2020 gladiator: ESS/aux battery bypass/ blown N3 fuse with no hvac or radio controls

[Moose400ex]

here is the scoop. 2020 gladiator, mint condition, v6 gas motor with 20,000 miles. we are at the end of our rope on trying to figure pout what is wrong with this thing. the aux battery gave us fits, replaced it with a good expensive one, problems i guess went away and then started to come back, 'ESS electronic start stop) unavailable' message and the HVAC controls are disable along with the radio controls, no blower motor. So we went the aux battery by pass route. its a stupid designed setup in the first place, and that's the message i get with all the problems people talk of. The AUX POS. (+) battery cable was put on the main battery POS (+), the neg (-) AUX battery cable was disconnected at the main battery terminal and it was taped off. fuse 47 was removed. the Main Fuse bar was found to have N3 blown, which is the 150amp fuse for the alternator charging the aux battery, no biggie, I replaced the entire main use bar. followed all the directions of every write up or article, you tube vids, forum articles, everything. there's all sorts of things people are saying to do, some not very specific on exactly what it is they did, very vague directions. but with my auto/autotronics experience in auto skool and a wiring diagram i do understand it.
i guess my questions are:
-why is the same problems continuing? am i missing something?
-is everything that is needed to be done to bypass the aux battery system done? there was several 'ways' to do it, and options as far as a dual battery set up, we just wanted to get the heck rid of it all together and turn off the ESS with the TASER all together.
the jeep has a taser which at the moment is taken out while we diag and chase these issues. i know with the taser you can disable the ESS completely. but only if it is 'available' when the 'ESS unavailable' message is displayed you cant disable it.
-why is the HVAC controls, radio and stereo functions disables and shut off? and this is intermittent! in the morning is when it does it! the 'ESS unavailable' message will be up on the dash and the HVAC controls, and radio stereo functions shut off. in the afternoon on the way home from work it all seems to work! i thought maybe the N3 fuse on the main fuse bar was blown again, and it wasn't. that itself would cause these issues, yes, after the aux battery and main became drained and low voltage. the N3 fuse links the aux battery to the alternator and main battery. i could see the high current/ high amp systems like radio/ HVAC controls/ blower motor being shut down during a low voltage incident. but huh? am i missing something?
-why would it be intermittent? alternator maybe? that's my thought now. I'm really stumped. go after the alternator? that's really the only thing else in the loop! all in all we don't care about the ESS, it can never come back as far as we care. well just disable it with the taser when it let us. but we really need the HVAC/ blower motor, and radio/ navigation controls! the Main Battery is brand new, a high end AGM battery we got from batteries plus. what about the PCR (power relay control)? like seriously, the PCR and the alternator is really all that's left in the loop?
please help!
Daniel
GJrand junction Colorado
2020 jeep gladiator
2002 Ram 2500 24v HO 6 speed

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[Mr._Bill]

ESS cannot be disabled. All you can do is prevent it from turning the engine off when it calls for it.

When doing the Aux battery delete, the PCR fuse needs to be removed. This forces the startup test to look at the Main Battery instead of the Aux.

The two batteries are paralleled together. When deleting the Aux, tape the end of the cable and leave it in the Aux box, or remove the cable.

Check all your fuses and cable connections. If there are any fuses or relays that are not seated properly, it will cause various intermittent issues.

When batteries are changed, they need to be fully charged before installation. The IBS also needs to be reset (fully disconnect for at least ten minutes).

When doing anything with the batteries, care needs to be taken with the cable ends. Accidental shorts blow fuses in the high current array. I use plastic bottles on the ends of the cables.

The ESS unavailable message is usually the result of low voltage levels. If it is accompanied by the orange ESS unavailable symbol, it is from the Aux battery startup test failing.

Since you have both newer batteries, my suggestion is to put it back to factory condition. Fully charge both batteries, then reconnect everything. Check all the fuses and connections. If it works as it should, then you can start back down the path of Aux delete, if so desired. If it doesn't work properly, then you will need dealer assistance. They will want the electrical system in the factory state. Also, it can take the head unit up to 24 hours to recover from full power loss.

 

[Moose400ex]

i think at one point my dad had it back to 'factory oe' with the brand new aux battery back in its spot, its not hard to remove in and out by going in thru the inner fender and having aftermarket inner fender's makes it even easier. like mentioned, both batteries are brand new, and it was the same thing, intermitnient. we seem to think weve fixed it, casue it goes away and everythings normal and everything is working and then later that day or the next morning it comes back, then goes away. both brand new batts they tested good, we had brand new batts tested just for santitys sake lol thats how thurough im being here!, I fully charged on the bench before install for santitys sake. I would like to say we've done everything very systematically and thoroughly done everything to eliminate any and all doubt of a particular thing not leaving anything to chance or questionable. all the cable ends are nicely done up. all the crappy factory cable ends and batt terminals have been cut off and redone nicely. the aux battery was completely removed. the aux battery pos (+) was pulled up thru the main batt tray and connected to the main battery POS (+). this is done so that it still thinks the aux batt is still there? or are you saying to not hook ANY or either of the AUX battery cables POS (+) or NEG (-) to anything and to simply remove them all together or tape them up? I see so many different write ups saying so many different things, and are so unspecific, that's why I'm trying to be as down right specific and descriptive as i can. the PCR fuse, that's the 'Fuse 47' they say to remove. that's for the PCR. so it cant be that, pulling the fuse does away with the PCR relay. so all else that leaves in the loop is the alternator?
When this problem first happened a year or so ago, with the stock OE Aux battery in place it did just what it is doing now, display "ess unavailable" message, and disable the hvac controls, blower motor, and radio/ nav screen and controls, which are high amp/current draws.
it is very very easy to accidentally touch pos and neg batt cables when doing anything, and that may be how the first main fuse bar got blown. it has a brand new one in it now and a brand new high quality AGM battery from batteries plus, i forget what they called it.
the only thing i have yet to test is the alternator, can/would an alternator be intermittent? seriously for 5 days straight it was the same thing each morning and same thing at 5pm in the afternoon. in the morning at 8:30 am the hvac controls, radio/navigation worked and were functioning, the "ess unavailable" message was not displayed, no check engine lights, everything normal. voltage displayed 14.2 v (ish or abouts) its a 5 mile drive to work,
at 5pm in the afternoon after sitting for 8 hours, we start it up, and immediately the hvac controls/ blower fan, radio and navigation controls are disabled, and off, not working,not available, and the 'ess unavailable' message is displayed. the jeep gladiator runs,drives and is fully drive able aside from not having a/c or hvac or a radio and nav. kind of ironic hbow everything works in the monring when its not super hot pout and dosent work in the late afternoon when its really hot and a/c is needed.
- on a side note, im not sure what the voltage readout says the voltage is in the late afternoon when the problem happens, if its a 14.2 or what ever 'charging volts' or a normal resting/standing '12.6 volts'. like you said the 'ess unavailable' message indicated low voltage and the disabling of hvac/blower motor and radio/ nav and sound-system functions being high amp power draws would indicate a low voltage state right? am i on the right path here? i think next would be to target the alternator. the only other thing i could think of was the PCR relay, but if removing fuse 47 or what ever disables that then its already removed from the loop of potential things. i don't think the alternator would be bad, but i guess its not entirely impossible either. please let me know what you think. i appreciate the help and someone that has knowledge of the systems to process this with!
Daniel
Grand junction Colorado

 

[Mr._Bill]

The 14.2 system voltage when running shows the alternator is working, and that it sees the voltage level as low and is trying to charge the batteries. When the batteries are fully charged, it will drop to around 12.9 while running.

The five mile commute is your enemy, in this case. That is not enough run time to even recover from the overnight parasitic draw it suffers from.

I would also suggest a 12v power port adapter for the trailer plug and a battery maintainer. The expected life span for the batteries is about three years. If the batteries are not kept charged, it becomes much less.

 

[Mr._Bill]

You can do a simple test on each battery. Fully charge it and check the level, it should be 12.8 volts or a little higher. Then let it sit for a while with no load. If it is not able to maintain a 12.8 level, then it is suspect.

 

[Rocksalt]

OP says he removed fuse 47. It is fuse 42 that gets removed

 

[Lost1wing]

With both batteries fully charged fuse 42 and 47 reinstalled, I would disconnect the IBS connector and the neg cable at the fender. Go back inside and have a coffee, relax a bit and give it 20/30 minutes. Go back out and reconnect the grd cable on the fender, reinstall the IBS connector and drive it. Wait 24hrs for your icons to reappear and hopefully your ESS will operate normally.

If you are pulling 47 and it should be 42 with the aux negative isolated, the IBS is truly confused about the system.

Just slow down, and start over if it still fails. Charge the batteries, reset the IBS and wait 24hrs for things to start working again.

If you still feel the need to eliminate the aux, at least you would know everything was functioning normally before the mod.

 

[Lost1wing]

i think at one point my dad had it back to 'factory oe' with the brand new aux battery back in its spot, its not hard to remove in and out by going in thru the inner fender and having aftermarket inner fender's makes it even easier. like mentioned, both batteries are brand new, and it was the same thing, intermitnient. we seem to think weve fixed it, casue it goes away and everythings normal and everything is working and then later that day or the next morning it comes back, then goes away. both brand new batts they tested good, we had brand new batts tested just for santitys sake lol thats how thurough im being here!, I fully charged on the bench before install for santitys sake. I would like to say we've done everything very systematically and thoroughly done everything to eliminate any and all doubt of a particular thing not leaving anything to chance or questionable. all the cable ends are nicely done up. all the crappy factory cable ends and batt terminals have been cut off and redone nicely. the aux battery was completely removed. the aux battery pos (+) was pulled up thru the main batt tray and connected to the main battery POS (+). this is done so that it still thinks the aux batt is still there? or are you saying to not hook ANY or either of the AUX battery cables POS (+) or NEG (-) to anything and to simply remove them all together or tape them up? I see so many different write ups saying so many different things, and are so unspecific, that's why I'm trying to be as down right specific and descriptive as i can. the PCR fuse, that's the 'Fuse 47' they say to remove. that's for the PCR. so it cant be that, pulling the fuse does away with the PCR relay. so all else that leaves in the loop is the alternator?
When this problem first happened a year or so ago, with the stock OE Aux battery in place it did just what it is doing now, display "ess unavailable" message, and disable the hvac controls, blower motor, and radio/ nav screen and controls, which are high amp/current draws.
it is very very easy to accidentally touch pos and neg batt cables when doing anything, and that may be how the first main fuse bar got blown. it has a brand new one in it now and a brand new high quality AGM battery from batteries plus, i forget what they called it.
the only thing i have yet to test is the alternator, can/would an alternator be intermittent? seriously for 5 days straight it was the same thing each morning and same thing at 5pm in the afternoon. in the morning at 8:30 am the hvac controls, radio/navigation worked and were functioning, the "ess unavailable" message was not displayed, no check engine lights, everything normal. voltage displayed 14.2 v (ish or abouts) its a 5 mile drive to work,
at 5pm in the afternoon after sitting for 8 hours, we start it up, and immediately the hvac controls/ blower fan, radio and navigation controls are disabled, and off, not working,not available, and the 'ess unavailable' message is displayed. the jeep gladiator runs,drives and is fully drive able aside from not having a/c or hvac or a radio and nav. kind of ironic hbow everything works in the monring when its not super hot pout and dosent work in the late afternoon when its really hot and a/c is needed.
- on a side note, im not sure what the voltage readout says the voltage is in the late afternoon when the problem happens, if its a 14.2 or what ever 'charging volts' or a normal resting/standing '12.6 volts'. like you said the 'ess unavailable' message indicated low voltage and the disabling of hvac/blower motor and radio/ nav and sound-system functions being high amp power draws would indicate a low voltage state right? am i on the right path here? i think next would be to target the alternator. the only other thing i could think of was the PCR relay, but if removing fuse 47 or what ever disables that then its already removed from the loop of potential things. i don't think the alternator would be bad, but i guess its not entirely impossible either. please let me know what you think. i appreciate the help and someone that has knowledge of the systems to process this with!
Daniel
Grand junction Colorado

Read up on Mr. Bill or ShadowsPapa posts on ESS. Stay away from YouTube. You can get good info but you can be lead a stray. I posted what I would do. I would also keep the Aux connected in the system. It gives you more of an idea on when to put a trickle charger on it every now and then. I have Noco charge permanently installed on several of my vehicles now. It makes it very convenient.

 

[Rocksalt]

I have fuse 42 pulled and aux neg cable isolated goingon 2 years. Hood plunger disabled. Not a single issue other than avenger light on.

 

[Moose400ex]

Yeah I think I might have said fuse 47, I got it confused with fuse 42, fuse 42 is the one we have pulled not fuse 47.
so Iweve kinda stepped away from it for the week just to see what would happen and literally every day it did the same thing. Like
Clock work. It’s a 5 mile commute to work, 5 mi home. Leave the house at 8am, the a/c, blower motor, radio, everything works as it should, ess is avaliable, and turned off! Everything perfect.
Jeep sits all day, for 8 hrs. Drive 5 mi home at 5pm. The a/c, blower motor, and radio shuts down, the ESS is unavailable. Every day it does this like clock work.
I want to
Lake it abundantly clear, we do not want anything to do with the ESS! It’s a terrible idea. Bad bad bad. It’s not worth anything, shutting down the engine every time you come to a stop and the have it start your engine back up and having to build oil pressure again is so
M U.S. wear and tear on the engine! It prolly takes less fuel to keep it running for 30 seconds than it does to restart it! I think the myth busters or someone on utube did a video on this. Anyways, that’s not the issue. But to be clear, we hate the ESS and don’t want it! We don’t want the aux battery or anything to do with it! We want to simplify the system and make it so there is less things to
Fail or go wrong. Taking the ESS and aux batt failure out of the loop. so here’s where we stand..
-main battery is brand brand spanking new high dollar AGM and good.
-the aux battery is brand spanking new Duracell agm. Just bought a new one last night we are going to reinstall.
-we have not tested the alternator, i at one point questioned it, but it is charging at normal 14.2 volts.
-the sensor on the neg batt terminal is brand new.
-all batt ends and terminals are brand new nice ones, with extra spots for adding accessories like a winch etc. not the factory oe ones. We redid the cable ends with aftermarket ones. Everything tight and heat shrinked and secured.
-the main fuse bar is brand new. We have blown ‘N3’ before which controls charging of the aux battery, but yes it’s brand new now.
- taser is uninstalled currently
- we are going to rebook everything back up as it would be factory normal OE with a new aux battery and a new main battery. Put everything back to OE and start from scratch. put fuse 42 back, reconnect the aux ground and pos batt cables, and see what happens.
Like someone suggested, go back to factory and start over, see if everything works, if the ESS is avaliable and functional and the a/c controls, blower motor, hvac and radio controls.
and then go from there, we can use the taser to disable and turn off the ESS functionality and remove that from the loop. I guess the taser can turn off the ESS so you don’t have to push the ESS button every time you get in and start the jeep? *face palm* why do they put stupid things like this on vehicles. It’s a terrible idea. It’s aggravating what gets forced upon us as consumers by the major car manufacturers and companies. Like kei trucks. You know everyone would be running around in those likely things everywhere getting 50 mpg all day long bussing around town. But noooo! Can’t have everyone driving fuel efficient little mini trucks around town, they must drive big massive ford excursion sized vehicles to go to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk, or it’s ev’s that get crammed down our throats. Junk.
When I went to auto/ diesel/ autotronics collage back in 2004/2005 in Phoenix Arizona, I remember my engines class teacher talking about electric cars and saying something along the lines that, they let never going to be a huge thing and they aren’t going to work because the battery technology, the batteries suck, they are to big, to heavy, and cant have the same efficiency as a combustion engine. And here we are 20 years later and EV’s are still a flop! ok end rant on things we’ll never be able to have a say in or control. We’re just mindless minions and subservient slaves to the elite class.
I’ll update how things go once we get everything back to stock/ OE / factory settings and if everything works normal as it should. If not then there’s an issue somewhere and we got bigger problems.
I appreciate everyone’s help and if there’s anything else you can think of please let me know! Even if it’s silly I’m open to any and all ideas to figure this one out! Going back to a factory stock setting and starting over to eliminate any and all doubt over anything is going to answer it hopefully. But please let me know if you think of anything! I’m out in the garage working on the gladiator today and have my laptop on my tool box!
Thank you!
Daniel
Grand junction CO

 

[fst96se]

Any news?

 

[Dp7]

I have a JL with a chronic N3 fuse blowing problem. Aux battery replaced, starter replaced, sitting in shop for three weeks with the service department scratching their heads. It's a shame there isn't an approved way to bypass the aux battery so the service department could just do that and call it a day... like even if they called it a "temporary diagnostic bypass" and left it like that "temporarily".

 

[jebiruph]

I have a JL with a chronic N3 fuse blowing problem. Aux battery replaced, starter replaced, sitting in shop for three weeks with the service department scratching their heads. It's a shame there isn't an approved way to bypass the aux battery so the service department could just do that and call it a day... like even if they called it a "temporary diagnostic bypass" and left it like that "temporarily".

Did they replace the main battery yet? I've seen this reported due to a faulty main battery needing too much assistance during an ESS restart, causing a surge through the N3 fuse.

 

[CharlesVH]

here is the scoop. 2020 gladiator, mint condition, v6 gas motor with 20,000 miles. we are at the end of our rope on trying to figure pout what is wrong with this thing. the aux battery gave us fits, replaced it with a good expensive one, problems i guess went away and then started to come back, 'ESS electronic start stop) unavailable' message and the HVAC controls are disable along with the radio controls, no blower motor. So we went the aux battery by pass route. its a stupid designed setup in the first place, and that's the message i get with all the problems people talk of. The AUX POS. (+) battery cable was put on the main battery POS (+), the neg (-) AUX battery cable was disconnected at the main battery terminal and it was taped off. fuse 47 was removed. the Main Fuse bar was found to have N3 blown, which is the 150amp fuse for the alternator charging the aux battery, no biggie, I replaced the entire main use bar. followed all the directions of every write up or article, you tube vids, forum articles, everything. there's all sorts of things people are saying to do, some not very specific on exactly what it is they did, very vague directions. but with my auto/autotronics experience in auto skool and a wiring diagram i do understand it.
i guess my questions are:
-why is the same problems continuing? am i missing something?
-is everything that is needed to be done to bypass the aux battery system done? there was several 'ways' to do it, and options as far as a dual battery set up, we just wanted to get the heck rid of it all together and turn off the ESS with the TASER all together.
the jeep has a taser which at the moment is taken out while we diag and chase these issues. i know with the taser you can disable the ESS completely. but only if it is 'available' when the 'ESS unavailable' message is displayed you cant disable it.
-why is the HVAC controls, radio and stereo functions disables and shut off? and this is intermittent! in the morning is when it does it! the 'ESS unavailable' message will be up on the dash and the HVAC controls, and radio stereo functions shut off. in the afternoon on the way home from work it all seems to work! i thought maybe the N3 fuse on the main fuse bar was blown again, and it wasn't. that itself would cause these issues, yes, after the aux battery and main became drained and low voltage. the N3 fuse links the aux battery to the alternator and main battery. i could see the high current/ high amp systems like radio/ HVAC controls/ blower motor being shut down during a low voltage incident. but huh? am i missing something?
-why would it be intermittent? alternator maybe? that's my thought now. I'm really stumped. go after the alternator? that's really the only thing else in the loop! all in all we don't care about the ESS, it can never come back as far as we care. well just disable it with the taser when it let us. but we really need the HVAC/ blower motor, and radio/ navigation controls! the Main Battery is brand new, a high end AGM battery we got from batteries plus. what about the PCR (power relay control)? like seriously, the PCR and the alternator is really all that's left in the loop?
please help!
Daniel
GJrand junction Colorado
2020 jeep gladiator
2002 Ram 2500 24v HO 6 speed

It was my fuse block that got blown on my 2020 Rubicon. Put a new aux battery in thinking that was the problem and it ruined that battery in 2 weeks. Tested the fuse and sure enough the 100 amp was blown. Ordered Mopar 68368854AA FUSE Z CASE on Amazon and I was good to go. Ironically a month later on my wife's 2018 JLU, the fuse blew on it too. I now have a spare one at home. The dealership wanted 2.5 times the price of what I paid on Amazon.

 

[Dp7]

Did they replace the main battery yet? I've seen this reported due to a faulty main battery needing too much assistance during an ESS restart, causing a surge through the N3 fuse.

They haven't done the main battery... The JL is 4 years old, 35k miles, wife's daily driver, I've never had a vehicle (main) battery die in a daily driver that early in its life. I wonder if the service dept. would even think of that...

I was under the impression the starter was connected to the main, and the aux was disconnected from the main during starts. N3 is the aux battery, so nothing should be flowing through N3 during a start, right? Also, what kind of awful design blows a $60 part when a battery needs to be replaced?

Let's say it is a weak main battery... If the aux battery were removed (neg cable disconnect/f42 pulled), would everything truck along just fine on a dying main battery until it just couldn't turn the engine over anymore... Or would it start blowing some other fuse?

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