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

[Bonanza]

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?

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[Rockabillyroy]

Think it runs off the second battery.
Cold weather might affect the charge.
Your dash display might say "start stop not ready".

 

[Mr._Bill]

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?

Change the Center Display to the Start/Stop screen and watch the messages. It will tell you status and why it is not working. Many times, it is due to an issue with the secondary battery.

 

[Bonanza]

No error messages at all.

 

[StingGrayJT24]

I have this same issue. Mine started about a month ago. There isn’t an error message, but when you scroll to the start/stop on the dash console, it will say something like “engine hasn’t warmed up” or “battery is charging”. Mine worked for 5,000 miles just fine. At first I thought it was because I only drive short 10 minute distances and maybe the battery didn’t have time to charge. I finally drove it for two hours and it started working for a day and then went back to “battery charging” message. I’ll have mine looked at when I take it in for an oil change. There are lots of threads on this.

Also, if everything appears to be fine with no messages, check the user manual. There are about 24 different conditions on why it may or may not activate - like your AC or heater is on, or you’re stopped on an incline, there’s a bunch of conditions that effect how it works.

 

[Bonanza]

I have this same issue. Mine started about a month ago. There isn’t an error message, but when you scroll to the start/stop on the dash console, it will say something like “engine hasn’t warmed up” or “battery is charging”. Mine worked for 5,000 miles just fine. At first I thought it was because I only drive short 10 minute distances and maybe the battery didn’t have time to charge. I finally drove it for two hours and it started working for a day and then went back to “battery charging” message. I’ll have mine looked at when I take it in for an oil change. There are lots of threads on this.

Also, if everything appears to be fine with no messages, check the user manual. There are about 24 different conditions on why it may or may not activate - like your AC or heater is on, or you’re stopped on an incline, there’s a bunch of conditions that effect how it works.

Ah. Heater being on is potential option. Thanks!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Mine works with AC on, heat on, heated seats and steering wheel on, etc. It will stop and then if I sit long enough with the accessories running, it will start again on its own. It will handle quite a bit of load in my experiences with these before it has to restart. My wife's Grand Cherokees will stop at the light with the heated wheel and seats going, or the AC on in the summer. It's never prevented ours from working, but it does rely on many inputs and combinations of things that could prevent it.

My wife's last GC, her 2018, stopped shutting off at lights and there were NO errors. The auto stop/start simply stopped stopping at stoplights.
Shortly after that we noticed it also didn't want to start after sitting for a few days. I'd charge the main battery, get it started and she was fine shutting it off and restarting for a day or two, but once it sat for 3 or 4 days, it would not start without a jump or being charged for a few hours.

We took it to the dealer - the dealer found both batteries were bad and replaced them and ESS started working fine again.
But she had no errors or indicators of an auto-stop/start issue other than it stopped working, then a few days later, it wouldn't crank.

In any case, with both of our vehicles - AC or heat being on never prevented it from working.

 

[Beowulf]

Yeah, my guess would be bad little battery.

Plus don't forget to get the update that has the ESS go off the big battery.

Or, better yet, just upgrade to a dual Odyssey battery system like Genesis.

I plan on having the Genesis system waiting in the garage for the day I bring the new JT home.

 

[Deadeye]

Mine works with AC on, heat on, heated seats and steering wheel on, etc. It will stop and then if I sit long enough with the accessories running, it will start again on its own. It will handle quite a bit of load in my experiences with these before it has to restart. My wife's Grand Cherokees will stop at the light with the heated wheel and seats going, or the AC on in the summer. It's never prevented ours from working, but it does rely on many inputs and combinations of things that could prevent it.

My wife's last GC, her 2018, stopped shutting off at lights and there were NO errors. The auto stop/start simply stopped stopping at stoplights.
Shortly after that we noticed it also didn't want to start after sitting for a few days. I'd charge the main battery, get it started and she was fine shutting it off and restarting for a day or two, but once it sat for 3 or 4 days, it would not start without a jump or being charged for a few hours.

We took it to the dealer - the dealer found both batteries were bad and replaced them and ESS started working fine again.
But she had no errors or indicators of an auto-stop/start issue other than it stopped working, then a few days later, it wouldn't crank.

In any case, with both of our vehicles - AC or heat being on never prevented it from working.

If you are close enough to what you have set for your HVAC it will function, but say for instance you have max heat or AC on, it rarely shuts off, especially if it isn't in the automatic mode for HVAC. I think this is what the other comment was referring to. But it will describe that on AESS status screen on the dash.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Yeah, my guess would be bad little battery.

Plus don't forget to get the update that has the ESS go off the big battery.

Or, better yet, just upgrade to a dual Odyssey battery system like Genesis.

I plan on having the Genesis system waiting in the garage for the day I bring the new JT home.

That was my first thought....Bad small battery.

No Genesis for me with the ecodiesel.....Darn! Does this system retain the small battery? 3 Batteries total?

 

[johnparjr]

Had that happen in my JL its the smaller battery and the dealer would probably replace both as mine did

 

[Lynn_F]

I didn't drive mine at all over the holiday last Wed-Sun. It just started working again today. It's like it has to stay active or the battery loses charge and it takes a while to build up enough charge to function properly. It did the same thing when I got it back from having my steering box replaced, after sitting at the dealership for 6 weeks.

 

[Beowulf]

That was my first thought....Bad small battery.

No Genesis for me with the ecodiesel.....Darn! Does this system retain the small battery? 3 Batteries total?

CrazyCooter,

You are in lucky. Genesis posted a youtube video answering questions. The second questions was about a diesel unit. They are indeed developing a diesel system.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If you are close enough to what you have set for your HVAC it will function, but say for instance you have max heat or AC on, it rarely shuts off, especially if it isn't in the automatic mode for HVAC. I think this is what the other comment was referring to. But it will describe that on AESS status screen on the dash.

Very true.
If there's a large enough difference between cabin temp and HVAC temp setting - your "desired temp", it won't shut off as it won't be able to get there - priority is getting to temperature in the cabin.
So if you don't drive long enough/far enough, it's not going to shut down. In my case I've driven it far enough/long enough, batteries fully charged, cabin temp not far off from goal, engine is up to operating temp and other stuff......
It won't shut down until or unless I have driven at least 4 or 5 miles - more if it's cold outside.
There are a lot of variables.

 

[SuburbanGP88]

Rob Motive said his had problems and the battery was the cause.

Also if your car is heating or cooling it won't activate, at least that what it said on the dash when I was cooling the car.

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