Has anyone's start-stop system just... stopped working?

[ShadowsPapa]

Well, I picked mine up from service today.

They said they fully charged the battery and in the morning it was down to 53% charge.

They blamed my hardwired dash cam. I told them the cam actually can’t drain that fast and the ESS had never been an issue until they installed my Mopar lift.

They unplugged the cam, gave me back a truck that was still stuck at “charging battery”, and had the nerve to try to charge me $316 for a diagnostic.

I’m not saying the cam doesn’t consume any power, but it was never an issue before and I am confident it is impossible fir it to consume that much power. Also, how could it actually PREVENT a set of healthy batteries from charging while driving?

Your alternator could power all of the Christmas lights on our house, in the front yard, and on 3 trees my wife puts up and still run a burner or two on our electric stove. No way it can't power that camera AND charge batteries.
I'd LOVE to have an ammeter on mine............. but the fact that it runs over 14 volts with the heat, seat heat, steering wheel heat, radio and lights going tells me it's crazy capable.
Check your voltage (off-road pages or the cluster display) - if it's running over 14, there's no way it's not keeping up.

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[Delhux]

Well, I picked mine up from service today.

They said they fully charged the battery and in the morning it was down to 53% charge.

They blamed my hardwired dash cam. I told them the cam actually can’t drain that fast and the ESS had never been an issue until they installed my Mopar lift.

They unplugged the cam, gave me back a truck that was still stuck at “charging battery”, and had the nerve to try to charge me $316 for a diagnostic.

I’m not saying the cam doesn’t consume any power, but it was never an issue before and I am confident it is impossible fir it to consume that much power. Also, how could it actually PREVENT a set of healthy batteries from charging while driving?

And, I happened to notice that they left a note on my service sheet saying my shift points were wrong and they were “recommending a tazer” to set the correct wheel diameter.

Tri-City set the correct tire diameter for me before I took delivery of my truck. If true, could my battery drain and reset of factory tire diameter be related? And, why would the dealer recommend a tazer? That just seems odd...

 

[StingGrayJT24]

Well, I picked mine up from service today.

They said they fully charged the battery and in the morning it was down to 53% charge.

They blamed my hardwired dash cam. I told them the cam actually can’t drain that fast and the ESS had never been an issue until they installed my Mopar lift.

They unplugged the cam, gave me back a truck that was still stuck at “charging battery”, and had the nerve to try to charge me $316 for a diagnostic.

I’m not saying the cam doesn’t consume any power, but it was never an issue before and I am confident it is impossible fir it to consume that much power. Also, how could it actually PREVENT a set of healthy batteries from charging while driving?

That’s some serious BS and a prime reason why I hate dealerships. A simple Google search will bring up tons of issues with these auxiliary batteries.

 

[StingGrayJT24]

And, I happened to notice that they left a note on my service sheet saying my shift points were wrong and they were “recommending a tazer” to set the correct wheel diameter.

Tri-City set the correct tire diameter for me before I took delivery of my truck. If true, could my battery drain and reset of factory tire diameter be related? And, why would the dealer recommend a tazer? That just seems odd...

They blame your camera for draining the battery, but then recommend a tazer? The same tazer that other dealerships frown upon?

I don’t think your battery would drain enough to reset your tire diameter. I would think you would notice other settings being reset.

 

[Delhux]

They blame your camera for draining the battery, but then recommend a tazer? The same tazer that other dealerships frown upon?

I don’t think your battery would drain enough to reset your tire diameter. I would think you would notice other settings being reset.

Thats a good point, I haven’t noticed anything else being reset.

I’ll be driving a bit tonight and will compare my GPS speed against my speedometer and see if it is still in sync or not (has always been remarkably synced up before).

 

[Delhux]

I drove it—speedometer and odometer are perfectly in sync. I suspect this technician was just pulling all sorts of BS out of his ass...

 

[seacatrule]

I noticed the other day that my start-stop feature hasn't been activating... at all. Luckily this is a complete win as I find it to be annoying AF, but I'm curious why it stopped doing its thing all of a sudden. It used to happen at nearly every traffic light a few months ago, but now with the winter and new steering box as being the only big changes, it never comes on (turns the engine off). It's nice to not have to go press the button every time, but I'm curious why it stopped activating.

No error lights, everything performing as intended. Anyone else experiencing this?

I have warning light on twice I took it in and they found that there was a upgrade on the software. It’s been working fine since.

 

[JeepCares]

I just noticed mine has not been working either. I have a 2020 jeep gladiator and while it is not really that critical it is irritating that a new vehicle with less than 6000 miles Would experience this. I have mine in the shop for routine stuff and ask them to look at that as well.

Hey, Dhelmink. Have you visited the dealer yet for this concern? If so, send us a private message, we are happy to discuss further.

Kate
Jeep Cares

 

[Delhux]

I had this problem and got the message something like "Stop/Start not ready - Batter Charging"
If I had been driving for a few minutes I would expect it. However, when it would happen after driving around town for 2 hours, I decided to take it to the dealer. Sure enough, they said the secondary battery was bad and they replaced it.

I’m taking mine to another dealer tomorrow—after getting the run around from from my first dealer (ESS hasn’t worked since October).

I’ve got the standard warranty, the longest term Mopar extended warranty, an open ticket with @JeepCares, 3+months of ESS failure, a bill for “diagnostics” from the first dealer, and very low expectations that the run-around isn’t going to just start all over again tomorrow with the new dealer.

Man, I really wish I could just deal with Jeep/FCA directly, rather than go through these third-party dealers...

Any recommendations for just getting the next dealer to just swap out my batteries?

 

[JeepCares]

I’m taking mine to another dealer tomorrow—after getting the run around from from my first dealer (ESS hasn’t worked since October).

I’ve got the standard warranty, the longest term Mopar extended warranty, an open ticket with @JeepCares, 3+months of ESS failure, a bill for “diagnostics” from the first dealer, and very low expectations that the run-around isn’t going to just start all over again tomorrow with the new dealer.

Man, I really wish I could just deal with Jeep/FCA directly, rather than go through these third-party dealers...

Any recommendations for just getting the next dealer to just swap out my batteries?

Hi @Delhux --

I'm sorry to hear about the experience you've been having with your ESS. I would be more than happy to serve as an additional voice on your behalf and work alongside your Case Manager and Dealer to get this addressed in an effort to ensure proper communication and handling. If you'd like me to look into this for you, please do not hesitate to send our @JeepCares team a private message with your Case # or VIN. Thanks!

Courtney
Jeep Cares

 

[IamAlan]

"Has anyone's start-stop system just... stopped working?"

One can only hope...

 

[Beastmaster]

I’m taking mine to another dealer tomorrow—after getting the run around from from my first dealer (ESS hasn’t worked since October).

I’ve got the standard warranty, the longest term Mopar extended warranty, an open ticket with @JeepCares, 3+months of ESS failure, a bill for “diagnostics” from the first dealer, and very low expectations that the run-around isn’t going to just start all over again tomorrow with the new dealer.

Man, I really wish I could just deal with Jeep/FCA directly, rather than go through these third-party dealers...

Any recommendations for just getting the next dealer to just swap out my batteries?

Your aux battery runs your start/stop system and is covered by your warranties so they shouldn't give you any hassle. I see the Jeep folks replied and I think that's your best bet. They, and the Uconnect people were a great help when I was having problems with my radio and backup camera.

 

[Ogre_FL]

Your aux battery runs your start/stop system and is covered by your warranties so they shouldn't give you any hassle. I see the Jeep folks replied and I think that's your best bet. They, and the Uconnect people were a great help when I was having problems with my radio and backup camera.

Yup, just went through this with our Wrangler JL.

Originally thought my Gladiator had an issue as the battery voltage can show as low as 12.7.
The Wrangler NEVER showed that low, always in the 13's, often as high as 14

After a bit of research on both, the higher reading on the Wrangler was likely because the Aux battery was bad or failing.
That is the smart alternator is always pushing juice to it to try to charge it.
Typically push the Start/Stop button and turn it off, but left it on and it was not working
Check the status and it said "Battery Charging".
After a few day noticed it always said battery charging.

Took it in, they checked them both and found the aux battery was shot.
New replacement under warranty.

 

[Delhux]

Yup, just went through this with our Wrangler JL.

Originally thought my Gladiator had an issue as the battery voltage can show as low as 12.7.
The Wrangler NEVER showed that low, always in the 13's, often as high as 14

After a bit of research on both, the higher reading on the Wrangler was likely because the Aux battery was bad or failing.
That is the smart alternator is always pushing juice to it to try to charge it.
Typically push the Start/Stop button and turn it off, but left it on and it was not working
Check the status and it said "Battery Charging".
After a few day noticed it always said battery charging.

Took it in, they checked them both and found the aux battery was shot.
New replacement under warranty.

I took mine to the second dealer yesterday.

Dealer said batteries were low, so they charged them, and also said they reset some sort of sensor.

Dealer said the truck needs to drive for 200-miles or 4-hours of highway driving in order to re-learn after the sensor reset.

They made it clear that they were giving me back the truck with the “ESS battery charging” warning still on and to follow up with them in a week if the system hasn’t engaged.

I drove a little over 75-miles with mixed highway driving after that yesterday—no change yet to the ESS charging warning.

I guess they’ve changed up their game from the “run around” to the “drive around”.

We’ll see in a week, I guess. It’s only been broken since October.

 

[Ogre_FL]

I took mine to the second dealer yesterday.

Dealer said batteries were low, so they charged them, and also said they reset some sort of sensor.

Dealer said the truck needs to drive for 200-miles or 4-hours of highway driving in order to re-learn after the sensor reset.

They made it clear that they were giving me back the truck with the “ESS battery charging” warning still on and to follow up with them in a week if the system hasn’t engaged.

I drove a little over 75-miles with mixed highway driving after that yesterday—no change yet to the ESS charging warning.

I guess they’ve changed up their game from the “run around” to the “drive around”.

We’ll see in a week, I guess. It’s only been broken since October.

Sadly it sound like yours is failing, but not shot yet.
Or maybe you do have some other charging issue.

Does seem odd that it did not work right after they "charged it".
Ours worked on the drive home right after the replacement (like 5 miles) and they too said there was some type of a reset and it might take a while.

Hopefully this is just another frustrating step you have to go through and they fix it on the next round.

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