Took my 2012 JKUR out all day yesterday and everything seemed to be fine. I stopped to get gas and when i went to start it up it acted like the battery was weak or dead. My compass blanked out and it would not start. I popped the hood and could here a slight ticking coming from by the fuse block and the right rear door sounded like it was trying to operate the door lock or window. I unplugged both rear doors and jump started it. When i jump started it fired right up and didn't act like battery was drained. Once it was running i decided i better go home so when i put it in drive the ABS light,Brake light, traction control light, Hill descent light and battery light all came on. As i drove it the speedometer would jump from 0-50 mph regardless of my speed and i would get a mild surge in acceleration for a second or two. This surge wasn't drastic and can best be descibed as the way it feels when you bump up your speed on your cruise control by 1 to 2 mph. Once i got home I shut it off. It was dark so the auto headlights were on. when i stepped out of the Jeep the headlights never shut off. They dimmed down and stayed on with the dome lights and were flickering. I couldn't shut them off manually. So I jump started again and manually shut off lights and rolled up power windows. I took it around the block and all the lights came on again. The ABS, brake, and hill descent lights flash on and off the traction control and battery lights stay on. After i Jumped the second time the check engine light came on and stayed on. Any Ideas? Please help me excorcise the demons from my Jeep!

 

Take it to Autozone or O'Reillys and have them use their code reader to see what's going on and clear the codes.

 

check that your connections to the battery are tight make sure your ground is tight also.

 

I had a similar problem with my 2013 JKUR. On my Jeep it turned out to be the cheap battery cable connectors that cause voltage drops. I would remove both the positive and negative connectors and then make sure you compress them down on the battery terminal, followed by a good squeeze with pliers. Then re-tighten the hold down clips. This works for about 6 months and then the connectors lose contact and repeat the process. The only fix was when I replaced the terminal connectors with good old fashion bolt on connectors.

 

have your battery tested. I have had similar issues caused by a collapsed cell. This creates so much internal resistance in the battery all sorts of strange things happened including some of the symptoms you mentioned.

 

Also make sure you have no accessory wires under the nut closest to the battery terminal. That is a cam nut that tightens the clamp. If you can twist the connection by hand, they're loose. If not, have the battery tested.

 

If it's your stock battery it's time to upgrade. A lot if issues just like you described with the stock cheap battery. It's like they can't take the jarring of off-roading and just fail. Go buy a red or yellow top or a sears platinum.

 

If you upgrade you battery, get a Sears Gold AGM battery or any other brand of AGM!