400 miles and I get a CEL

[Vinman]

If you own any Stellantis product, buy a code scanner, CELs are common……

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[Yawnie'sPapa]

Welp. Been enjoying the new ride so far, but just got a Check Engine Light.
My rig is a ‘24 2-door manual Rubi with just 400 miles. Did proper break in and have been driving it normally with a combined city/highway driving.

Was stopped at a light. Engine stops as expected from ESS. Light turns green, I push the clutch in and engine fires right up. But then I get a message that says ESS is no longer available accompanied by a Check Engine Light. It drove fine. Pulled over. Turned ride off and fired her up again.

ESS message is gone, but CEL is still there. You folks have any ideas/theories as to what’s going on?

Any time there's an engine or other issue ESS will be unavailable. It doesn't mean ESS is the problem necessarily, it means maybe there was a misfire detected so it disables ESS.
I had something like 100 miles on my Jeep when I got a hot restart misfire code and ESS was disabled until about 2 big button starts later, the code cleared and ESS worked again. Next time my engine had a code, ESS was unavailable. It was never an ESS issue and not an electrical or battery issue - it was a weird misfire that very often you could not even feel!

People get hung up on the battery every time they see anything including the term ESS.
ESS will be disabled any time anything is wrong with the engine, transmission, catalytic converter and quite a list of other things - all unrelated to batteries. it's to ensure that you aren't sitting in an ESS stop unable to restart - so if it misfires even a little bit you can't feel - ESS will be disabled.

 

[Melchior]

Any time there's an engine or other issue ESS will be unavailable. It doesn't mean ESS is the problem necessarily, it means maybe there was a misfire detected so it disables ESS.
I had something like 100 miles on my Jeep when I got a hot restart misfire code and ESS was disabled until about 2 big button starts later, the code cleared and ESS worked again. Next time my engine had a code, ESS was unavailable. It was never an ESS issue and not an electrical or battery issue - it was a weird misfire that very often you could not even feel!

People get hung up on the battery every time they see anything including the term ESS.
ESS will be disabled any time anything is wrong with the engine, transmission, catalytic converter and quite a list of other things - all unrelated to batteries. it's to ensure that you aren't sitting in an ESS stop unable to restart - so if it misfires even a little bit you can't feel - ESS will be disabled.

Good to know. My ESS message is gone, but I still have a CEL on. This is after several short drives, too. Was your situation similar or did you still have the ESS message only?

 

[rohdawg]

@BVGeezer found your problem and I don’t disagree with @Yawnie'sPapa , but given your mileage and how new your Jeep is the first thing I’d do would be getting the batteries load tested. The ‘24s are coming from Toledo with garbage batteries.
That or go ahead and swap out the factory batteries. You’re going to do it sooner rather than later.
2nd to last bullet point from your code…

• POWER CONTROL RELAY CONTROL CIRCUIT OPEN/HIGH RESISTANCE
• POWER CONTROL RELAY CONTROL CIRCUIT SHORTED TO GROUND
• POWER CONTROL RELAY IS STUCK OFF
• PCR CONTROL RELAY (ON PCB IN THE PDC) IS STUCK OPEN
• POOR CONNECTION AT THE AUXILIARY BATTERY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE CABLE ENDS
• HIGH RESISTANCE IN THE AUXILIARY BATTERY POSITIVE CABLE
• HIGH RESISTANCE IN THE AUXILIARY BATTERY GROUND
• FAULTY AUXILIARY BATTERY
• POWER DISTRIBUTION CENTER (PDC)

 

[Melchior]

@BVGeezer found your problem and I don’t disagree with @Yawnie'sPapa , but given your mileage and how new your Jeep is the first thing I’d do would be getting the batteries load tested. The ‘24s are coming from Toledo with garbage batteries.
That or go ahead and swap out the factory batteries. You’re going to do it sooner rather than later.
2nd to last bullet point from your code…

Gotcha. I’m wondering if me turning off the ESS manually would be enough until I get to the dealer. From what I gather, code only affects the ability for ESS to function and is independent from manually starting the engine and charging from the alternator?

 

[BVGeezer]

Try the easiest solution first. Notice it said loose battery connections.

 

[GtX]

If it is a faulty battery, which one do you think it’ll be? Main or aux?

You're new 'round here.

 

[GtX]

This is why CDJR dealers suck. There is no reason on Earth why they should make you wait to get a brand new car looked at for something like this. Any dealer worth a damn would have said "Bring it on in and I'll have a tech look at it to see if it's something we can fix today". That's actual service. What they are doing is saying "screw you we don't care". And they wonder why people hate dealers.

What you're saying is everyone in line, having waited, gets bumped a bit for this person. That's actual service unless you've been in line waiting, then it's getting screwed.

Same thing, only difference is where you are in line.

 

[autotragic]

What you're saying is everyone in line, having waited, gets bumped a bit for this person. That's actual service unless you've been in line waiting, then it's getting screwed.

Same thing, only difference is where you are in line.

This fix is easy, no appointments more than a week out. If you can't get people in within a week something is seriously wrong. I remember a time when dealerships could get you in for simple stuff within a day or two tops. We've become used to shit service though and people put up with it so dealers don't strive to make it better.

 

[jman]

Any time there's an engine or other issue ESS will be unavailable. It doesn't mean ESS is the problem necessarily, it means maybe there was a misfire detected so it disables ESS.
I had something like 100 miles on my Jeep when I got a hot restart misfire code and ESS was disabled until about 2 big button starts later, the code cleared and ESS worked again. Next time my engine had a code, ESS was unavailable. It was never an ESS issue and not an electrical or battery issue - it was a weird misfire that very often you could not even feel!

People get hung up on the battery every time they see anything including the term ESS.
ESS will be disabled any time anything is wrong with the engine, transmission, catalytic converter and quite a list of other things - all unrelated to batteries. it's to ensure that you aren't sitting in an ESS stop unable to restart - so if it misfires even a little bit you can't feel - ESS will be disabled.

True enough but you cannot disagree that the batteries are hot garbage and often are the problem.

 

[Melchior]

This fix is easy, no appointments more than a week out. If you can't get people in within a week something is seriously wrong. I remember a time when dealerships could get you in for simple stuff within a day or two tops. We've become used to shit service though and people put up with it so dealers don't strive to make it better.

This. I don’t know when it all went to crap. I don’t know what happened. I remember about 5 years ago, it was never this bad. You wanted to make an appointment, it was often 1 week out tops. Average was 3-4 days out. The dealer I’m talking about (autonation) is telling me the first opening is 3 months out?!? That is completely bonkers. We’ve had folks order and get their jeeps in less time than that.

 

[autotragic]

This. I don’t know when it all went to crap. I don’t know what happened. I remember about 5 years ago, it was never this bad. You wanted to make an appointment, it was often 1 week out tops. Average was 3-4 days out. The dealer I’m talking about (autonation) is telling me the first opening is 3 months out?!? That is completely bonkers. We’ve had folks order and get their jeeps in less time than that.

Exactly. CDJR dealers especially are sleazy as hell now days and many won't do warranty work on vehicles that weren't bought at that dealer. I would be surprised if that's not what happened to you at the first dealer you called. They didn't want to do warranty work on something bought at a different dealer and just wanted you out of their hair.

 

[AZJeepGuy]

I'm on my fourth batter. Two aux batteries and the last one was another main battery. When the aux goes bad then the main one goes bad shortly thereafter. So my new main battery will last another month.
I keep seeing the PCR pop up in these threads. Where is it located? Are they expensive? Part number?
Are there other switches or relays in the ESS system that could be bad?

 

[EEProf]

I had a CEL for about a month, Jeep ('24 Willys 4Xe) drove perfectly. It was throwing P1B0F, which is the motor/generator not syncing. All it does is degrade efficiency when the ICE is running. The dealer farted around (mainly because of Stellantis), replaced the motor, updated the software and now it runs even better. Love this Jeep, hate whoever the manufacturer-de-jour happens to be.

The CEL is primarily tied to the emissions system. If you have a CEL on in NC you can't get inspected or you fail inspection. When the CEL is on you can pretty much drive in all modes with no sweat, when it blinks you need a tow.

 

[Melchior]

I had a CEL for about a month, Jeep ('24 Willys 4Xe) drove perfectly. It was throwing P1B0F, which is the motor/generator not syncing. All it does is degrade efficiency when the ICE is running. The dealer farted around (mainly because of Stellantis), replaced the motor, updated the software and now it runs even better. Love this Jeep, hate whoever the manufacturer-de-jour happens to be.

The CEL is primarily tied to the emissions system. If you have a CEL on in NC you can't get inspected or you fail inspection. When the CEL is on you can pretty much drive in all modes with no sweat, when it blinks you need a tow.

Thanks for that bit of knowledge. Eases my mind until I can get it into the dealer. I tried clearing the code to no avail. But it does seem to run normally.

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