Jeep wouldn't start this Morning

[Jeeperjamie]

My ESS stopped working, too, and then the main battery failed completely a few weeks later. I charged it enough to get it started once with my external charger, then drove to O'Reilly Auto Parts and had them replace the battery. I was impressed with the speed and quality of their service--no charge to install it and I was out of there in 15 minutes. Try that at a specialized battery store.

Anyway, I did NOT have to replace the auxiliary battery, as the ESS not only started working again with the new main battery, it started working much better. Before, with the A/C on, the engine would only stop for 25-30 seconds. Now, it will stay off for the duration of a longer stoplight--a full minute or more.

That's pretty much what my guy said, people misdiagnosis the problem all the time thinking it's the smaller battery but just replacing the bigger one will normally fix it and he also said it will start working again if you replace the smaller battery but it will fail again much quicker because the bigger battery is normally the issue. Seems pretty much like that's problem what's happening, not saying that's everyone's deal but who knows. It's working now.

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[Lunentucker]

If mine fails after warranty the Aux battery will be deleted.
There's several ways to do it.
Discussed here and on the Wrangler forums.

 

[Casique]

Someone also posted a few days ago a way to delete the ESS battery and make it a ONE battery vehicle. You still have to remove the small battery and connect the ESS battery wires to the big battery. I'll do this when my battery goes bad. The process is slightly different for 20210 and 2021. Its also on Utube.

 

[Labswine]

Knock on wood, I haven't had this issue yet.

But, then again, my Auto Stop/Start has not been used at all because the first thing I do after starting is hit the button to disable it. So...

 

[chorky]

Yeah, I saw both but I ain't got time to really mess with it and I really didn't want to honestly. Some things you just let someone else take in the headache , especially when it's only a $76 headache to pass on

I think a lot of us get the whole "just dont want to deal with it" especially as we age. Just a tad bit of caution. Not long ago there was a member here who had batteries replaced. Not 10 miles from driving away from the dealer their jeep burned down. The suspicion was the dealer hooked up the battery wrong or backwards. Not sure if that ended up being the actual cause - it was investigate, not sure where that thread went. But, considering how things are these days, I would be worried about it for sure.....

Just maybe something to think about....look under the hood for a sec before driving off and at least make sure the main battery terminals are tightened and routed like factory.

When mine die. I'm going the genesis route. That buried battery is nothing but bad news especially if out camping a log way away from a tow....

 

[AZCooWhip]

Does both of them have to be replaced or just the ess one. Dealership just told me $535 to replace both, not sure how much they cost but that seems reasonable to me to keep from Messing with it

No brainer at $535 all in. Save yourself the heartburn.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Knock on wood, I haven't had this issue yet.

But, then again, my Auto Stop/Start has not been used at all because the first thing I do after starting is hit the button to disable it. So...

I've heard not using it will cause issues with it not getting charged properly and case a failure as well. That's been told to me by a couple techs and I've read in a few threads as well but I'm no tech or expert at how it works. I know I let the ESS do it's thing but my wife drove my jeep for about a month or I drove her BMW and let the jeep sit because I was trying save a little gas and she works from home. She turns it off and she also turns it off in the BMW. When I finally drove the jeep again after about 3-1/2 weeks. The ESS message came on and then after about a hour of driving it went back off. It also wasn't working until the message went off. Not sure if that was related or not but it did start working again and before that I hadn't had any issues with it once.

Again I'm no expert but I generally just let things be what they are and not sure if deleting it would cause a issue or not. I feel like it's there for a reason and running everything off one battery could cause more headache than not. Who knows!!!

 

[Lunentucker]

Someone also posted a few days ago a way to delete the ESS battery and make it a ONE battery vehicle. You still have to remove the small battery and connect the ESS battery wires to the big battery. I'll do this when my battery goes bad. The process is slightly different for 20210 and 2021. Its also on Utube.

It's five o'clock somewhere ??

 

[Casique]

I've never used my ESS, always turn it off. 1.5 years with no issues. I do put the JT on a battery tender every time it sits for a week or more...

 

[dcmdon]

I went through two AUX batteries before I decided to delete. Isolated the ground and ran the positive to the main battery. Replaced the main battery with an Odyssey. haven't had an issue since.

do you use ESS??

Does the computer stay on solid when it restarts? I'm guessing. a large battery can help with draw down.

 

[Jteakus]

Glad I read this thread.
My wife drives a 2020 JL Rubicon Diesel. I drive it once a week when we make our supply run. Started noticing info center saying "aux switches unavailable" right after startup and "ESS unavailable" randomly. ESS has been turned off since day one first by hand then Tazer. Should I use ESS periodically? Are one or both of my batteries on their way out? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Jeeperjamie]

Glad I read this thread.
My wife drives a 2020 JL Rubicon Diesel. I drive it once a week when we make our supply run. Started noticing info center saying "aux switches unavailable" right after startup and "ESS unavailable" randomly. ESS has been turned off since day one first by hand then Tazer. Should I use ESS periodically? Are one or both of my batteries on their way out? Thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm not totally sure but I've been told it's best to leave it active and let it do it's thing by more than a few techs. At the very least to use it some periodically. I'm no tech but I trust one of the guys who told me that.

 

[Tommyd]

Are the genesis batteries still keeping a two battery setup?
is a secondary battery delete harmful at all to the truck?

 

[Lunentucker]

Are the genesis batteries still keeping a two battery setup?
is a secondary battery delete harmful at all to the truck?

Yes no

 

[Lost1wing]

I did some relay/solenoid mods in the past that I thought killed my battery. Learning more about how it works still has me wondering if my battery was actually dead. I pushed the button and had several of the same issues the OP had. I didn't think the battery would go dead overnight while disconnected. I put a trickle charger on it for an hour and it started just fine. Ess stated battery charging for the test ride. I put the trickle charger back on overnight and now the battery had it's full charge. The battery charging message was still on, so I read about the IBS here and did the reset. I've had no battery issues since. I think my issue was caused by the way it was disconnected, main battery first and then the fender ground.​

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