The primary purpose of the mileage, or more accurately the Odometer on your Jeep Renegade, is to measure the total distance that your car has traveled. The odometer also measures other indicators like oil changes, tire rotations, and so on.
Therefore, when the odometer or mileage is flashing, it should normally be an indication that your car needs servicing. However, you may find that the the mileage is blinking even though it hasn’t been long since the last servicing.
In this article, I have provided all the possible reasons why mileage may be flashing on your Jeep Renegade. The reason for this error differs among different people and situations, and so you may have to use an elimination method to find a solution for yours.
A good rule of thumb is to try to remember what happened out of the ordinary on your car right before the mileage started blinking.
Why is My Jeep Renegade Mileage Flashing?
1. Bug or Glitch
A common reason why the mileage on your Jeep Renegade is flashing is simply because there is a bug or glitch on the car’s computer system, or a bug in the connection between the computer system and other parts of the car.
Bugs are usually minor issues that require simple fixes, while glitches usually go away on their own. Whatever the case, try the fixes below to see if the blinking mileage stops on your car:
Fix 1 – Restart the car
The first way to fix minor bugs that may cause the blinking mileage on a Jeep Renegade is to restart the car. Restarting the car is a quick way to reset the connections in the car’s computer system and get it communicating properly again with the CANBus.
- With the car running, press the remote start button on the key fob once to turn off the car engine
- Wait one full minute
- Press the remote start button on the key fob twice within 5 seconds to start the engine again
Check to see if the odometer stops flashing
Fix 2: Disconnect and reconnect the negative terminal on the car battery
A quick but safe way to reset the electrical, electronic, and computer connections in your Jeep Renegade is to disconnect the negative terminal on the car battery and reconnect it after 15 minutes.
Note: Make sure that you reconnect the terminal securely. A loose battery connection could cause issues which I will detail later in this article.
Bottom line: If the issue is caused by a bug in the connections in the car, then disconnecting and reconnecting the negative terminal on the car battery is likely to resolve it. This has worked for many other uses.
Fix 3: Ignore the flashing
If the flashing on your odometer or mileage is caused by a glitch, then it is likely to go away on its own after a while. Many users have reported that the flashing mileage went away on it own after a couple of hours.
2. Proxy Alignment Issues
The Proxy Alignment or Proxi Alignment or Proxi Configuration Alignment (whatever term you may know it by) in a car is the programming process that controls how all the electronic units in the car communicate with the car’s computer system.
Making changes to the car’s configuration or adding new modules to the car will break the proxy alignment. This will cause issues like flashing mileage in your Jeep Renegade.
Now, remember when I said earlier that a good rule of thumb for knowing what could be causing the flashing mileage is to try to remember if anything happened recently with the car?
Below I have listed the common changes in your Jeep Renegade that could mess up the proxy alignment and result in issues like the flashing mileage:
1. Using your Jeep Renegade to Jump-start Another Car
In a previous article on jumpstarting using Jeep Renegade, I provided you with reasons why you should reconsider using your Jeep Renegade to jumpstart another car.
In summary, I explained that the Jeep’s electronic connections are so sensitive that using it for a jumpstart could mess up the connections and thus, the proxy alignment. When this alignment is broken, issues like flashing mileage can arise on your Jeep Renegade.
2. Upgrading the AC or its controls
The Jeep Renegade’s A/C is one of several electronic units that are connected to the car’s computer system or Electronc Control Unit.
The A/C unit that comes with your Jeep is already aligned with the car’s computer. So, when you make upgrades to the A/C unit, the proxy alignment may break and you would need to have the proxy alignment reconfigured with the new A/C system.
3. Driving with loosely-connected battery terminals
Another factor that affects the Jeep Renegade proxy alignment is driving the car with loose battery terminals.
If one or both terminals on the car battery are not securely fixed, it will break the circuit that connects the electrical and electronic components to the car’s computer system. This will cause issues like the mileage or odometer flashing in your Jeep Renegade.
Fix: Reconfigure Proxy Alignment
This is definitely one for the car dealer. When you find that any of the factors listed above may have caused issues with the proxy alignment and resulted in the flashing mileage, your best bet is to take your car to the dealership and have them reconfigure the proxy alignment.
Reconfiguring the proxy alignment should only take a couple of hours. Once you know that a recent change in the car must have caused the flashing mileage, you could inform the dealer so that they don’t have to spend days trying to figure out the cause for an issue that could be resolved in a matter of hours.
Fix 2 – Use Jeep Renegade with best practice
I explained earlier that practices such as using your Jeep Renegade to jumpstart another car or driving the car with partially connected battery terminals could break the proxy alignment and cause the flashing mileage issue.
To prevent issues like this, you need to use your Jeep Renegade with best practices such as:
- Do not jumpstart another car with your Jeep Renegade. However, if you have to do it, then follow the guide provided in this article very diligently*****(insert link to the jumpstart with jeep renegade article).
- If for any reason you disconnect any of the battery terminals, make sure that you reconnect them securely
- Do not make any changes to the car modules without employing the services of a trusted and experienced car dealer. The dealer should know to reconfigure the alignment after making such changes.
3. Firmware Issues
An out-of-date firmware or bugs in the firmware of the car’s computer system is another common reason why the mileage on your Jeep Renegade may be flashing.
As you may already know, your Jeep Renegade is a computer unit that connects to, and communicate with all the electrical and electronic parts of the car.
When this computer unit is out of date or has developed a bug, it may cause the mileage to start flashing even though there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car itself.
Fix – Update the Uconnect Firmware
Uconnect is the user interface of your Jeep Renegade computer system. Follow the steps below to update the computer firmware using Uconnect:
1. Go to the Uconnect downloads web page on your PC and enter the full 17 digits of your vehicle identification number.
2. Click on Check for Updates
3. When the update result displays, click on Get started
4. Next, click on View Available Updates
5. On the next page that opens, click on Download Updates
6. Depending on the speed of your internet connection, the download may take a while. But that’s okay because the update file is usually quite large.
7. When the download is complete, insert an empty USB stick into your computer and copy the download file to the USB stick.
8. When the file transfer is complete, make sure to eject the USB stick properly before removing it from the computer.
9. Next, turn on your Jeep Renegade and let it idle. If you don’t want to leave the car idling while the update is installed, you can connect the battery to an external charger instead.
10. Next, insert the USB stick into the USB port on your Jeep Renegade.
11. You should see a message telling you to wait while the update is validated. Press OK and wait.
12. After a short while, you will see a message stating that the update validation is completed. Then you’ll be asked if you want to install the update. Click Yes to install the update
13. When the update process starts, do not remove the USB stick until you’re prompted to do so. Also, do not press any buttons or perform any other tasks on the car until the update is completed.
14. The update process may take a while and you will see progress bars displayed on the screen.
15. Once the update is completed, your stereo system will restart.
16. Accept the changes and then allow the system to reboot fully
17. You may be prompted again to wait for a few minutes while the update is validated. Select okay.
18. If you are asked whether you want to reinstall the update, select No
19. Finally, remove the memory stick from the USB port and then test the sound system.
4. Malfunctioning Jeep Renegade Radio
A Jeep Renegade’s radio isn’t just a stereo system in your car. It is the actual computer unit that connects the electrical and electronic components in the car.
When the radio system malfunctions, it can cause other electronic parts to malfunction and result in issues such as the mileage flashing on your Jeep Renegade.
Fix – Fix or Replace Radio
Take your car to the dealer and have them examine the car radio. They could either fix it or order a placement for you. Many users found that fixing or replacing the radio resolved the issue of flashing mileage on Jeep Renegade.
5. Jeep Renegade Does Need Servicing
The final but least common reason I have found as to why the mileage on your Jeep Renegade is flashing is that the car actually does need servicing. This is especially the case where the flashing mileage is accompanied by other indicators such as check engine indicator, trouble starting the car, and so on.
Even though it may appear that the car shouldn’t logically be due for servicing, the way you have used to car in recent times may warrant some parts of the car to need servicing.
Fix – Take the car to the dealer for servicing. Spark plugs, key wirings, oil levels, and so on should all be looked at.