BUT DIDN'T FIX THE PROBLEM. ($385) - LATER IN OCTOBER, THE CAR WAS IN THE SHOP AGAIN. FOR 2 WEEKS WITHOUT SUCCESS. DEALER MENTIONED THAT HE WAS ONLY ABLE TO RECONSTRUCT THE FAILURE ONCE. DAILY TESTING DIDN'T SHOW THE PROBLEM ANY MORE. CAR WAS PICKED UP ON 10/26/09. SINCE THAT TIME, THE CAR IS HAVING THE PROBLEM MORE THAN 50% OF THE TIME. SEEMS THAT THE CAR NEED TO BE DRIVEN AT LEAST SEVERAL MILES UNTIL THE PROBLEM SHOWS UP. - ON 10/31/09, CAR WILL GO TO SHOP AGAIN. *TR