[John Yarnell]

Hello!

Temps have fallen in Idaho as winter is approaching. I park my 4xe in the driveway overnight so it is exposed to whatever the temperature is outside. Last week the temperature was down in the upper 20's. The jeep was fully charged when I remote started it. The gas engine started up right away and stayed on for what seemed like 15 plus minutes as the windows slowly defrosted. I figured that it was using a lot of power to preheat the cabin and defrost the glass so it needed a boost from the gas engine. I'm not happy with this function. I bought this vehicle to feel a bit better about my impact on the environment. Seeing it spill exhaust in the cold morning air puts an exclamation on my dissatisfaction with this process.

I decided to leave the 4xe plugged in overnight so the next morning when I remote started it there should be no issues with battery load as it is still hooked up to our home. Just for note, we use a level 2 charger for the Jeep. However, the same thing happened as the gas engine fired straight up. So I want to know if there is a solution for this or do I have to deal with my vehicle spewing exhaust every winter morning as my car defrosts. This would be a total bummer.

I reached out to Jeep customer care but they had no idea what I was talking about and had no place to send me besides our local dealership who I have found to know little about the 4xe when I have questions.

Hopefully, there is a jeep 4xe program engineer out there that might weigh in on the question.

Thanks

 

[Sjbiss]

I bought this vehicle to feel a bit better about my impact on the environment

I'm not a program engineer but I think the vehicle has been designed to use the most efficient fuel source based upon a variety of factors, including temperature. I think this aligns to your desire to minimize impact on the environment.

 

[[email protected]]

Hello!

Temps have fallen in Idaho as winter is approaching. I park my 4xe in the driveway overnight so it is exposed to whatever the temperature is outside. Last week the temperature was down in the upper 20's. The jeep was fully charged when I remote started it. The gas engine started up right away and stayed on for what seemed like 15 plus minutes as the windows slowly defrosted. I figured that it was using a lot of power to preheat the cabin and defrost the glass so it needed a boost from the gas engine. I'm not happy with this function. I bought this vehicle to feel a bit better about my impact on the environment. Seeing it spill exhaust in the cold morning air puts an exclamation on my dissatisfaction with this process.

I decided to leave the 4xe plugged in overnight so the next morning when I remote started it there should be no issues with battery load as it is still hooked up to our home. Just for note, we use a level 2 charger for the Jeep. However, the same thing happened as the gas engine fired straight up. So I want to know if there is a solution for this or do I have to deal with my vehicle spewing exhaust every winter morning as my car defrosts. This would be a total bummer.

I reached out to Jeep customer care but they had no idea what I was talking about and had no place to send me besides our local dealership who I have found to know little about the 4xe when I have questions.

Hopefully, there is a jeep 4xe program engineer out there that might weigh in on the question.

Thanks

Hi，
bring the car to service, I had the same problem, it could be the battery heater is malfunctioning. My CEL was turned on, afterwards, i noticed exactly the same thing as you described.

 

[John Yarnell]

Thanks for the reply @Sjbiss. Do you think the gas engine is better than using our 50 amp service that it is plugged into? Not that I expect Jeep to factor this in but most of our energy in Idaho comes from hydroelectric, clean, and cheap.

I can understand if the Jeep is unplugged and needs more juice than the battery can supply but when it is plugged in it would seem that the shore power would be the best source. I also can't imagine the load for cabin heating being anything that the level 2 charger can't keep up with.

 

[John Yarnell]

Hi，
bring the car to service, I had the same problem, it could be the battery heater is malfunctioning. My CEL was turned on, afterwards, i noticed exactly the same thing as you described.

Thanks for the reply, Tony! I'll give my dealership a call and see if there is anything they know of along those lines.

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the reply, Tony! I'll give my dealership a call and see if there is anything they know of along those lines.

Also call jeep care. tell them exactly what's happening. make sure they are involved. the dealer can't say no after you have a case number.

 

[John Yarnell]

Also call jeep care. tell them exactly what's happening. make sure they are involved. the dealer can't say no after you have a case number.

Will do. Quick question. Is Jeep care separate from the dealership?

 

[michail]

Yes, they work for Jeep/FCA/Stellantis. Dealerships are independent businesses.

 

[John Yarnell]

I actually tried Jeep Care guys this morning first thing and they tried to get me to call the dealership. The woman I talked to did not know anything about the 4xe and told me I should contact my dealer. I told her that my dealership had minimal knowledge of the 4xe and she suggested I try Mopar. I told her that I was not shopping for accessory parts I just wanted to understand the reason the gas engine was firing up on cold mornings.

I did just try the dealership and my service guy said there was no way for the vehicle to warm up without the engine firing up first. I told him the 4xe as far as I understood heats its cabin with an electric heating element and not a traditional gas/coolant powered system. He is stumped and says he will give me a call towards the end of the day.

 

[Grimmjpr]

So far here it has only gotten to the mid 20s at night, but plugged in level 2 and remote starting on mine the gas engine has not started. Just adding a data point.

 

[John Yarnell]

So far here it has only gotten to the mid 20s at night, but plugged in level 2 and remote starting on mine the gas engine has not started. Just adding a data point.

Much appreciated @Grimmjpr

Thanks!

 

[elinopaido]

Temps are starting to drop in NY but not in the 20's yet. I leave mine plugged in all night and remote start it, but have not seen the engine start while remote started and plugged in to warm everything up.
I am noticing the gas engine comes on a lot more in the 05:30 morning commute when it's cold out, probably something to do with the electric load to heat the cabin and batteries combined with the load to drive the jeep pushes it over the threshold where the gas engine needs to come on.
As a side note, also check to see if your Jeep went in "Fuel and Oil Refresh" mode, that will cause the gas engine to turn on and burn fuel to keep the fuel and oil from going stale.

 

[JeepBhoy]

This is a FB post where Dan Fry (I think this is the Engineer that led the team who built the 4xe) talks about cold weather effect on the 4xe.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/wrangler4xefans/permalink/935804393957316/?ref=content_filter

 

[firedown31]

I bought this vehicle to feel a bit better about my impact on the environment.

I'll be that guy, if you felt this way why are you even remote starting and wasting electricity? Get in your cold Jeep and drive away!

 

[John Yarnell]

Well, I always say there is no such thing as a dumb question. Because I want the best of both worlds.

 

[Silvertoy]

I'm having the same problem. Now that temps are in the 20s in the morning, remote start kicks on the engine (good thing it wasn't in my garage). I'm suspicious that its the super-annoying, ultra-frustrating, and would have been a deal breaking FORM "feature". I'm currently letting it waste gas idling in my driveway right now since in the last 2 months I haven't taken long enough drives apparently to get FORM to deactivate. I've only had 30 miles of electric over the last 2 tanks of gas (500 or so miles) because I never take long enough trips to deactivate FORM (getting P.O.d)

 

[Sjbiss]

I'm having the same problem. Now that temps are in the 20s in the morning, remote start kicks on the engine (good thing it wasn't in my garage). I'm suspicious that its the super-annoying, ultra-frustrating, and would have been a deal breaking FORM "feature". I'm currently letting it waste gas idling in my driveway right now since in the last 2 months I haven't taken long enough drives apparently to get FORM to deactivate. I've only had 30 miles of electric over the last 2 tanks of gas (500 or so miles) because I never take long enough trips to deactivate FORM (getting P.O.d)

Did you read the FB post above? This isn't a problem and happens by design.

 

[Sjbiss]

This is a FB post where Dan Fry (I think this is the Engineer that led the team who built the 4xe) talks about cold weather effect on the 4xe.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/wrangler4xefans/permalink/935804393957316/?ref=content_filter

This is a great post. Explains when the ICE comes on and why FORM is more frequent in the cold.

 

[John Yarnell]

@Sjbiss Thanks for pointing us towards that very informative article. After reading these were my takeaways. I do have a fairly fresh tank of gas and I recently changed the oil so there should not be any issues with fuel or oil refresh. With the typical distances, I drive per week, I usually run into the ICE starting at least once a week as well.

@Grimmjpr mentioned he is dealing with the same mid-20s outside temps then remote starting and he's not having the vehicle kick into ICE mode. I'm curious what the situation is for him.

It's very curious and again I can't understand why the engine needs to fire up if the jeep is plugged into a level 2 charger during warm-up.

 

[Silvertoy]

Oh yeah, I've seen all the hubbub about it being by design (not the facebook group specifically, as I'm awaiting approval) The issue for me is there's no way we can accomplish the refresh other than letting it idle in the driveway, which I did today for the first time. Each of our trips is 10 mins, stop, 10 mins stop, SHOULD be ideal for a PLUG IN and with our last plug in hybrid (ford cmax) we went 10K on one tank. So far, we've gone 2500 miles, only 900 or so were on charge, and that was early on, because of the refresh mode, I'm feeling a little ripped off as I bought it based on my driving habits, never got the FORM disclaimer up front and tired of buying gas for my electric jeep. Most of the time lately I drive my 3.6 Manual Gladiator instead BECAUSE IT GETS BETTER MILEAGE..