Heading to Moab Wednesday and Jeep will not crank!! Need Input!

[jeepoch]

Mike,

Enjoy your trip to Moab.

After asking you to consider the Genesis Dual Battery kit and the trouble you just went through, I think there is going to be one of those in my near future.

Good job and thanks for sharing your struggles and resolution. It helps all of us.

Thank you.
Jay

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[Sprint7]

Glad you got her straightened

I see what you did there!

 

[Sprint7]

OP, I am very happy for you. This entire 3.6L ess implementation - from the motorcycle battery to having to remove the entire fuse box to get to it to all the other bullcr@p with it - will go down as a legendary engineering screw-up. the FCA manager that signed off on this design should lose his/her engineering license, IMO

After messing with it all day i will say that it is not a hard job but it is a pain in the ass. The main problem is that you have to remove and disconnect the entire fuse box which as i found out has an unnecessary risk associated with it. After dealing with it all day i would offer one piece of advise for anyone tackling this. On the video the "other guy" did he removed the (4) 7mm bolts in the fuse panel and pulled it up at an angle due to the N1-N8 lugs still connected. I would spend the extra few minutes removing the leads from the lugs so you can then remove the panel straight up and down and not at an angle. Hope that makes since.

I did learn a good bit about how the system works and it is quite a stupid design from an engineering standpoint. It absolutely something that I would expect on any other FCA product but please not the Jeep. I would love to totally isolate each battery where the main battery could power the jeep/crank, etc and the Aux battery could be used to run a fridge, etc without fear of draining the main battery. They the alternator could charge both.

Glad that project is behind me.

 

[ALRUI]

Lastly, double check all the connections and make sure all the fuse and relays are pushed firmly down and that they make good connections within the fuse and relay module. This is the most likely culprit because you have to move this module out of the way just to gain access to the AUX battery.

Don't panic. Everything was working. It's just now a matter of ensuring everything has been put back together and has sufficient charge on the new batteries. New batteries are not always received fully charged.

You'll get there...

Jay

Any reason nobody is replacing the AUX battery by pulling the inner fender out and getting to it from below?

 

[HardSell]

i tried to crank the jeep and nothing!

Not a good thing on a Jeep trail.

 

[HardSell]

the FCA manager that signed off on this design

...drives a Prius.

 

[ALRUI]

I saked "Jeep Informant" the following on a video (YouTube Jeep Informat) where he showed the removal of the fender liner and I asked the following in the comments:

"Can you actually replace that aux battery by dropping it out with the fender flare off you think?"

His reply:

"alrui yes that is actually the preferred method by the service information."

It would be GREAT if someone who has access to the service program could chime in & share some docs

 

[aeonixx1001]

Start checking fuses and relays. When you disconnect just the ground post on the main battery, the circuit is still hot.

Did you follow this order?

Sounds like it is a "Reboot issue" Does it turn over and just wont start? Or is the Battery dead and it wont crank? Because you said something about gas earlier. If its not turning over, gas has nothing to do with it. Do you have a Tazer on it?

 

[DOOKEY]

Sounds like it is a "Reboot issue" Does it turn over and just wont start? Or is the Battery dead and it wont crank? Because you said something about gas earlier. If its not turning over, gas has nothing to do with it. Do you have a Tazer on it?

Read much?

 

[jeepoch]

Any reason nobody is replacing the AUX battery by pulling the inner fender out and getting to it from below?

Arnold,

Unfortunately the AUX Battery terminals can only be accessed from the top of the battery but only from underneath the Fuse/Relay Module.

I would also caution anyone gaining access to the AUX Battery to follow Mike's (the OP) advice and remove all N1 through N8 terminals on the side of the Fuse/Relay Module so it can be lifted straight up. Afterwards it can be seated straight down. Trying to angle it on with the N terminals connected caused one of the bottom connector pins to get mangled on Mike's Jeep. This created his no-ignition start problem.

Moral of the story, be extra careful with EVERYTHING around the Fuse/Relay Module's connectors.

The AUX battery implementation (and especially it's placement) was not well thought out. Jeep should really study the Genesis Dual Battery replacement kit and either license or outright buy the rights to use it, or something very similar.

This AUX Battery system is a mess and some production manager and his team should be drawn and quartered. Or at least be thoroughly embarrassed.

My problem is that since I used to work as a Powertrain Software Engineer for Chrysler a while back, I may still know some of these people. I had departed during Chrysler's first merger with Daimler. Company shake-ups are never a good thing. It was a really great gig. I miss it, but after floating my resume, I landed at another way cool product development assignment just outside Denver.

Colorado is awesome, don't miss Michigan winters in the slightest. Also with the way that state is run however, the only advice I would have for them is; will the last to leave please turn out the lights.

Unfortunately, Colorado politics are getting just as bad. Hope I'm not the one turning the lights off here.

One can only hope that this mess will soon end. Hopefully AUX batteries may soon be our only worry.

Jeep On...
Jay

 

[Dkretden]

Mike,

Enjoy your trip to Moab.

After asking you to consider the Genesis Dual Battery kit and the trouble you just went through, I think there is going to be one of those in my near future.

Good job and thanks for sharing your struggles and resolution. It helps all of us.

Thank you.
Jay

Jay,

please let me (us) know If you install one and then how it works for you over a couple months.

 

[Sprint7]

I saked "Jeep Informant" the following on a video (YouTube Jeep Informat) where he showed the removal of the fender liner and I asked the following in the comments:

"Can you actually replace that aux battery by dropping it out with the fender flare off you think?"

His reply:

"alrui yes that is actually the preferred method by the service information."

It would be GREAT if someone who has access to the service program could chime in & share some docs

I have found his video's to be very helpful and actually watched the one on the main fuse bar during this ordeal. Because of his knowledge i am very reluctant to say this but I do not see how you could change it by removing the fender. My reason is that 1. the battery fits in a tray and i don't think you can access it from below and 2. you can only get to the connectors from the top of the battery. That said Jeep Informant knows more about Jeeps than i ever will so it may be possible.

Since I removed/installed the aux battery about 5 times during this ordeal i got pretty good at it. Yes, having to remove the fuse panel is stupid and has a lot of room for error but overall it is not hard and I bet I could change it now after a lot of practice in 15 mins.

 

[Sprint7]

Loaded up and ready to go! Trailer pulling out in the morning!

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