phahn17

OK, Im newer to the Jeep Scene. I just bought my wife a 2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Moab edition, with around 42K miles, 4.5" AEV lift, 35x12-20.

We have had the jeep for around a 2 months now and I am thinking we have bought a turd. We bought it as is NO Warranty.

About a month after getting it my wife went to start the jeep to leave for work and all she got was a click click. All the lights on the dash would come on, radio also. jumped it off(didn't take hardly anything) and went to Interstate battery to have the battery tested.
Their battery tested fine alternator also, I took it to advanced and had them run a test also, same thing, everything checked out fine.

Next day same thing so I started looking into the forums. I saw that grounding was a big issue so I added a ground from the negative post to the fender ground, and from the fender ground to the alternator bracket. This seemed to cure the issue for about 3 days.

After the no start clicking happening randomly for a while, it got to the point where it wouldn't even click some mornings and middle of the day. I even tried rocking the shifter around thinking it was the transmission range sensor, and tried it in neutral, no help there either.

I said screw it and went and put an optima red top in it and haven't had any problems until today

This morning she went to start it and nothing, not even a key in ignition chime. She jumped it off and it has started fine for about three starts today. Only thing is the Uconnect radio wont come on at all.

I need to figure something out here, any help is appreciated.

jedg

Do you have any accessories (light bar, other stuff) connected to the battery? If so, disconnect them and see if that solves the problem?

14Sport

Also check that the battery connections are tight. The nut closest to the battery is an acorn nut which tightens the battery connection. If there are any accessory wires under those nuts move them.

phahn17

Only accessory on the vehicle is a Bully Dog GT. Plugged in to the OBD2 Port and power on wire ran to fuse box tied into key on fuse.

I did remove the Bully Dog thinking that was the issue, but the problem continued even with it removed.

phahn17

No other wires connected to acorn nut.

And they are semi tight, I cranked the acorn nut down as tight as possible, but if I put some force into it I can turn them on the post.

That is a crappy design for a terminal connection.

Jonathan_JK

Sounds like you have a small drain on the battery. Even if you had a Blue top battery eventually it will drain. My brother had this issue with his car instead of fixing the Drain like I told him to he got a solar panel that plugged into the 12v socket and set it on the dash. It was fine for 2 years until he got rid of it lol..... The poor person who bought it next probably had no idea... sounds like your in the same boat as he is.

phahn17

But for it to go from running fine one day to not starting over night, I would have figured it would have to be something more then just small parasitic drain.

I hate dealing with electrical problems because they are so difficult to track down, and what's really bad is there isn't really anyone in town that is good with electrical problems.

Our dealership here is a complete and total joke.

14Sport

Well you could disconnect the negative on the battery and put an ammeter in between the cable and the battery terminal. Make sure you wait at least 10 minutes so everything can shut itself down. You will be able to see the amount of draw that is present after that. Start pulling fuses one by one until the draw drops to normal, about 0.035 amps. That is the bad circuit. Make sure you don't open any doors or cause any electrical draw during the test.

After you find the circuit, then you just have to start testing all it's components.

phahn17

Thanks buddy, at least that will give me a starting point!

Jonathan_JK

This is Ghetto but you could wire a battery cutoff switch in the cab. I absoluty hate electrical problems. That's why I do all my electrical work myself. I even wired my own lockers. The shop I had put them in offered to do it but I told them I would do it.

This way if anything Gos wrong I can always check my own work and not guess what some other guy did.