When did your battery die?

[DaddyEngineer]

Got mine in March of 2019 and I didn't even notice the ESS stopped "working" until I came out to the Jeep dead twice now and started paying attention.

So dumb dummy question here. If I don't even like the ESS function do I have to replace the aux? I'm out of warranty and dread what that would cost...

There’s a thread here somewhere where people have just removed the aux battery and run it that way. Not sure if they had to do anything different or not.

Scott

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[RagTopDeluxe]

18 months/8,200 miles 2.0 eTorque and no problems.

 

[MichaelAnthony]

31 months 66k A.S.S. light went on then shortly after my Genesis kit came in. No worries now...

 

[euan2020]

got jeep back today - 2 days at dealership for batteries - could not source battery and had to xfer from Dallas to Houston

 

[DigitalDiem]

Mine is too new to be a useful example. But I did want to add this - batteries do not last like they used to, just in general. It used to be that 5 years was the expected lifespan of a 12v car battery, and many of the good ones had full replacement warranties even beyond 5 years. But now 3 years seems to be the max lifetime you should expect to see from your battery, and the best warranties are pro-rated at that point.

It's a combination of cost cutting causing lower quality products and vehicles continually demanding more and more from their batteries. Two opposing forces growing stronger with each generation.

Buy an Optima Battery. Mine has been in my 2004 Z71 Silverado since 2008 and going strong. I will Replace main on my 2018 JL with an Optima when the Original dies. Probably put an Odyssey Battery to replace the ESS battery when it dies.

 

[TheRaven]

Buy an Optima Battery. Mine has been in my 2004 Z71 Silverado since 2008 and going strong. I will Replace main on my 2018 JL with an Optima when the Original dies. Probably put an Odyssey Battery to replace the ESS battery when it dies.

Your 2008 Optima is a very different unit than what they are selling now. Optima used to be the benchmark, but ever since they outsourced manufacturing to Mexico in 2010, they've been barely able to compete with store brands. Car forums are full of guys complaining about new Optimas dying in under six months. You NEVER used to see that. Considering the price of an Optima battery, I wouldn't go near them today.

Trying to find a true quality battery is a real crapshoot now. If you do a lot of reading through car forums online, you can find particular models that outshine the rest. I know both Diehard and Bosch have a good model in their lineup. I'm currently trying an Interstate MTX-48 in my Tahoe, it's the same battery as GM's OEM 48AGM that seems to last forever...but i'll be honest and say that i'm not very confident.

 

[RidgeRider]

Have towing package with 700CCA battery which suddenly died in 19mo at 15k miles in spite of being on a Noco Genius 5 maintainer nearly constantly. Dealer replaced it with 3-year additional warranty and was going to replace the Aux ESS battery but it tested good so could not do under warranty - they said that the OEM battery has a 3-year warranty so surprised some dealers are apparently charging other commenters for this.

Would have gone with an 850CCA group H7 Odyssey (understand there may be minor fitment issues with this) or DieHard battery if not under warranty and would have replaced the Aux ESS.

Battery indicated problems fairly suddenly by not taking a full charge with the maintainer and failing to start even though all other systems had power. The new battery charges to 13V with the maintainer and drops slowly when unplugged. The failed battery would only charge to 12.6V and would drop below 12.3V in a few days and not start. It started fine with a Noco Boost Plus GB40 using almost none of the booster charge so would recommend that even if you have what appears to be a good battery. Would have got me home with likely several starts of capacity if I had been off road.

 

[euan2020]

I kind of don't know why dealer gave me new main battery - ESS stopped 2 months ago, and been driving fine apart from SS. Never had an issue starting

They advised both batteries were not taking a charge - stood for 6 months when i was abroad , so never had disconnected, only expecting to be abroad 1 month, so putting battery issue down to that - although happy to accept 2 new batteries

 

[orey22]

So I will say my experience with Jeep batteries from the factory is pretty bad.

Both factory batteries from my 2003 and 2012 Jeep wrangler died in the first 36K miles / 3years of me having the car. The dealership laughed when I said " why isn't this covered under warranty ( on both ) ? " On my 2019 it hasn't died yet, so my fingers are crossed I don't have to deal with it while my Wrangler is under warranty.

 

[TaiMc]

Main battery just became ineffective. It died on me today at the Red Bull Grand Prix MotoGP at COTA. I received a jump from the COTA folks and made my way to Autozone to pick up a Duralast Platinum H6-AGM for the main battery. I have not replaced the aux battery yet, but will likely be shopping for one.

My stock battery lasted for 40 months. I live and drive regularly in Houston, TX (extreme temperatures). I’m pleased with the longevity of the stock main battery.

I need to have my aux battery checked as well. Also, I’m a few hundred miles shy of 50k miles on the jeep.

 

[johnbyron]

It's crazy how many people are saying it died out of nowhere, as it could have been off-road... I thought Jeep had a complex system to warn you about battery issues.

 

[TaiMc]

It's crazy how many people are saying it died out of nowhere, as it could have been off-road... I thought Jeep had a complex system to warn you about battery issues.

Never knew there was a “battery issue”? I just posted and searched on forums to see which batteries people replaced their stock ones with (after mine went).

Sux that folks are having issues. Hopefully things are sorted with newer generation JLs.
And correct…I would’ve assumed that I would’ve received a warning or “battery life” indicator like for “oil life”. Or some type of notification. All we have is battery voltage use. IDK how difficult it could be to give a battery life reading, but that’s definitely something Jeep should add on their newer generation models, as people do off-road a lot. Very good point.

 

[gweber]

Two years and 26000 no problems. (also just knocked on wood)

 

[cosine]

still have the org. batts since new (5/19) 16,5k miles and no issues.

 

[johnbyron]

This is probably a stupid question, but shouldn't the JL be able to start using either battery? I thought both batteries had to die at the same time for the car not to start.

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