ESS Completely Stopped - And I'm Not Complaining!

[mwilk012]

I would rather that genius spend there time looking for a way to ditch the small battery and have everything work off the one large one.

There are a lot of parts involved in the ESS operation. It would likely be incredibly complicated to accomplish a single battery solution without causing faults in the system.

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[Jebiruph]

I would rather that genius spend there time looking for a way to ditch the small battery and have everything work off the one large one.

Not a genius, but here you go.
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/3-6l-ess-aux-battery-bypass.17293/

 

[DogsOnTheRun]

Try this experiment: Next time you get stuck at a light, press the brake harder than you think you should have to. Mine now only activates with the brake pressed really far down, over 50% travel, I would guess. I think the brakes have bedded in and are now engaging with less pedal travel.

 

[Greg H]

I would rather that genius spend there time looking for a way to ditch the small battery and have everything work off the one large one.

That has already been done. It is in another thread. All that is required is putting a jumper between 2 terminals on the fuse block. Dont remember which two it said.

 

[twisty]

Not a genius, but here you go.
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/3-6l-ess-aux-battery-bypass.17293/

YES YOU ARE!!!! Everyone should print this out and be ready to use it!! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[Rahneld]

Lucky me. It's like I won the lottery. My auto start/stop just randomly quit working two weeks ago. It no longer shuts off when I roll up to stop, the switch no longer illuminates, nothing at all. And the Jeep still operates perfectly, no detectable issues, no check engine light or anything. At first I thought this was because weather or something random, but I have driven in all conditions (it's Michigan so we have had snow, rain, sun, 10 deg. and 66 deg. weather over the last 2-weeks). I take the same route to work daily so nothing there has changed either.

I assume there is some sort of problem, but I won't be telling the dealer about it because I'm afraid he will fix it.

Anyone else have this blessing?

Matt: I've read all the posts on this thread and realize that while you don't like ESS and are kind of glad it's failed on you, (and that's cool) that you also now realize from others that

* the vehicle should (and will, I'm glad) be serviced, and that

* ESS disabled though other means, like pressing the ESS disable button upon cold engine startup, or buying one one of the devices out there to do this for you automatically each time you cold start your JL, is the better way to disable ESS.

What I don't see discussion of though, and think value might be added here, is to discuss why the dealer service is important. And sure--there's the obvious justification that says components of the vehicle that can affect other things might be broken here, that also affect ESS' ability to work.

But more specifically, short of implementing the linked workaround in this thread of tying the two batteries together in parallel 100% of the time there's this:

Regardless of whether ESS is turned on or off by the operator or vehicle, with this aforementioned workaround not implemented, it seems from research that the ESS battery must have sufficient charge (alone) to notify the starter to crank the engine.

Upon need for an engine crank, be it cold or ESS event related, the ESS battery is isolated (again--short of this workaround), even if only for an instant, to effect this notification task alone.

With this workaround, the two batteries are always connected in parallel. Without it they're in parallel 99.9% of the time, barring notification of the starter, and any ESS event.

The "downside to this workaround" is that to not turn ESS off after implementing it, if ESS does engages, it will also tap the main battery (both batteries) to run appliances during the ESS event, reducing the main battery's strength to energize the starter upon ESS event conclusion.

Without the workaround the ESS battery alone sacrifices its power, by design, to operate appliances during the ESS event, sparing the main battery for the starter crank, but (and this is key) the crank will occur before the ESS battery' charge runs so low that it can't notify the starter, even if the operator is still waiting for a "green traffic light" with their foot firmly on the brake.

Let's split hairs for understanding: from the factory an isolated ESS battery NOTIFIES the starter to spin, both batteries are then reconnected in parallel, and then BOTH batteries energize the starter. Notification is like a conversation: it takes little but some energy and happens when the batteries are isolated. Getting the starter to spin, overcoming inertia: that's where the power draw really lies: and both batteries are tapped for this.

With this workaround, AND ESS NOT disabled, you might, in theory, tax your main battery in an ESS event, that runs either longer than it should, or at all, (because your vehicle "thinks" its ESS battery has plenty of power, not "knowing" the main battery is helping it) that taps and compromises the main battery's ability during the event, to after it, energize (along with the ESS battery) the starter and start the engine up upon ESS event termination (i.e. foot off the brake.)

This is NOT a stab at the workaround...just an education on the things that should go along with its use (turn off ESS.)

If this is too technical remember this:

* Effect the workaround and turn off ESS. : - )

* Don't affect the workaround and understand you'll still need a working ESS battery even if you hate and disengage the ESS system by any of the discussed operator controlled means.

As stated, a trickle charger, or may be useful here. It was for me when I experienced a similar situation to that you described.

I hope this helps.

 

[TIDALWAVE]

My ESS automatically shuts off whenever the outside temp drops below 0F. Coolant temp was >190 and trans temp 140.

 

[binfordtools]

Wanted to provide an update. I took my Jeep to the dealer for this issue, and a few small other things (rear-view camera random green lines in the extreme cold, and creaking noises from the hard-top) last week. According to the dealer, BOTH batteries were bad and needed to be replaced. I asked if there was an electrical drain, or if the charging system had an issue and apparently they are fine. Seems odd that both batteries would be bad. The ESS seems to be functioning fine now.

 

[ppfingsten]

After reading this I need to take mine in. Two months ago I had an ASS fault that came in and went off and the ASS hasn’t worked since. The menu just says that the battery is charging.

 

[mwilk012]

After reading this I need to take mine in. Two months ago I had an ASS fault that came in and went off and the ASS hasn’t worked since. The menu just says that the battery is charging.

What is your battery voltage, and how often do you drive?

 

[D60]

Yeah I hope people are checking battery voltage at the battery with a multimeter with vehicle off? Finding ~14V while running on the dash only tells you the alt is working......and no matter how accurate anyone claims the dash gauge is this would not be considered appropriate for true diagnostics - the dash is merely a general reference

 

[ppfingsten]

What is your battery voltage, and how often do you drive?

I haven’t checked. I will this afternoon. I drive the Jeep everyday.

 

[mwilk012]

Yeah I hope people are checking battery voltage at the battery with a multimeter with vehicle off? Finding ~14V while running on the dash only tells you the alt is working......and no matter how accurate anyone claims the dash gauge is this would not be considered appropriate for true diagnostics - the dash is merely a general reference

Of course, but a constant ~14.7V is a good indication that the alternator is trying to charge the battery continuously and it isn't working.

 

[ppfingsten]

Of course, but a constant ~14.7V is a good indication that the alternator is trying to charge the battery continuously and it isn't working.

While running the dash says 14.3V. Battery disconnected the main I get 12.57V and the aux 12.66V. The dash message goes between battery protection mode to battery charging. The main below 12.6V is probably an indication that the battery is bad. That was even after driving for a few hours.

 

[Rahneld]

While running the dash says 14.3V. Battery disconnected the main I get 12.57V and the aux 12.66V. The dash message goes between battery protection mode to battery charging. The main below 12.6V is probably an indication that the battery is bad. That was even after driving for a few hours.

Hey Paul:

I don't know if you own a personal voltage tester but it might be useful to test the voltage of each battery with one, with the 3.6L JL parked and operator (as opposed to ESS) shut off.

The thing of it is that the two batteries are connected in parallel almost always, including when the 3.6L is powered down, which makes isolating the batteries necessary to get a voltage reading that isn't a composite of both batteries.****

Here's a excellent link on how to do so https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...y-consolidated-information.25377/#post-602294 even if the purpose of this thread was about getting a power pack to charge only the ESS battery on a dead 3.6 JL.

@D60 was on the right track to turn the engine off, but there's cable isolation too for proper voltage readings.

For the terminally curious, the ESS is the more essential of the two batteries on cold crank, for reasons beyond the scope of this thread. For those who wish to know why, please say so and I'll provide links. This link above shows how to direct all the power pack's power to it, as simply hooking up most packs to the main battery wouldn't work--again beyond scope here as to why.

The important thing is that the same cable isolating technique in the link can be use to check idle voltages of each battery. : - )

Cheers

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**** batteries hook up in parallel, like your 3.6L JL's at rest, never increase voltage, just amperage, but can give too high a voltage reading if the stronger battery is helping the weaker one, hence the need for their isolation when taking readings

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