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ESS battery dead

srt20

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I parked my Jeep for 4 months over winter. Started just fine, everything works just fine. Never put a charger on it.
18 Rubicon 2.0

P.S. as a matter of fact, I drained the battery even more by having lights on, ignition on, etc, while installing mods and stuff.
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Kluk Ztopolovky

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Honestly 5-7 weeks is pretty long. I don't know how many vehicles of any brand would have enough juice to start?

Forget a 3-4 year old battery. The odds of a new ESS equipped JL not starting after being parked 5-7 weeks is high. Very High. There are cases of them not starting after 3-4 weeks. Some even sooner, like 2-3 weeks. FCA should look into the ESS issues and bad batteries.

I have been away from home few times for about couple months and only ay one time I was unable to start the car after my trip , if this is the case with the JL then I am not too happy about it , .... and you say 2 - 3 weeks ? I don't think that would fly with any car owner out there , I honestly believe that would be a major failure.
 

Kluk Ztopolovky

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I parked my Jeep for 4 months over winter. Started just fine, everything works just fine. Never put a charger on it.
18 Rubicon 2.0

P.S. as a matter of fact, I drained the battery even more by having lights on, ignition on, etc, while installing mods and stuff.

yes, this is more like it , any car which is well maintained with healthy battery and has been parked in a moderate climate environment or garage has to fire up after 2 months without any glitch
 

Kluk Ztopolovky

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Honestly 5-7 weeks is pretty long. I don't know how many vehicles of any brand would have enough juice to start?

Forget a 3-4 year old battery. The odds of a new ESS equipped JL not starting after being parked 5-7 weeks is high. Very High. There are cases of them not starting after 3-4 weeks. Some even sooner, like 2-3 weeks. FCA should look into the ESS issues and bad batteries.

Ask anybody that has been around way back and couple of months shouldn't drain your healthy battery .
 

viper88

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Ask anybody that has been around way back and couple of months shouldn't drain your healthy battery .
Trust me, you want a ESS equipped JL on a charger if your not driving it for a couple of weeks. There are definitely some main batteries and ESS batteries that have died prematurely. There is some kind of parasitic draw. Something is causing JL batteries and ESS batteries to drain at a faster rate. There are a few threads on this.

Storing a vehicle for 2 months without a charger/maintainer is slowly killing the battery even if it starts. I would put it on a smart charger/maintainer.

Depends on the car. I have owned a lot of cars. Many way back. Those cars don't have as many electrical components constantly drawing power slowly. I also own modern cars. Some drain batteries more then others. I try to be proactive and and use battery maintainers for cars I store and don't drive often. Cars I don't drive for a few weeks.
 
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Kluk Ztopolovky

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Trust me, you want a ESS equipped JL on a charger if your not driving it for a couple of weeks. There are definitely some main batteries and ESS batteries that have died prematurely. Something is causing JL batteries and ESS batteries to drain at a faster rate. There are a few threads on this.

Storing a vehicle for 2 months without a charger/maintainer is slowly killing the battery even if it starts. I would put it on a smart charger/maintainer.

Depends on the car. I have owned a lot of cars. Many way back. Those cars don't have as many electrical components constantly drawing power slowly. I also own modern cars. Some drain batteries more then others. I try to be proactive and and use battery maintainers for cars I store and don't drive often. Cars I don't drive for a few weeks.

Thanks for the warning. I guess I will have to make sure I park with the front out before my vacation so I can boost the Jeep if needed. I do not like that twin screwed up battery set up at all. What a nuisance .
 

Jebiruph

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2 electrically dis-similar batteries like the large main and small aux batteries connected in parallel can drain each other. I suspect that the more incompatible the batteries are with each other, the faster they drain down. If you are having problems with the batteries draining during extended periods of not being driven, try disconnecting the ground cable of the aux battery to see if that fixes the problem.
 

Kluk Ztopolovky

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2 electrically dis-similar batteries like the large main and small aux batteries connected in parallel can drain each other. I suspect that the more incompatible the batteries are with each other, the faster they drain down. If you are having problems with the batteries draining during extended periods of not being driven, try disconnecting the ground cable of the aux battery to see if that fixes the problem.

Thanks but isn't it all ridiculous ? We each of us spent good dollar for a new vehicle and now we have to experiment with the electrical systems trying to come up with the best set up so we can start our Jeeps after we get home from our vacation. But then again maybe there won't be any more vacations so why to worry ?
 

MILT

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I parked my 19 over winter (3+months) w/o issues and that was with intermittent activation of lights with doing mods.
 

HoundDude

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this topic has popped up a lot in the forums over the past few years. some folks seem to think the proximity option may contribute to faster battery draining. I don't know if that is true or not, but I do know that the owners manual for my Audi (also equipped with proximity locks) explicitly states that it disables the proximity lock system to preserve the battery after an extended period of inactivity. I wonder if Jeep does this?
 

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The ESS battery is a problem. I suspect it has left more JLs stranded then any other issue. I highly recommend the TOW package for the higher output alternator and higher capacity battery for ESS equipped JLs.

I suspect a lot of people are not driving as much due to shelter in place orders. I recommend a battery charger/maintainer if you don't drive regularly. Or drive it once a week to charge up the batteries. Make sure you drive it long enough to heat up the oil and burn off moisture.

I started a thread about this.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...place-to-charge-batteries.49022/#post-1096416
i have the tow package
 
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dalema

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Honestly 5-7 weeks is pretty long. I don't know how many vehicles of any brand would have enough juice to start?

Forget a 3-4 year old battery. The odds of a new ESS equipped JL not starting after being parked 5-7 weeks is high. Very High. There are cases of them not starting after 3-4 weeks. Some even sooner, like 2-3 weeks. FCA should look into the ESS issues and bad batteries.
yes - this was 5 days and as dead as a door nail
 
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dalema

dalema

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this topic has popped up a lot in the forums over the past few years. some folks seem to think the proximity option may contribute to faster battery draining. I don't know if that is true or not, but I do know that the owners manual for my Audi (also equipped with proximity locks) explicitly states that it disables the proximity lock system to preserve the battery after an extended period of inactivity. I wonder if Jeep does this?
Ive had this happen on an older cayenne I owned. Faulty door handle sensor drained the battery.
 

sf5211

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There was a report from last year about a JL sitting at a rail drop yard waiting to be trucked to the dealer but they couldn't get it started because the batteries were dead. It sat for weeks while the rail yard, transporter and Jeep argued over who was responsible for replacing the batteries. Hoping that was some other problem besides the batteries because sitting on a rail car for a few days shouldn't totally kill new batteries.
I’ll say this Mike, if that report is true I would be absolutely pissed off. Some poor person pays 40-50k on a Jeep and they have to wait extra weeks over a battery squabble?
They mind as well tell the customer f**k you!
It’s no different.
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