Dead Gladiator

[Kntwltrs]

Thanks.

So its a $110 battery that you replace every 5 years pro-actively. That's what I will do.

One question is if the system will give a warning as the battery gets weaker. Clearly the OP's battery just failed catastrphically. But if it fails gradually will you get a "replace aux batt" message?

To answer your question, last winter both of my barteries failed with absolutely no warning at 37,000 miles @ 14 months old.

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[Mjolnir]

By all means hop on over to the JL forum and you can read for yourselves the countless others who have had this issue with multiple vehicles in the mopar spectrum since they started using the dual battery. There is a relatively simple fix to either delete the aux battery altogether, carry a fused jumper, or use a battery shut off switch and a couple volt meters to monitor the aux battery as a true aux battery with examples, parts lists, and wiring diagrams.

But please tell me again how it definitely won’t work…

Jesus man chill out.

Straight up taking the aux battery out will not work. Simple as that.

Taking the aux battery out and adding parts in/rewiring things will work. No one said this option WONT work. However this most likely will put more strain on the main battery so a volt meter would be good to hook up.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Jesus man chill out.

Straight up taking the aux battery out will not work. Simple as that.

Taking the aux battery out and adding parts in/rewiring things will work. No one said this option WONT work. However this most likely will put more strain on the main battery so a volt meter would be good to hook up.

I could also counter that forums are where people complain, and often a thread may reach 40 pages discussing "one problem" and it looks like many, but really only the same owners posting many times in the thread.
Forums also are only a fraction of total owners.

Say there were 20,000 members here - how many Gladiators have been sold? A lot more than 20,000. And of those 20,000 members, what percentage of them have a specific problem?
My point is that in the grand scheme of things, forum members posting about issues is usually not even 1% of the total ownership.

If 40 people in a forum complain - we're talking not even .1% of ownership but it sure looks like "everyone" has that issue, especially since those with issues tend to post multiple times, even in multiple places, about said issue.
3 weeks shy of 2 years, 21,000 miles, no electric issues at all.
My wife - multiple WK2 Jeeps. One did have a battery issue. It was quickly resolved under warranty by the dealer.

My son had a battery go bad in his Ford Fusion - wonder if they have this issue? His Ford had only about 20,000 miles on it when things went south electrically (the dealer took care of it)

 

[Mjolnir]

I could also counter that forums are where people complain, and often a thread may reach 40 pages discussing "one problem" and it looks like many, but really only the same owners posting many times in the thread.
Forums also are only a fraction of total owners.

Say there were 20,000 members here - how many Gladiators have been sold? A lot more than 20,000. And of those 20,000 members, what percentage of them have a specific problem?
My point is that in the grand scheme of things, forum members posting about issues is usually not even 1% of the total ownership.

If 40 people in a forum complain - we're talking not even .1% of ownership but it sure looks like "everyone" has that issue, especially since those with issues tend to post multiple times, even in multiple places, about said issue.
3 weeks shy of 2 years, 21,000 miles, no electric issues at all.
My wife - multiple WK2 Jeeps. One did have a battery issue. It was quickly resolved under warranty by the dealer.

My son had a battery go bad in his Ford Fusion - wonder if they have this issue? His Ford had only about 20,000 miles on it when things went south electrically (the dealer took care of it)

Not sure why you quoted my post. I know all too well that we see the minority in complaints lol.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Not sure why you quoted my post. I know all too well that we see the minority in complaints lol.

Just adding to - guess I left out a line I was going to put at the top before I posted............. just adding to what you said.

 

[syreeves]

This got me curious so I just went and unplugged the aux battery to see how my gladiator would respond. Sure enough the dash lights up like a Christmas tree and I can’t get it out of the driveway. This feels like a pretty garbage design especially for a vehicle I’d thought was fairly rugged. Guess I’ll add a lawnmower battery to the trail bag. Also @OP, I disabled ESS with the taser and it does not fix this issue. Still throws a fit and refuses to move.

Quick edit: jumper cables from the small battery leads to the main battery seems to fix the issue.

Now THIS is useful advice. Thank you.

 

[dcmdon]

This got me curious so I just went and unplugged the aux battery to see how my gladiator would respond. Sure enough the dash lights up like a Christmas tree and I can’t get it out of the driveway. This feels like a pretty garbage design especially for a vehicle I’d thought was fairly rugged. Guess I’ll add a lawnmower battery to the trail bag. Also @OP, I disabled ESS with the taser and it does not fix this issue. Still throws a fit and refuses to move.

Quick edit: jumper cables from the small battery leads to the main battery seems to fix the issue.

The funny thing is that way back on page 3, Khockey actually did the experiment and found that.

1) disconnecting the aux batt bricks the Jeep and makes it unmovable.

2) Jumping between the Aux batt leads and the main batt fixes the issue.


One other take away from this is that if the aux batt dies in a way that draws the main down, you need to jumper the aux batt leads to the main before you jump start the engine.

If you try to jump with a dead aux batt, it may crank but it won't drive.

The sad thing is that the marine industry has decades of experience managing multiple batteries. The goal of these systems is that you want to provide aux power to a second bus, but not allow one battery to draw the other down. Finally, you want to allow both to charge when the engines are running.

Its not rocket surgery.

https://www.marinco.com/en/p/714-140A-DVSR/Btery-Distribution-Cluster-Single

 

[redriderjf87]

....and all of this complicated dual battery mess ...to save what...a few ounces of gas here and there when it shuts off at stoplights....so incredibly stupid.

My exact thoughts.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

One other take away from this is that if the aux batt dies in a way that draws the main down, you need to jumper the aux batt leads to the main before you jump start the engine.

If you try to jump with a dead aux batt, it may crank but it won't drive.

Hmmmm - not been my experience. Jump started my wife's Jeep using the supplied jump start posts/connections. Started fine, drove fine. The only issue was the ESS system kept saying that it wasn't functional due to battery.

For a couple of days, I was charging at the main battery, her Jeep started and drove fine and was ok for a day or two, then after sitting, it would not crank again. Simple charge on the main or jump starting and it was fine for a day or so.

Dealer shop said both batteries tested bad, neither held a charge. (suggested to us the aux battery went bad and kept draining the main battery down). They replaced both batteries under warranty. That's the only vehicle we've ever had any battery or ESS issues with.

 

[jebiruph]

Be aware that the negative cables were changed at some point. At the negative battery terminal, what used to be the aux battery cable is now the body ground cable. Disconnecting that cable used to just disconnect the aux battery, now it disconnects both.

 

[Wat Dog]

Dealership found the issue after the 3rd time it died. Had they headed the advice from this forum and looked at the wiring harness they would have resolved the issue on the first time instead of dragging the process out for nearly a month. The apparent cause was a wire grounding out at the transmission and depleting the battery. Now fixed and all is well in the world. Note that stela it’s has reached out to make this correct in my mind. Make sure you notifu

 

[slim chance]

so let me get this straight ... the aux battery is being used to keep the computer and other light load electronics alive during a ESS restart? then with a dead aux battery you only need to use light duty, say #6 wire, to jumper from the main battery to the aux battery to get running in a ESS system failure ?

 

[Mr._Bill]

so let me get this straight ... the aux battery is being used to keep the computer and other light load electronics alive during a ESS restart? then with a dead aux battery you only need to use light duty, say #6 wire, to jumper from the main battery to the aux battery to get running in a ESS system failure ?

The primary purpose of the Aux battery is to keep the computers stable so they don't reboot from low voltage during an ESS event. The ESS system monitors the Aux battery. If it is not sufficiently charged, ESS will not activate when stopped.

 

[dcmdon]

The primary purpose of the Aux battery is to keep the computers stable so they don't reboot from low voltage during an ESS event. The ESS system monitors the Aux battery. If it is not sufficiently charged, ESS will not activate when stopped.

Yes, but if the Aux battery fails, the vehicle essentially won't start or drive. So I think his question stated another way was that to get home in a situation like that. You just need to jumper between the Aux battery leads and the main battery leads.

Yes?

 

[Mr._Bill]

Yes, but if the Aux battery fails, the vehicle essentially won't start or drive. So I think his question stated another way was that to get home in a situation like that. You just need to jumper between the Aux battery leads and the main battery leads.

Yes?

My understanding, not yet verified by me, is that the system has been modified since the original 2018 introduction so that a bad Aux battery will not prevent the truck from running.

Otherwise, yes, a jumper between the Main and Aux batteries would get it running. It would be necessary to turn off ESS with the dash button, as an ESS event could cause the computers to reboot, which would stall the truck.

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