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Dead jeep

Amandalyn5

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Hi I’m new here. I have a 2020 jeep gladiator I absolutely love no problem whatsoever with her. Except this last Thursday I had to take her in bc the auxiliary battery wasn’t holding charge and had it replace. Forward to Sunday, I hop into the jeep I crank her up drove forward off of a maybe 3-4 inch drop into a grassy area from a concrete driveway and she stopped dead. All electronic died with no warning and the tire locked up while I’m still drive gear. And I can’t shift the gear at all. Do you have any suggestions on what is going on? Thank you.
ps. I don’t want to take it back to the dealership bc I don’t trust him , I think he did something to my baby, and also I’m out of warranty.
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Mister Lamb

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Most people replace both batteries at the same time, especially if this is a first batter change for your 2020. Get the main battery changed or charged fully to a minimum. The failing aux battery most likely sucked it dry and if the dealer didn't charge it you're driving around with a dead battery
 

Mr._Bill

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Hi I’m new here. I have a 2020 jeep gladiator I absolutely love no problem whatsoever with her. Except this last Thursday I had to take her in bc the auxiliary battery wasn’t holding charge and had it replace. Forward to Sunday, I hop into the jeep I crank her up drove forward off of a maybe 3-4 inch drop into a grassy area from a concrete driveway and she stopped dead. All electronic died with no warning and the tire locked up while I’m still drive gear. And I can’t shift the gear at all. Do you have any suggestions on what is going on? Thank you.
ps. I don’t want to take it back to the dealership bc I don’t trust him , I think he did something to my baby, and also I’m out of warranty.
Disconnect the negative cables and separately charge each battery. If you are still using the original Main battery, it also needs replaced.

You will also want to check the cables for both batteries to make sure they are properly attached.
 

NVjeff

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The fact that it died after driving off the small ledge makes me wonder if something was left loose when the battery's were being worked on.
If either battery shifted you may have blown a fuse that shut everything down.
 

Maximus Gladius

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Remember to also use an AGM battery charger if you’re planning on charging the batteries. I agree with all the posts above and I’ve seen loose connections after service before and this certainly sounds like it. If you lived in Calgary, I would drive over and help troubleshoot.
 

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Justice

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Hi I’m new here. I have a 2020 jeep gladiator I absolutely love no problem whatsoever with her. Except this last Thursday I had to take her in bc the auxiliary battery wasn’t holding charge and had it replace. Forward to Sunday, I hop into the jeep I crank her up drove forward off of a maybe 3-4 inch drop into a grassy area from a concrete driveway and she stopped dead. All electronic died with no warning and the tire locked up while I’m still drive gear. And I can’t shift the gear at all. Do you have any suggestions on what is going on? Thank you.
ps. I don’t want to take it back to the dealership bc I don’t trust him , I think he did something to my baby, and also I’m out of warranty.
 

Justice

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2022 Jeep Gladiator 22k miles and wouldn’t start this morning. No I didn’t leave the lights on they are set on Auto. Radio worked, still wouldn’t kick over to start. AAA came out to provide a jump, started up however the tech said battery wasn’t any good. I had to get to a patients home (visit nurse.) AAA tech stated the battery may die driving it to destination. I made it ? there and it started up to depart. Until I stopped at a red light. I could hear Jeep running but it wouldn’t drive. It was a few seconds before I could take off from light with plenty of fingers thrown at me and honking by people happy to be alive this new year (said sarcastically).

Anyone experience this? Could it be an electrical problem along with battery?

I’m at dealership now waiting for news. I’m spoiled owning Toyotas that never needed anything ?
 

MrClortho

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I suggest getting rid of the aux battery all together...no more problems. Mine has been gone from shortly after buying the JT new. Obviously the start/stop no longer functions.

You can remove it fairly easily with basic hand tools and a 6 pack. There are many videos on YouTube that show it step by step.
 

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The average life expectancy of batteries in the JT is about three years. Some go longer, some less. If the batteries are not kept charged, it will create odd behaviors. The truck needs to be regularly driven, or have a battery maintainer attached. The signs that batteries are close to needing replaced is the messages on the center screen that ESS or Aux Switches are not available. It is usually best to replace both at the same time. If it is done under warranty, they only replace the one that fails testing. If your JT didn't come with the larger H7 (94R) Main battery, I would recommend installing that size when you do the replacement.
 
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Amandalyn5

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Thank you everyone for your help. My cousin who is a mechanic looked at it and you won’t believe what it was. The dumbass at the dealership who replace the battery didn’t tighten the power cord to the fuse box. It was loose and it popped off in the middle of driving. I am gonna call them Monday morning and tell them what it was.
 

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Thank you everyone for your help. My cousin who is a mechanic looked at it and you won’t believe what it was. The dumbass at the dealership who replace the battery didn’t tighten the power cord to the fuse box. It was loose and it popped off in the middle of driving. I am gonna call them Monday morning and tell them what it was.
Interesting, there is really no reason for them to have been messing with that side of the cable for a battery change.
 

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Interesting, there is really no reason for them to have been messing with that side of the cable for a battery change.
While true - could be they ripped things apart to go in from the top - which is more risky and FCA's method is through the wheel opening behind the right front tire.
There's no reason for an FCA tech to have been into that area, doing things by the book.

All that being said makes me wonder if they properly did the job at all - charging the battery before installation, charging and testing the main battery, and more.
 

CharlesVH

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Hi I’m new here. I have a 2020 jeep gladiator I absolutely love no problem whatsoever with her. Except this last Thursday I had to take her in bc the auxiliary battery wasn’t holding charge and had it replace. Forward to Sunday, I hop into the jeep I crank her up drove forward off of a maybe 3-4 inch drop into a grassy area from a concrete driveway and she stopped dead. All electronic died with no warning and the tire locked up while I’m still drive gear. And I can’t shift the gear at all. Do you have any suggestions on what is going on? Thank you.
ps. I don’t want to take it back to the dealership bc I don’t trust him , I think he did something to my baby, and also I’m out of warranty.
Something similar happened to me last week. I had been driving the truck all afternoon. As I started to pull across a highway, a message came on the screen for just a couple seconds instructing me to "stop safely vehicle will shut off soon". Is so fast, it shut down while I was still in drive. By God's grace, a state patrolman drove by as it happened. he turned around and came back and protected me with his vehicle. With the assistance of a couple good people, I was able to put the transfer case in neutral and we pushed it back out of the roadway. I thought it was the batteries. so I replaced both of them. It started up, then shut off again. More research pointed to the heavy duty fuse block, specifically the N3 Fuse. Unfortunately, that's a MOPAR part. which meant getting to a dealership. This was Sunday afternoon, so I was stranded nearly 100 miles from home, New Years eve. There's a video on YouTube showing how to remove and test this. what it doesn't do is instruct you on what to do about those two negative terminals you were instructed to separate. Touch them together and they spark.. why in the holy hand grenades there is a load on that side, I do not know. I put it together following the video. IT started up. the dash warning was gone. On the drive home I kept an eye on the battery charge. It started out showing 14.6, by the time I was home it was at 12.8. Next morning start it up, still doesn't appear to be charging. Time for a dealership trip.

Took it to AutoNation, they plug in their code reader, there are over 20 messages about voltage failure, etc. So far they've had the truck 2 days.. No idea on the cause. IF you find yourself in a similar situation, you can move from the blown N3 fuse over to the N4 fuse space to get you home.

Jeep Gladiator Dead jeep Fuse Block


Jeep Gladiator Dead jeep Jeep Shut down Error messag
 

Charles 236

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Something similar happened to me last week. I had been driving the truck all afternoon. As I started to pull across a highway, a message came on the screen for just a couple seconds instructing me to "stop safely vehicle will shut off soon". Is so fast, it shut down while I was still in drive. By God's grace, a state patrolman drove by as it happened. he turned around and came back and protected me with his vehicle. With the assistance of a couple good people, I was able to put the transfer case in neutral and we pushed it back out of the roadway. I thought it was the batteries. so I replaced both of them. It started up, then shut off again. More research pointed to the heavy duty fuse block, specifically the N3 Fuse. Unfortunately, that's a MOPAR part. which meant getting to a dealership. This was Sunday afternoon, so I was stranded nearly 100 miles from home, New Years eve. There's a video on YouTube showing how to remove and test this. what it doesn't do is instruct you on what to do about those two negative terminals you were instructed to separate. Touch them together and they spark.. why in the holy hand grenades there is a load on that side, I do not know. I put it together following the video. IT started up. the dash warning was gone. On the drive home I kept an eye on the battery charge. It started out showing 14.6, by the time I was home it was at 12.8. Next morning start it up, still doesn't appear to be charging. Time for a dealership trip.

Took it to AutoNation, they plug in their code reader, there are over 20 messages about voltage failure, etc. So far they've had the truck 2 days.. No idea on the cause. IF you find yourself in a similar situation, you can move from the blown N3 fuse over to the N4 fuse space to get you home.

Fuse Block.webp


Jeep Shut down Error message.webp
If you do move a cable over to the N4 post, do it only as a get home or to the shop kind of thing. The Z case fuse has different amp ratings at different posts. It is possible to overload a circuit and not "blow" the fuse if the circuit draws less amps than the fuse post at that location provides.
 

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Something similar happened to me last week. I had been driving the truck all afternoon. As I started to pull across a highway, a message came on the screen for just a couple seconds instructing me to "stop safely vehicle will shut off soon". Is so fast, it shut down while I was still in drive. By God's grace, a state patrolman drove by as it happened. he turned around and came back and protected me with his vehicle. With the assistance of a couple good people, I was able to put the transfer case in neutral and we pushed it back out of the roadway. I thought it was the batteries. so I replaced both of them. It started up, then shut off again. More research pointed to the heavy duty fuse block, specifically the N3 Fuse. Unfortunately, that's a MOPAR part. which meant getting to a dealership. This was Sunday afternoon, so I was stranded nearly 100 miles from home, New Years eve. There's a video on YouTube showing how to remove and test this. what it doesn't do is instruct you on what to do about those two negative terminals you were instructed to separate. Touch them together and they spark.. why in the holy hand grenades there is a load on that side, I do not know. I put it together following the video. IT started up. the dash warning was gone. On the drive home I kept an eye on the battery charge. It started out showing 14.6, by the time I was home it was at 12.8. Next morning start it up, still doesn't appear to be charging. Time for a dealership trip.

Took it to AutoNation, they plug in their code reader, there are over 20 messages about voltage failure, etc. So far they've had the truck 2 days.. No idea on the cause. IF you find yourself in a similar situation, you can move from the blown N3 fuse over to the N4 fuse space to get you home.

Fuse Block.jpg


Jeep Shut down Error message.jpg
The answer is on your dash - the battery symbol is a charging system issue.

Here's what i see as a chicken/egg thing - the N3 fuse was blown but you may have blown it while changing batteries!
That's about the only time that fuse should blow.

Be careful what you see on youtube or the internet in general on this stuff - not everyone understands, yet they still want to tell you they do.

On the drive home I kept an eye on the battery charge. It started out showing 14.6, by the time I was home it was at 12.8. Next morning start it up, still doesn't appear to be charging. Time for a dealership trip.
What makes you say the charging system isn't working? 12.8 is normal IF both batteries are fully charged.

I really hope you charged both batteries before installing them - with a good AGM charger. Don't install batteries right off the shelf and expect them to be full or for the alternator to "take care of them".
Charge them first, install them, in this whole process, you should have pulled the IBS off the cables and battery terminal, set it aside for several minutes to reset it, then plug it all back in and put it back in place.

So the correct process is:
Set the new batteries on a charger or chargers - ideally, one at a time, full charge on an AGM charger.
Back at the Jeep-
Pull the negative cables off the IBS
Pull IBS off the battery terminal, disconnect and set it aside.
Take the two ground cables apart from each other, make sure they can't touch ground.
Pull the batteries out.
When the new ones are charged, put them in place, do the aux battery and button that up.
When the new crank battery is in place, connect the positive cable.
Put the IBS back on the crank battery negative, (connect the LIN connector if disconnected)
Put the negative/ground cables back in place on the top of the IBS.

12.8 volts is what you see when everything is working fine, temperatures in the 60s or so, and the batteries are fully charged.

It's not a complex system at all, IF certain procedures are followed in the right order.

ODD as heck that the N3 would blow without any connection issues like loose battery terminals, or someone working on the truck..................
But it's a common thing when batteries get replaced and the cables touch when/where they should not.
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