Sway Bar problems

[JFordBronco]

Good morning y'all!
I have a 2015 Power Wagon and a 2015 Rubicon. Obviously, the PW is the toy hauler and the recovery vehicle and so far has been great, minus a few electrical gremlins.
Last weekend, while wheeling in Sicily Island, the sway bar light on the Jeep started flashing, indicating the sway bar would not disconnect. I even jumped up and down on the four corners to get it to disconnect and it didn't work. No problem, lets ride anyway, we are already here.
I get the Jeep cleaned up, loaded up and on Monday I call the dealership. The service guy starts in on abuse and water in the actuator is not under warranty, and so on and so on.
All of this leads me to this question. Have y'all ever had to have the sway bar replaced on the PW? If not under warranty, what did you do? If the "smart bar" was totally non-functional, what did you replace it with?
If I could figure out how to put the pictures on here, I would, but it keeps telling me they are too large. : (

Happy Sunday!

Scott

[trk4sale]

https://www.offroadevolution.com/?s=sway+bar
The manual disconnect fits 3rd gen's, but not sure about newer trucks.

[FordyceCreekTrail]

I am sure these guys will jump in here. But it seems like its typically the crappy connector that should be designed to keep water and dirt out. Uh, Ram its a 4x4. Seems like usually cleaning and greasing it gets it going again.

[olyelr]

I would try again at getting the dealer to diagnose and fix the issue. NICELY remind them that they did sell you an off road four wheel drive vehicle made with off road parts to do off road things. And it came with a manual which explains how to drive off road.

Depending on what it is, it could be a simple/minor repair or it could cost thousands at the dealer.

Have you pulled the wiring connection and checked it? Do your lockers still operate?

If it were me and it needed a new sway bar, I would just hard wire the lockers and use disconnect links on the sway bar. Hell, thats what I did with my rubi even when everything functioned fine. I never did use the sway bar disconnect, just removed the links. I also used the bypass switches for the lockers ten fold compared to the factory buttons.

[waldo]

If it's still under warranty, call FCA customer service or find another dealer.

I had an 05 PW that had electrical gremlins and they must have changed out a few thousand dollars worth of parts trying to fix it. Never a peep out of them about off roading it. They even changed the smart bar too.

[flattire]

Probably water got in connection as "olyelr" mentioned. Will be much easier/faster just to pull connector and dry it out and reseal it with silicone or something like it. If not it will just happen again.

Yes, dealer should have at least repaired problem this first time.

Yes, "off road" means dirt, mud, water , snow etc. Manufactures think it is about chrome, decals, paint stripes, floor mats etc.

[DamageWagon]

I had two scenarios happen to mine.
1. Like others said it's probably the connector with moisture in it. It's annoying how easy it is for that connector to cause problems. Mine looked dry inside and just needed a cleaning. I used brake cleaner, sprayed it out with compressed air and made sure it was totally dry (I didn't have an air dryer on my compressor) before reassembling. I never did the dielectric grease thing. It had silicone sealing it when I took it apart so I don't have much faith in that method.

2. Somehow, probably by repeatedly driving through see mud, my housing was packed full of dirt. The swaybar was permanently disengaged and could not re engage. I removed the bar, disassembled the housing, cleaned and greased everything and have been good to go since then.

If it's under warranty get them to fix it. That's an expensive part and controls the lockers as well. If you get out of warranty some day and have this problem you can hardwire the lockers and do the manual disconnect on the swaybar.