2008 Jeep Wrangler Headlight Problems

Which parts fail

• Headlights
  1

Components named in complaints (headlights, tail lights, turn signals, interior lights).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  38%
• 25k–50k
  411%
• 50k–75k
  514%
• 75k–100k
  925%
• 100k–150k
  1336%
• 150k+
  26%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2008 Jeep Wrangler owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

While driving at speed, vehicle electrical went haywire. Headlights went on and off. Horn sounding on and off, Wipers and washers going on and off, HVAC blower on and off. Pulled over vehicle and turned off and removed key and it still remained running, all horn, lights, and wipers still going on and off. Opened hood, removed negative battery terminal, and with that, car still ran! Was several minutes and car finally shut itself off. Scary that the car went completely haywire and would not shut off, even with key out, and battery disconnected!

Car parked and stationary at home. Opened the rear door (with keys in hand, not in ignition) and the front windshield wipers started going and the running lights came on. After 1-2 minutes the horn started blowing and the heater blower motor came on. Putting the key in ignition or not made no difference. Pulled the positive terminal off of the battery and everything stopped. Reconnected the positive terminal and nothing unusual happened. Tried starting the car to test and the key activated the dash but would not start the engine but normal dash lights came on. While trying different things (shift to neutral, park, on, off, etc) the wipers (front and rear), blower, running lights and horn all came back on and the engine started without turning the key from run to start. Wipers and blower speed changed without touching any controls. …

The first of many times happened one morning as I was getting into vehicle. The horn, windshield wipers . The wipers sprayed all the fluid in the reservoir. I could not turn these off. After disconnecting the battery, the engine would not crank for some time and the horn no longer worked. The dealership diagnosed the problem as a faulty horn and replaced the clock spring, horn and a fuse. A few weeks later, while driving, the horn, wipers and lights all came on and I could not turn these off! Even after removing the key, the engine and all the above would not shut off! Once again, I had to disconnect the battery in order to shut these components off. This has happened numerous times since! The dealership is now saying the problem is with the TIPM. But, in the meantime, is this vehicle safe to drive? …

This problem started in mid auust 2016 and is still going on ....wipers going off n on by themselves, horn blaring, lights blinking on n off, signm=al lights not working at times, Jeep wont move forward at times, steering gets hard to manage, check engine light goes of and on all the time..... This happens at anytime or anywhere....can go on for about 2-3 minutes...people start staring as if I am crazy blowing the horn at them and my lights flashing through out. This should definitely be a recalled issue based on the 2007 Jeep Wrangler having the same issue...for all I know the 2008 jeeps were probably intalled parts from the line from the 2007 Jeep wranglers which had problems with the ticm......I am trying to get estimates right now but the tcim part alone costs $425 or mre plus labor and additional for programming......this is ridiculous!!!!! …

2008 Jeep Wrangler has had several issues with TIPM. Wipers will come on, horn will sound, washer fluid sprays, and transmission will not shift (when the vehicle is in motion and this happens) intermittently and will sometimes create a no crank/no start condition after the malfunction happens while the vehicle is in motion and has been shut off. Defect has been traced back to TIPM and TIPM was replaced with an aftermarket remanufactured TIPM. Problem resolved and now has reappeared with additional symptoms, such as when vehicle is put in reverse wipers will go off and engine will rev to higher rpms than necessary to allow for acceleration. The TIPM defect creates a significant safety hazard when it interferes with the shifting, acceleration of vehicle. Most recent issue was 11/09/2020; issue has been ongoing since 06/2019.

Headlights will flash 4 times and then turn off. Sometimes I am able to drive it and sometimes not. I have brought to mechanic twice now for that issue. The first time they worked fine for him,even though I had to drive with just fog lights the night before. The second time he put in a new switch but found that wasn't the problem and the lights were working again.. I brought it home and again the lights didn't work. Upon research I have found that a lot of others complain about the same issue and have spent hundreds of dollars on parts it May be, only to continue to have the same problem. I have a vehicle that May or May not work properly and it is very concerning to whether or not the headlights will go out during driving. This is a safety concern and should be addressed immediately.

While driving home last night during a snow storm at approx. 50 MPH the engine stalled and the lights started going on and off. Thankfully I was able to make it to the highway shoulder and stop. I attempted to restart the engine but it would not (the light continued to flicker on and off sporadically, they finally stopped after I turned the emergency flashers on. I tried to restart the engine and it started but the lights started their on and off dance again so I went through the process of shutting it off and managed to get the light to stop by turning the emergency flashers off then on again. After approx. 15 to 20 minute I tried a restart and it started with no symptom's so I was able to drive home with no further incident.

As the vehicle was travelling at night on a two-lane country road at 35 MPH, the electrical power of the vehicle shut off, including headlights, radio, interior power, ventilation, and engine. The duration of the outage was approximately 10 seconds. This power outage occurred just prior to a curve and caused loss of vision and ABS braking, causing a skid and narrowly missed colliding with a guardrail. The power then came back on, and all systems appeared to return to normal. There appears to be a power distribution problem that affected the operability of the vehicle, creating a hazardous condition. Battery and alternator check out OK, so a power supply problem is not a root cause of the issue.

Driving on the interstate the all of the dash warning lights came on and blinked(ABS,ESC,traction control,brake,seatbelt) then the vehicle stalled causing loss of control. Luckily no vehicles around and I regained control after going in the median. Put in 4 wheel drive and got out. The vehicle then stalled again turning everything off including 4 way flashers when I stopped at a light. It was dark and the Jeep is dark green. I had a flashlight to warn other drivers. Very dangerous situation. I opened the hood and pounded my fist on the main fuse box. After 3 minutes the vehicle came to life and I started it to get off roadway.

Headlights continue to go out. Daughter has to drive home with fog lights. Engine fan comes on and off. Took to Jeep they said it was a short and it worked for a month, same thing. After research it appears the TIPM is bad, lots of complaints etc. Online regarding this issue. The lights have gone off while driving on highway, and city street and also after the car was parked at work all day. It is random. I have tapped on the TIPM module and then turned on the lights and they work again for a day or two and then go out again. This has happened several times since December 2015, the last time was March 5, 2016.

Headlight complaints in other Wrangler years