Dead Battery

[ShadowsPapa]

I don't about the rest of you, but dealing with the battery and electronics issues on my two jeeps has given me Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Maybe the name of that part is an insider Jeep engineer's joke...

Blame BMW - they invented the thing and the system.

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[ShadowsPapa]

Mines a 2023 Glad, leased it last march, Took it into the dealer to check batteries. They showed no problem.Volt meter in truck always shows an average of 14.5 , overnight it would go to 12.3. They still said it was OK. Now overnight it will be at 12.1 volts. I have a avreage of a 2 hour run at least every two weeks. Now with the cold weather comming ,I'm worried about it not starting in a remote area. I'm glad I leased the Glad. I figure jeep would rather have you stranded with a dead battery than fix the problem. I live in a condo , so it's hard to have a battery charger hooked up. I figure maybe I should get one of those battery starters and keep it charged. I feel this is the last jeep I will own. With the price they charge for them , you would think the company would use quality batteries.

As for your last sentence - imagine spending 10K more on a Jeep - 4xe, and finding that they put the same crappy 12 volt batteries in those. Many a 4xe owner has found their 12v battery shot after only a few months of ownership, and it's a royal pain to replace on the Grand Cherokee 4xe.

So it's not just Gladiator - it's across all Jeep lines.

Maybe get a solar system for it. You can get decent panels and charge controllers pretty cheap these days.
I'm going on 2.5 years on my 2022's batteries. So far, so good. But then I keep a BatteryMinder on mine when I don't drive it for more than 2 or 3 days, and I keep track of the battery at-rest voltage, knowing these batteries can last some people 4+ years, while others see them go at <3

>>I feel this is the last jeep I will own.<<

Feel free to start a thread for us if it is.......... (he says tongue-in-cheek, mostly joking, see if anyone gets the reference O )

 

[SoK66]

Replace both batteries at the same time, just as you’d do with any battery powered item, flashlight, etc. This is a BS system but it is what it is. No way to cut corners on it without a short term fail on the opposite battery. I just replaced the main battery and disabled the little one on one of our tour JTs to test the viability. They can sit for days , then may run for six hours, sit again, etc. We just need one, normal operating expense, thank you Jeep

 

[Blade1668]

Blame BMW - they invented the thing and the system.

Bill
A definite question about on this subject. . . As I'm stuck in a parking lot with dead battery(s) I replaced the starting battery and no juice or anything now.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Bill
A definite question about on this subject. . . As I'm stuck in a parking lot with dead battery(s) I replaced the starting battery and no juice or anything now.

OUCH!
Nothing at all? No brake lights and so on?
You probably don't have a meter or test light with you to check power at various points -
We can pretty much count out the high current fuse array, I suspect, because that's only fused for the EHPS, fan, alternator, that sort of thing. Straight power for everything going through the "fuse panel".

If you had a meter - check the aux battery voltage. (you know the drill about the ground cables and so on, which is which.
Too bad you are so far away.

 

[Blade1668]

OUCH!
Nothing at all? No brake lights and so on?
You probably don't have a meter or test light with you to check power at various points -
We can pretty much count out the high current fuse array, I suspect, because that's only fused for the EHPS, fan, alternator, that sort of thing. Straight power for everything going through the "fuse panel".

If you had a meter - check the aux battery voltage. (you know the drill about the ground cables and so on, which is which.
Too bad you are so far away.

Nothing no power to anything.

 

[Blade1668]

OUCH!
Nothing at all? No brake lights and so on?
You probably don't have a meter or test light with you to check power at various points -
We can pretty much count out the high current fuse array, I suspect, because that's only fused for the EHPS, fan, alternator, that sort of thing. Straight power for everything going through the "fuse panel".

If you had a meter - check the aux battery voltage. (you know the drill about the ground cables and so on, which is which.
Too bad you are so far away.

Yeah. The battery light s came on vehicle will shut down ect ect coasted into Walmart as everything shut down. Then started trying to drop in Park.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yeah. The battery light s came on vehicle will shut down ect ect coasted into Walmart as everything shut down. Then started trying to drop in Park.

Definitely try to check voltage at each battery individually - unless you already did a bypass of some sort.
It sounds like self-preservation mode - low voltage, so it wants to shut things down.

 

[jebiruph]

Nothing no power to anything.

A dead aux battery and a blown N3 fuse results in no power to the electronics. Connecting a jumper from the main battery positive to the N1 terminal will bypass the N3 fuse and allow you to start if that is the problem. Or move the cable from the N3 terminal to the N4 terminal.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

A dead aux battery and a blown N3 fuse results in no power to the electronics. Connecting a jumper from the main battery positive to the N1 terminal will bypass the N3 fuse and allow you to start if that is the problem. Or move the cable from the N3 terminal to the N4 terminal.

Yeah, that works.

If N3 is gone, it can still operate until the aux goes dead.
That's why I wanted him to check the voltage of the aux battery.
But if the aux battery is dead, then a blown N3 is a big problem as it can't feed from the main battery.

IF it's fully charged, or even a decent charge, it would run until the aux was drained if N3 was blown.

N4 is unused on the gas engines and is a 150 amp just like N3 so that's a solution until he can get a replacement high current fuse array.

A check of the aux battery voltage would be a good test - and moving to N4 if N3 is blown is a get by solution until he can resolve it.

 

[Blade1668]

Definitely try to check voltage at each battery individually - unless you already did a bypass of some sort.
It sounds like self-preservation mode - low voltage, so it wants to shut things down.

Two new batteries installed, would start at 12.7 v but start dropping off to 10.5 and all the check engine lights traction control, transmission, brakes p.s. ect ect.
Got a lift home went back in LJ, pulled both back out and have them on charging now. The batteries were definitely fighting "stealing power" from each other, they were warm when I pulled them out. Main battery was at 75% when I hooked to charger.

A dead aux battery and a blown N3 fuse results in no power to the electronics. Connecting a jumper from the main battery positive to the N1 terminal will bypass the N3 fuse and allow you to start if that is the problem. Or move the cable from the N3 terminal to the N4 terminal.

I'll definitely be checking some of that out. when I can get it home or started that second battery is going to be high on my list of getting rid of. I downloaded that info years ago. but when you need it on side of road not the time to start looking.
For anyone on warning signs of battery failure. . Then it would not start. The 85 w solar system did charge the battery(s???) To 13.7 v in sun for 3 hours about 16 miles driving then the shutdown.

I don't mind a good walk, but carrying a vehicle battery is not my thing anymore.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Check the high current fuse array, esp the N3 leg.

If both batteries were fully charged when installed, there's no real reason for either battery to be "hot" or "warm" unless there was a lop-sided drain on things.
If the voltage dropped like that, makes me wonder about the alternator!
You said it started at 12.7, then dropped - does that mean the voltage was at 12.7 when you started driving and constantly fell?
IF that's the case, they aren't charging, otherwise the alternator would have kept the voltage up while it was running - unless there's a blown fuse.

 

[Blade1668]

Check the high current fuse array, esp the N3 leg.

If both batteries were fully charged when installed, there's no real reason for either battery to be "hot" or "warm" unless there was a lop-sided drain on things.
If the voltage dropped like that, makes me wonder about the alternator!
You said it started at 12.7, then dropped - does that mean the voltage was at 12.7 when you started driving and constantly fell?
IF that's the case, they aren't charging, otherwise the alternator would have kept the voltage up while it was running - unless there's a blown fuse.

That is a thought, tomorrow if I can get it running long enough to limp it to O'Reilly I'll see if they can check it..... if it has failed that is a really s###y alternator to fail under 100k that hasn't been worked very hard especially when I've had it parked for days on end and the solar system has had it fully charged.
damn if I don't like the older vehicle systems. BTW a Gladiator handles worse than a M35a2 2.5 when you don't have electric system working.
If it would not have been almost 10:00 pm I would have swapped LJ battery into JT it would have had a fully charged battery. My LJ charging system runs at 14-14.7v since I got it.

 

[Dp7]

I'm wondering why anyone would actually want to replace their aux battery? What purpose does it serve beyond causing problems? You can't tell if one of the two batteries has gone bad without disconnecting them, and if one dies prematurely, it will tank the other one shortly afterwards... and a bad battery can/will/does blow N3, eventually leaving the vehicle disabled, potentially in the middle of the road because of the ess.

As soon as the warranty is up, that aux battery loop is getting bypassed.

 

[yoda13]

I'm wondering why anyone would actually want to replace their aux battery? What purpose does it serve beyond causing problems? You can't tell if one of the two batteries has gone bad without disconnecting them, and if one dies prematurely, it will tank the other one shortly afterwards... and a bad battery can/will/does blow N3, eventually leaving the vehicle disabled, potentially in the middle of the road because of the ess.

As soon as the warranty is up, that aux battery loop is getting bypassed.

Did that in the Mojave and this one..

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