ESS stopped working

[W1ck3d]

Ess runs through the aux battery ... Check the voltage on the 12v aux and see where its at... You can also charge it by disconnecting the #1 terminal and hooking a charger up to it

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[WXman]

Must be worse than I thought because the dealer still has my Jeep. I've been put in a Chrysler 200 until it's fixed, and this car is dreadful. Lol. I'll check with them again tomorrow and see if there is any news.

 

[WXman]

Day 3 and still not even a clue what the problem is. I'm starting to worry that this could turn into a drawn out ordeal.

 

[WXman]

Finally heard from them. They are claiming that even though the batteries are both charged there is a sensor that is reading voltage wrong. So, it's preventing ESS from functioning.

The part is 4 days out. Also, no word on how this ties into TPMS display missing.

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Finally heard from them. They are claiming that even though the batteries are both charged there is a sensor that is reading voltage wrong. So, it's preventing ESS from functioning.

The part is 4 days out. Also, no word on how this ties into TPMS display missing.

@WXman

IBS as the cause, was mentioned by @Jebiruph a few posts back. I too figured that may very well be the issue.. (not meaning the TPMS issue)
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/ess-stopped-working.17496/#post-432762

 

[WXman]

Yep sounds like that's what it is. I wonder if @Jebiruph has any idea what those sensors cost for these Jeeps. Mine is under warranty obviously but I'm curious for the future.

On my 2013 F-150 I just kept that sensor unplugged all the time to prevent the auto-shut down of accessories.

 

[Jebiruph]

Yep sounds like that's what it is. I wonder if @Jebiruph has any idea what those sensors cost for these Jeeps. Mine is under warranty obviously but I'm curious for the future.

On my 2013 F-150 I just kept that sensor unplugged all the time to prevent the auto-shut down of accessories.

I did a quick search, the mopar sites only go through 2017, so no JL IBS. The ones I found were selling from $45 to $85 (discount price). Post a part number when you get yours back.

 

[WXman]

68289207AB is the number on mine. Looks like it lists for $58 bucks. Ouch.

I picked the Jeep up today and will take it back Wednesday of next week when the part arrives to have it installed.

I have a bad feeling that it could be any number of issues, but this IBS seems like a very logical place to start.

The total disappearance of the TPMS display from my gauge cluster still baffles me as well.

 

[W1ck3d]

How long has the ess been out? Are you still driving it? The ibs will communicate with the body control module to tell the car to stop ess if the voltage is below a certain threshold, but eventually long term it should restore once the battery returns to the correct threshold.... Sometimes it takes awhile a day or 2.... I would goto the dealer and just see if they can get the voltage reading from the bcm

 

[WXman]

Well the voltage is fine. I checked it at over 12.5 volts on both batteries, and the dealership confirmed with their fancy equipment and tools.

They are saying the IBS is bad. BUT... they let me take the Jeep home while the part is on order and last night I disconnected everything. All the negatives from the main battery and fender in hopes of killing all power. I then swapped a 5A fuse that was labeled "IBS" on the diagram with a 5A fuse elsewhere, though both fuses appeared to be good to the eye. I let it all sit for a while to "reset" the system like we did on older Jeeps, not knowing if it was actually resetting anything.

This morning... ESS worked again. Well, for a while. After about 20 minutes it stopped working again and now the screen simply says "ESS Not Ready" which is a new message I wasn't getting before. AND, when it would restart on an ESS cycle it was very rough and for a split second I questioned whether it was going to actually start or not. AND, on a restart cycle it disables cruise control now which it wasn't doing before. AND, I still have no TPMS readout in the menu at all.

Very odd. I hate electrical gremlins.

So I guess my plan is to let them replace the IBS next week, ask them to reflash the computer(s), and update the calibrations. Hopefully this will restore the Jeep back to everything working again. I hope.

 

[Jebiruph]

Well the voltage is fine. I checked it at over 12.5 volts on both batteries, and the dealership confirmed with their fancy equipment and tools.

They are saying the IBS is bad. BUT... they let me take the Jeep home while the part is on order and last night I disconnected everything. All the negatives from the main battery and fender in hopes of killing all power. I then swapped a 5A fuse that was labeled "IBS" on the diagram with a 5A fuse elsewhere, though both fuses appeared to be good to the eye. I let it all sit for a while to "reset" the system like we did on older Jeeps, not knowing if it was actually resetting anything.

This morning... ESS worked again. Well, for a while. After about 20 minutes it stopped working again and now the screen simply says "ESS Not Ready" which is a new message I wasn't getting before. AND, when it would restart on an ESS cycle it was very rough and for a split second I questioned whether it was going to actually start or not. AND, on a restart cycle it disables cruise control now which it wasn't doing before. AND, I still have no TPMS readout in the menu at all.

Very odd. I hate electrical gremlins.

So I guess my plan is to let them replace the IBS next week, ask them to reflash the computer(s), and update the calibrations. Hopefully this will restore the Jeep back to everything working again. I hope.

I would load test your aux battery by removing the positive terminal from the main battery and starting from just the aux battery. It seems sometimes a good main battery hides a bad aux battery.

 

[WXman]

OK thanks.

Also for those with this issue, I've identified some fuses and a relay in the fuse box that could potentially directly affect the ESS operation.

K01 is the "micro relay" that I believe some people have had replaced. F03 is a 5A fuse for the Intelligent Battery Sensor. F42 is a 10A fuse that controls the Power Control Relay which I believe manages power between the main and aux batteries.

I did find some relays that were not snapped all the way into position. Unsure if this has solved anything yet.

 

[WXman]

So I swapped some relays and fuses around (a 10A for another 10A, a 5A for another 5A, etc.) on the off chance one of the IBS/PCR/ESS fuses could be bad, though none of them looked bad to the eye. I also went through the fuse box and pressed all the relays and fuses into their slots firmly. Many of them felt just slightly loose. Not bad, but just a little wiggle.

Then on a theory, I connected my FlashCal to the OBD port and selected a new TPMS threshold, hoping that maybe having the device "calling" the TPMS module would "wake it up" and bring the display back to the menu again.

This was at lunchtime today, and ever since I did these things the Jeep is back to normal. Start/stop works normally now. TPMS display is back. No warning lights or issues, other than when the engine restarts it seems rougher than it used to like it struggles a tad.

Sigh...

So apparently my IBS isn't dead afterall. But what exactly was the fix? Did I get lucky? Was it an improperly seated fuse? Was it the wake up call from the FlashCal? Was it disconnecting 12v power and allowing everything to reset? Or am I celebrating prematurely and it's all going to die again tomorrow?

 

[Rhinebeck01]

@WXman
Well, you had hints sent your way early on that the TPMS issue was programmer related.


? .... had you in the past fooled with your TPMS threshold with either the Flashcal or the Tazer JL....

Glad all is well... I bet $ to donuts that all will be ok with your JL from here out... ah, until someday something else goes a muck..

 

[Jebiruph]

So apparently my IBS isn't dead afterall. But what exactly was the fix? Did I get lucky? Was it an improperly seated fuse? Was it the wake up call from the FlashCal? Was it disconnecting 12v power and allowing everything to reset? Or am I celebrating prematurely and it's all going to die again tomorrow?

I found the most IBS information on a Cherokee forum, they've been dealing with them for a few years. I got the impression they can be quirky. If you haven't yet, I would get both batteries load tested just to make sure, the rougher engine on restarts is concerning. Are normal starts normal?

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