I'm New here and need a little help on my Battery.

[RHouck]

I'm New here and need a little help on my Battery. I've read a lot on here and have decided a course of action just would like to know if I'm screwing up. 2021 Jeep Gladiator Overland a little over 40,000 miles. I bought used with about 20000 miles. No idea if battery was ever changed. My plan is to disconnect the ground of aux battery and pull fuse 42. I will tape up ground wire and tie it off. Leave aux Battery in truck. I always carry a fully charged auto jump starter and a portable solar power supply that can be used to jump start. The wire to disconnect is the smaller wire on the ground post of the main battery. I will be purchasing the larger battery for my jeep next month. After Christmas I will be adding a small lift (2-3 inch) , a front and rear bumper with winch. be seek some advise on that soon. thanks ahead.

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[Mr._Bill]

I would have to ask why? I see no compelling reason to disconnect the Aux Battery, and you have described no issues with it. Replace the Main Battery with a 94R when the time comes, and replace or disconnect the Aux Battery when it starts to fail.

 

[Andy29847]

The problem with the Jeep 2 battery system is that it is hard to diagnose battery problems when one of the batteries starts to fail. It took 4 trips to the dealer to get my tuck fixed when the aux battery got to the point that I was getting stop/start errors.

I have removed the aux battery in my Gladiator using the method that you describe. When I changed the main battery, I put in a Walmart Everstart H7 AGM premium battery. The Walmart battery comes with a 4-year warranty and has nearly the same cranking power as both Mopar batteries added together. I also added a start/stop eliminator device. The result is that my Gladiator's battery/cranking system operates the same as the other vehicles I have had over the last 50 years. FWIW, removing the aux battery does not turn off the stop/start system. The truck operates exactly as before.

Peace of mind at last! Replaced main battery with a premium H7/Group 94 battery | Jeep Gladiator (JT) News, Forum, Community - JeepGladiatorForum.com

 

[AmishMike]

Long story but my truck was at the dealership long enough for the auxiliary battery to go dead. I have done nothing and now I simply don’t have to press the button to turn off the auto start/stop. It has been over a year and 18k miles. Light on the whole time no CEL no problems.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It's not that hard to diagnose. Someone with even just ok equipment at home and a good AGM battery charger, and who is rather observant, can see things coming.
Since the main battery can fail first or the aux battery can fail first, and one won't necessarily take out the other, it really should be no problem to diagnose or "figure it out".

Look at the many hundreds of thousands of these systems out there that work fine.
This exact system has been used in Jeeps since 2016 - Grand Cherokee, for example.
Forums, and info from those who don't really understand make it look a lot worse than it is. BMW, GM and others have used this 2 battery system.
Over 8 models years of Jeeps have used it, meaning hundreds of thousands of them are out there.

 

[Andy29847]

It's not that hard to diagnose. Someone with even just ok equipment at home and a good AGM battery charger, and who is rather observant, can see things coming.
Since the main battery can fail first or the aux battery can fail first, and one won't necessarily take out the other, it really should be no problem to diagnose or "figure it out".

Look at the many hundreds of thousands of these systems out there that work fine.
This exact system has been used in Jeeps since 2016 - Grand Cherokee, for example.
Forums, and info from those who don't really understand make it look a lot worse than it is. BMW, GM and others have used this 2 battery system.
Over 8 models years of Jeeps have used it, meaning hundreds of thousands of them are out there.

I love answers like yours. If everything is OK, why do Jeep forums have all of these posts about batteries (the Bronco forums do not have battery threads). If it is so easy to diagnose, why do the dealerships (the guys with the tools and the training) have so much trouble fixing these problems?

 

[Mr._Bill]

I love answers like yours. If everything is OK, why do Jeep forums have all of these posts about batteries (the Bronco forums do not have battery threads). If it is so easy to diagnose, why do the dealerships (the guys with the tools and the training) have so much trouble fixing these problems?

The dealers have trouble fixing these 'problems' because they are constrained by Jeep policies. The decision making has been taken away from the dealer. They can no longer replace weak or failing batteries and submit a warranty claim. The battery has to actually fail before Jeep will approve a warranty replacement.

Figuring out which battery needs replaced is not that difficult, but so many assume the problem is the Aux Battery because of postings on forums like this one.

 

[AmishMike]

I love answers like yours. If everything is OK, why do Jeep forums have all of these posts about batteries (the Bronco forums do not have battery threads). If it is so easy to diagnose, why do the dealerships (the guys with the tools and the training) have so much trouble fixing these problems?

Well, if you found 100 people complaining about the battery in their Gladiator and there are over 300,000 out there, that is .03%. I would accept that as a failure rate.
Given not everyone who has a problem can be found but that is offset by those complaining and actually have a different problem or just don’t understand their own scenario.

 

[Andy29847]

Well, if you found 100 people complaining about the battery in their Gladiator and there are over 300,000 out there, that is .03%. I would accept that as a failure rate.
Given not everyone who has a problem can be found but that is offset by those complaining and actually have a different problem or just don’t understand their own scenario.

Youse guys rationalizing away the issues with Jeep's battery design are making my day. I love my Jeeps. That doesn't mean they are perfect.

Gladiator forum

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[Pakdoc]

All batteries for my 2020 were replace under warranty @30k mi....now at 70k they are all dead and replace with a single battery NOT MOPAR as the last Mopar battery didn't last 3 years and since it was a warranty replacement, they wouldn't warranty that crap battery.

 

[AmishMike]

Nothing is perfect. That is my point.
Vehicles today are far better than they were 20,30,40,80 years ago. We just remember the old days with nostalgia and rose colored glasses.
My JT has 77k miles, the engine has ticked since new, my visors both broke, roof leaks, and the dealership had it for 4 weeks for an ABS sensor, their work did more damage than help. Still one of the best vehicles I have ever owned.
A service writer that I know used to say ‘Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s perfect, it just means you are the first owner’

 

[OldSarge]

It's not that hard to diagnose. Someone with even just ok equipment at home and a good AGM battery charger, and who is rather observant, can see things coming.
Since the main battery can fail first or the aux battery can fail first, and one won't necessarily take out the other, it really should be no problem to diagnose or "figure it out".

Look at the many hundreds of thousands of these systems out there that work fine.
This exact system has been used in Jeeps since 2016 - Grand Cherokee, for example.
Forums, and info from those who don't really understand make it look a lot worse than it is. BMW, GM and others have used this 2 battery system.
Over 8 models years of Jeeps have used it, meaning hundreds of thousands of them are out there.

in my personal experience, a failing aux battery absolutely took out my main battery and disabled my JT. YMMV, but that has been my experience, and I’m happy a year later with no AUX battery to cause me issues while I’m far from civilization.

 

[Lost1wing]

I love answers like yours. If everything is OK, why do Jeep forums have all of these posts about batteries (the Bronco forums do not have battery threads). If it is so easy to diagnose, why do the dealerships (the guys with the tools and the training) have so much trouble fixing these problems?

Now days, a lot of kids think they want to be an auto tech. Some people are just not cut out to be an auto tech. Unfortunately, they keep their jobs because they make the dealers money. They have scripts to follow even though the repair is quite evident sometimes. It's a lottery if you wind up with a legit tech. A friend drove her JT into the dealership for ESS not working and the battery charging message displayed. I recommended that she charge the batteries since it was a new old stock 21 sport. She decided to let the dealer look at it being that it was under warranty. She ended up being billed $650 for a fuse array and both batteries tested good. In my opinion, the dealership smoked the fuse array while attempting to test and charge the batteries.

Many people come here because they don't understand their issue. Unfortunately, they are given advice by others that don't understand how these systems work. They are not given the precautions to take when working around the battery. They are told to eliminate a system that was designed to be there.

Giving some people advice who have very little concept of how things work is a recipe for disaster.

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