Just to close the saga on the 12V. Dealer tech was expecting vroom vrooms when starting it, so he thought there was still something wrong. But no, it was just the 12V. Tech didn’t know how the hybrids work.

 

seriously? the tech didnt know how the 4xe worked?

 

I think a really reputable tow service would have wheel dollys (sp?) to place under either front or rear long enough to wheel it out if they couldn’t get it in to Neutral. Man thanking my lucky stars I have not had issues…YET.

 

Update: dealer replaced the 12v battery and it still won't start.

 

Dang, just dang.

 

Yeah to be clear this is not the first issue with this vehicle. We’re many issues in. Ordinarily a dead battery wouldn’t bother me.

 

Alright. After like 3 tow services rejected the job, one finally showed up that was competent.

• 3000A jump pack didn't do anything
• Measured at 4V
• Manual neutral engaged and rolled out of garage
• Loaded onto flatbed and towed to dealer

I gotta be honest. I knew Jeep wasn't the most reliable brand, but I didn't imagine it would be this unreliable. I got stuff to do, and I've realized I'm okay shelling out more money for a more reliable vehicle. Purchase cost, gas, or maintenance - take my money.

 

This is really a crappy scenario.
All of this headache, heartbreak, Blood, Sweat and Tears along with the financial hit.
All of this for a dead battery.
What Jeep will do is replace the battery with the same crappy OEM battery and maybe you'll get lucky and it will work.
It seems unlikely that you are going to work on your vehicle, some people are mechanically inclined and others are not. There's nothing good or bad about either way however if you're not a mechanically inclined individual, my advice is find a mechanic who is good, honest and reliable. They are still out there, a honest mobile Mechanic. Then pay them to install a Odyssey AGM battery and be done with it.

 

OK I'm going to say the tow driver didn't know what he was doing enough to release the neutral strap.

 

If you're anywhere near Dallas, I will be more than happy to come and help. I got a pretty awesome NOCO jump pack and some really thick jumper cables LOL.

 

He was messing with the driver-side left kick panel. I popped it open just now and there's a big read coin-slot cap sitting in the locked position. Does that thing just need to be turned to unlock?

A little concerned about this in the manual:
Front or rear wheel lifts must not be used (if the remaining wheels are on the ground). Internal damage to the transmission or transfer case will occur if a front or rear wheel lift is used when towing. Towing this vehicle in violation of the above requirements can cause severe transmission and/or transfer case damage. Damage from improper towing is not covered under the New Vehicle Limited Warranty.

But it should be fine to use wheel lifts to get it out of the garage and then put it on a flatbed?

 

So as far as lifting up one end and dragging the other on a four-wheel drive vehicle, I myself would not allow that. I know that @Clutch Auto Deals is extremely smart and knowledgeable when it comes to this, so maybe it's okay. But if it was my vehicle, I would definitely make sure it was in neutral. There should not be any reason why that vehicle could not be put in neutral with the neutral strap.

 

Given my capabilities, I would probably blow 3x normal hours required to install the battery and then it would still wind up at the dealer anyway.

The flatbed tow truck showed up this morning and was unable to get it into neutral to roll it out. So now I have to wait until tomorrow afternoon (schedule reasons) to get a wheel lift service.

Interestingly, the guy who came out connected a 1400a booster to it and the readout said ~11V. So either something is wrong with the Schumacher 6V/12V charger unit (it's saying it's a 6V battery and starting out at ~3.3V), or the battery is so dorked that it's messing with the Schumacher's ability to read the battery voltage. Thinking I should return it. Votes on whether the unit is faulty?

 

Well first thing is to know your limitations LOL.

I would love to be able to talk to the flatbed driver and ask why he was not able to get the vehicle in the neutral, it's a pretty easy process.
Do you have any idea whether he was able to release the parking brake?
Do you know if he was able to locate the neutral pull strap? Or did he locate it and was not able to pull it? I am just really curious.
As far as the battery charger, I would probably get a third opinion LOL.
Maybe at some point somebody else will be able to check the battery and figure out what the voltage is. It's unlikely that a good quality charger is defective from the start but stranger things have happened.

 

> It's a Jeep defect they need to deal with and if I took care of it myself, then they'd have one less complaint, one less
> record and one less reason to move forward with fixes.

100%. I work in computer engineering, so unless you measure fail rates, no one is going to improve it. The other concern is what if another part in the system caused the battery drain? I don't think that's the case here, but I'm not an expert.

Otherwise, I'd be taking it to the mechanic down the street to pull and replace the battery.

 

I transitioned from being a mechanic full time to IT - when I was at Compressor Controls Corp, I was to put together the computers used as the interface for their new Series IV turbo compressor controllers. I used motherboards from YMS and on occasion needed to chat with them about a few things. Interesting conversations...........

 

My apologies everybody if I'm missing something in this thread. It seems like there's a dead 12 volt battery, and we're trying to figure out how to get the car out of the garage to get it to the dealer to put in a new battery.
If that sums it up, why don't we just put in a new battery. My wife has a 21 Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, the 12 volt battery is underneath the passenger front seat. I recently replaced that with a Odyssey AGM battery and while it was a bit of a pain in the rear, it's doable.
Even if the owner is not mechanically inclined, I think it would be easier to call a mobile mechanic or one of those battery services that come out to replace the battery. I guess what I'm getting at is, wouldn't it be easier just to replace the battery where it is since it needs to be replaced anyway?

 

My apologies everybody if I'm missing something in this thread. It seems like there's a dead 12 volt battery, and we're trying to figure out how to get the car out of the garage to get it to the dealer to put in a new battery.
If that sums it up, why don't we just put in a new battery. My wife has a 21 Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, the 12 volt battery is underneath the passenger front seat. I recently replaced that with a Odyssey AGM battery and while it was a bit of a pain in the rear, it's doable.
Even if the owner is not mechanically inclined, I think it would be easier to call a mobile mechanic or one of those battery services that come out to replace the battery. I guess what I'm getting at is, wouldn't it be easier just to replace the battery where it is since it needs to be replaced anyway?

Three words as to "why not": WARRANTY, PRINCIPAL, DOLLARS
It's under warranty, I'll be @$#$% if I'm going to pay for (and install) a battery they owe me.
It's their job to replace it (I'm a retired long-time auto mechanic, so this would be an easy fix if it wasn't for the above)
It's the principal of the thing - why should I do what they should be doing, spend extra out of pocket dollars?
It's a Jeep defect they need to deal with and if I took care of it myself, then they'd have one less complaint, one less record and one less reason to move forward with fixes. That's why any time there's a defect or warranty issue, make sure it gets reported, make sure Jeep engineering, STAR, whoever, knows of it. You may be helping the next Jeep owner toward a solution. It's not to be mean, it's the way the system works. No complaints, gee, nothing to fix.

Of course, I have it easy - the experience and training and all of the needed equipment, I could drag the beast onto my tilt-bed car hauler and tow it to their dealership and nicely drop it off in a spot that's inconvenient for them so they would have to move it in a short time.

When the batteries in my wife's 2018 WK2 failed, trust me, I did everything necessary to get it started and drove it myself (so she'd not have to deal with it) to the dealership. They were really nice about it and put in two new batteries in short order (I was nice about it, too......... explained exactly how it behaved, or misbehaved)

If this one in question was mine - with very low miles, it would get dragged or driven to the dealership and I'd not take it back until they could prove the whole issue was resolved. I have back and forth - anyone wanting evidence of that look at my 4xe transmission leak issue from last year - I don't put up with incompetence or ignorance, no patience for it)

 

Well folks - the Schumacher gave up and called it a bad battery. It also was convinced the thing was a 6V battery. (It's a 6V / 12V compatible unit.)

Going to call the dealer before I have roadside assistance sent out. Maybe there's a fuse I can pull to release the parking brake?

 

Maybe there's a fuse I can pull to release the parking brake?

There's a procedure in the manual that actually calls for hooking up a battery temporarily to actuate the parking brake.

 

Thanks folks. I exchanged the Super Start booster for a Schumacher 15a AGM-compatible charger. Plugged it in and the readout told me the battery was at 3.3V. So that's going to be plugged in for a few hours.

Hopefully this works. The electronic parking brake is on, it's backed into my garage and it's really awkward to get in and out because of the limited space in the driveway. Towing it out will be interesting if it comes to that.

 

Wow! Well, if nothing else, now you have a number to go along with it - 3.3 volts is a very drained battery and explains why even a great jump pack wouldn't do the job.

I've been in auto electric for over 50 years, and have a fair understanding of 12 volt systems and batteries but geesh, you are never too old to learn new stuff and these are really proving that to me.

The 15 amp charger should do a good job.
I've had dead batteries in my classics that were assumed to be trashed, but a good charger actually brought them back to life and still using the batteries today.
Maybe........ you can experience some good luck for a change.

 

So this booster i bought only has On and Off. Should I return it and get something different?

 

You have to overcome the dead battery. That means either charging it, or using a booster that's so large it can overcome the dead battery and bring the battery voltage up. If the battery is 750 cca or xx amp hours, you have to have a booster that can literally charge such a battery. Boosters/jump packs are for cranking the conventional starter on a gas engine, not recharge a dead battery. Most won't have that much capacity.
Buy a good AGM battery charger, you'll be better off.

 

Likely the battery is dead. Worth remembering that what you're trying to do is charge up the 12v so the voltage is high enough to close the hv battery contacts, not push enough amps to turn a starting motor. If the 12v is dead, it'll pull down the voltage of whatever you're trying to charge up with and never really get there.

 

Likely the battery is dead. Worth remembering that what you're trying to do is charge up the 12v so the voltage is high enough to close the hv battery contacts, not push enough amps to turn a starting motor. If the 12v is dead, it'll pull down the voltage of whatever you're trying to charge up with and never really get there.

This is an important thing to remember. I haven't had this problem with the 4xe, but our second car is a full EV and we've stumbled across this problem. We have a plug in jump pack with two modes "start" and "smart charge". "Start" works by providing a surge of current to turn an ICE over. It won't work with our EV, the computer boot up process last too long before the HV can take over.

We ended leaving it on smart charge for the better part of an hour and then it had enough juice to boot; it is possible it needed less than that, but that is when we went back out to check.