New 4xe complete electrical shutdown!

[hybrid3.0]

So I just completed my first week of driving my JLU 4xe HA and the wife and I have been loving it. This afternoon, I tried starting it and it was completely dead electrically. Thought maybe one of my key fobs was bad, so got the second key fob and still absolutely no electric in the vehicle. Then I thought that perhaps it was in some sort of remote "kill power" mode perhaps by mistake from the Jeep Wave service (hacked?), but then I noticed that there was no indication from the charge port of any power to the vehicle. I have not had the vehicle long enough to know all of the dash and charge port LED light sequences, but I seem to recall there always being some LED indicator when plugged in. Pushed in loose fuses in the underhood fuse panel as this has been indicated as a problem on new JLU's from the factory, but no change. I decided to run a multi-meter across my starter battery to see if I had any power and the battery under the hood reads 3.67 V!! Call to the dealership for them to address in the morning!

If a door is not properly closed could that drain the battery from the dome light? Most cars I know of have a 20 minute relay that prevents dome lights/accessories from killing the battery, but this is my first Wrangler so does anyone know if the Wrangler has a cut-off to prevent the starter battery drain from leaving dome lights on? Also, does the PHEV charge port keep the car battery charged or are these two completely different systems? I always keep the car plugged in once parked in the garage so that it is always fully charged and ready to go. I know modern cars with so many computer chips behave erratically once voltage drops below 11.X V so a bad starter battery might impact all systems as described but I just don't know. I have a battery charger but have decided not to mess with this complex system in the event there is a short somewhere; so I am leaving it up to warranty service to manage.

If you have any ideas let me know!

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[Reinen]

There hasn't been a lot of time for the Jeep community to figure out the nuances of the 4xe. Probably best to leave it to warranty service to manage and post all the info you can. I'm sure we would all appreciate it.

 

[hybrid3.0]

Yes, knew there would be some new vehicle issues to be worked out, but I'm completely dead in the water at this point and will need a flatbed. Will update you guys once dealer figures things out.

 

[JPAloha]

Will it not run in electric only mode?

 

[hybrid3.0]

No, completely dead

 

[Mtpockets]

Subscribing for outcome .

 

[Karnak]

subscribed.

 

[av8or]

This is a bummer.

 

[Bumps Ahead]

Install anything new? I had wired a dashcam once and it drained my 12 volt “starting” battery resulting in a dead PHEV the next day (with a fully charged “drive” battery). Jump started that car and it ran fine.....moved the dash cam to a ”dead” circuit when car was off.

Battery for the electric/hybrid system and the battery under the hood for all vehicle electronics and starting the vehicle are seperate. If your 12 volt battery under the hood was drained, something caused it that is typically unrelated to that 48 volt battery under the seat used for the electric drive motor. That battery and drive motor depend on other vehicle systems to operate, (just like the gas engine does), so even if that 48 volt battery and motor were fine, if you vehicle battery is dead.....no go....and it is likely that the charge port and related light systems also use that same 12 volt battery for those indicator lights, just like all the other lights in the vehicle.

Over simplification, but hope that helps those thinking “just use the electric motor!”

 

[hybrid3.0]

Roadside assistance came out and gave me a jump start and the engine fired up! Starter battery read 2.8 v so continued to draw down overnight. Seems like hybrid drive and battery pack and motor plus vehicle electronics and starter battery are completely separate. A dead starter battery means no go even with a fully charged hybrid battery as in my case. Once starter battery was charged properly with a plug-in battery charger, the vehicle resumed regular operation. Interesting is that once the vehicle is jump started there is no way to keep the engine running and the software does not seem to know that the starter battery is in a low charge state requiring the motor to run. Now it would still drive in Ev mode until I shut it off but I did not want to be stranded with no EV charge and an ICE that wouldn’t start. I am keeping the vehicle at home and will try to figure out if I can reproduce it. Now wife was driving car so cannot trace my actions to know what may have caused the drain. The only other thing I can think of is that the wife may have left ignition on ‘run’ while parked, but normally the horn beeps if you walk away with the key and there was no horn sound. What happens if you leave it in park but ignition on “run”, walk away to plug in the charge cord, then walk away from the vehicle? I assume once plugged in the vehicle goes into a ‘no drive’ mode otherwise you would see charging stations with cords ripped out.

 

[4xemtb]

Good news is that it doesn't immediately sound like a EV issue so a good mechanic should be able to get to the bottom of things.

First thing I'd do is run by a good battery shop and have them test the battery.

If the battery tests ok, I'd be testing to see if there's anything drawing on the battery when it's off and I'd check to see if the charging system is working. Then again, it's brand new so I'd probably be dropping it at the Jeep dealer and expecting them to fix it!

 

[Wrangler21]

So I just completed my first week of driving my JLU 4xe HA and the wife and I have been loving it. This afternoon, I tried starting it and it was completely dead electrically. Thought maybe one of my key fobs was bad, so got the second key fob and still absolutely no electric in the vehicle. Then I thought that perhaps it was in some sort of remote "kill power" mode perhaps by mistake from the Jeep Wave service (hacked?), but then I noticed that there was no indication from the charge port of any power to the vehicle. I have not had the vehicle long enough to know all of the dash and charge port LED light sequences, but I seem to recall there always being some LED indicator when plugged in. Pushed in loose fuses in the underhood fuse panel as this has been indicated as a problem on new JLU's from the factory, but no change. I decided to run a multi-meter across my starter battery to see if I had any power and the battery under the hood reads 3.67 V!! Call to the dealership for them to address in the morning!

If a door is not properly closed could that drain the battery from the dome light? Most cars I know of have a 20 minute relay that prevents dome lights/accessories from killing the battery, but this is my first Wrangler so does anyone know if the Wrangler has a cut-off to prevent the starter battery drain from leaving dome lights on? Also, does the PHEV charge port keep the car battery charged or are these two completely different systems? I always keep the car plugged in once parked in the garage so that it is always fully charged and ready to go. I know modern cars with so many computer chips behave erratically once voltage drops below 11.X V so a bad starter battery might impact all systems as described but I just don't know. I have a battery charger but have decided not to mess with this complex system in the event there is a short somewhere; so I am leaving it up to warranty service to manage.

If you have any ideas let me know!

I got mine in late May 2021 and had a transmission line leak/explode all over the road and I had no vehicle. Now for the second time, today, I plugged it in at night and woke up to it being completely dead. The last time they tried to say I left a dome light on. This makes no sense, seeing how they told me originally that shouldn't matter, plus I would have noticed as I went out in the dark both times to plug it in and saw no lights on. I can see the Jeep from my bedroom window. Some have said it is the fuses being loose? This is my third issue of any kind in less than 4 months.

 

[Dagny07]

I have seen the issue first hand with a friend. We needed to really push the fuses down 1 by 1 with a torque bit or something tougher than our fingers to get them seated (Especially the smaller ones). Seems to have fixed some of the gremlins.

I got mine in late May 2021 and had a transmission line leak/explode all over the road and I had no vehicle. Now for the second time, today, I plugged it in at night and woke up to it being completely dead. The last time they tried to say I left a dome light on. This makes no sense, seeing how they told me originally that shouldn't matter, plus I would have noticed as I went out in the dark both times to plug it in and saw no lights on. I can see the Jeep from my bedroom window. Some have said it is the fuses being loose? This is my third issue of any kind in less than 4 months.

 

[jgreenlee]

Had the same thing happen on our 2021 4xe. Had been driving on AC power for about 2 days. Would drive 25 miles in town, charge it and drive more all in electric mode. Went out one morning and it was completely dead. No power to anything. Checked the battery and it only had 4.5 volts. Jumped it off and it started. Took to the dealership in Tulsa (Bob Moore) They found that there is a TSB (08-034-21 REV A) that need an update. BCM Software and Restore vehicle configuration. All covered under warranty. Hopefully, wont see the problem again.

 

[Joe98]

27th April 2021

I am keeping the vehicle at home and will try to figure out if I can reproduce it.

So, what was the outcome?

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