So I have a new Touring Plus Pacifica, and I’ve yet to see the ESS actuate after almost 400 miles, it says that the battery is charging? Car was built 8/17 and had 16 miles on it so I’m assuming it stood on the lot the entire time with maybe 1 test drive during that time. Should I take it in? I have a battery charger but I looked at it today and I’d rather not **** with it, would have to dig into it.
ESS: Battery Charging
Mlip130
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Different brand but interesting info:
BMW IBS ? Intelligent Battery Sensor ? What Is It, What Does It Do? ? Atlantic Motorcar
We have less than 300 miles on our 2018 Pacifica and have the same ESS issue. Stop/Start Not Ready, Battery Charging. We had it in the dealer last week and both the main battery and ESS battery were tested and passed. There were no error codes either. The dealer replaced the Battery Sensor and told me that we would need to go through the reprogramming process which is 3-5 days of bringing the car up to temp and then letting it sit for 8 hours. This is my wife's everyday vehicle, so that process is repeatedly daily for us. We are past the 5 days and still have the Battery Charging message. I have a call back to the dealer to get next steps. If we ever get this resolved, I'll post back what our resolution was.
Update (resolved):
After having the IBS replaced, we took the van on a long road trip. After parking it overnight, the ESS worked the next morning, but only once per drive. After it would start, the dash would display "Battery protection mode". After we got home, the ESS just quit again and we would get "Not Ready, Battery Charging". We took it back to the dealer and they contacted Chrysler Engineering. Engineering told them that if the main battery takes longer than 20 min to charge that it needs replaced. Ours was taking 40 min. They changed the main battery and the ESS has been working ever since.
After having the IBS replaced, we took the van on a long road trip. After parking it overnight, the ESS worked the next morning, but only once per drive. After it would start, the dash would display "Battery protection mode". After we got home, the ESS just quit again and we would get "Not Ready, Battery Charging". We took it back to the dealer and they contacted Chrysler Engineering. Engineering told them that if the main battery takes longer than 20 min to charge that it needs replaced. Ours was taking 40 min. They changed the main battery and the ESS has been working ever since.
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"Engineering told them that if the main battery takes longer than 20 min to charge that it needs replaced. Ours was taking 40 min. They changed the main battery and the ESS has been working ever since."
Thanks for sharing that info.
I have a 2018 Pacifica purchased in November 2017. Also getting the message that ESS not active due to battery charging. Started with having to drive 20 miles or so before the ESS system worked. Then to 70 miles, then to never working. Dealer replaced the ESS battery last week. Dealer could not get a battery from Chrysler - supposedly on back order until December. The located one at another dealer. Have driven over 200 miles and the battery charging message is still there. Going back in for another crack at it in a couple of weeks. Reading the forum, seems like a lot of issues with the ESS system.
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It could be something other than the ESS battery. Take a look at some of the ESS threads on the Forum. What is the charging voltage on the dash cluster when the engine is running and when the engine is off?
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Hey bobgellin,
We're sorry to hear about this! If you (or anyone else here) ends up visiting the dealer again and needs further assistance, please DM us in advance of your appointment so we can step in.
Jennifer
Chrysler Social Care Specialist
I think mine has started acting up as well as of this morning on my 2017. Did one ESS stop, then after that all it does is "start/stop disabled due to battery protection mode" or something along those lines. I will see if it acts any different on my way home tonight. Today was the coldest day we have had since we bought it, so I am guessing that this showing the battery is bad?
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I would get it checked out ASAP, otherwise you might wind up in a no start situation.
An update on my ESS issue. The dealer found that both the ESS battery (that had already been replaced once) and the primary battery were both bad. They replaced both batteries, kept the car over the weekend (They provided a loaner), and verified the batteries maintained their charge. Hopefully the problem is finally resolved. Time will tell.
Wanted to chime in with my experience on ESS not working. 2018 gas Limited bought in Nov 2017. About 2 months ago when in for oil change and recall work had dealer look into Stop/Start not ready battery charging. They said Aux battery was bad and replaced it. ESS worked for about a week after that then stopped working again with battery charging message. Back to dealer and they said primary battery was bad. Replaced that and ESS has been working fine since.
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I had same experience with dealer after 5 weeks of battery charging message. Both batteries replaced under warranty along with recall. Interesting thing Is now my voltage is at steady 14.1 maximum vs 14.3-14.4 before the update. If they lowered the charging voltage, I suspect higher voltage might have been compromising batteries. I'll keep monitoring, but would be interested to know everyone's running voltage per display.
I got my 2018 touring L in August ESS worked for about a month. I’m retired so I don’t drive every day. Dash always shows that it is charging.
If I drive for 30-45 minutes several days in the week ESS will start working again, then when it sits for a day it will stop working until I take another long drive. I think it is poor engineering that they didn’t think of a better way to keep the ESS battery charged. I like the car so for and
have not had any major problems.
If I drive for 30-45 minutes several days in the week ESS will start working again, then when it sits for a day it will stop working until I take another long drive. I think it is poor engineering that they didn’t think of a better way to keep the ESS battery charged. I like the car so for and
have not had any major problems.
I have a 2018 Touring L+ and the ESS has worked maybe 10 times since I leased the vehicle in May 2018. It has 9k miles on it. The check engine light has been on since around mile 4k and I've had the vehicle in multiple times to troubleshoot. The first dealer told me the ESS won't work if the check engine light comes on. Okay, that makes sense. Fast forward many months, check engine light still on and it starts working again out of the blue. The new dealer tells me that the computer pings different areas of the vehicle about every 50-100 miles and if after a few checks there appears to be no issue, the feature will start working again (which would explain why the ESS started working again). But I'm not sure how consistent it is because a day after it started working again I took it to the dealer to deal with the check engine light.
This may be my first post here. I wanted to weigh in on my experience with the ESS problems. I have a 2018 Touring L+ that the ESS worked great in UNTIL I had the U64 Recall PCM flash done. That was done August 2018. After that, the ESS never engaged as often as it had before. I think some operation parameters were tightened that narrowed the window in which all conditions could be met for ESS to be active. After about 2 months of frustration, I complained to the dealer about the issue and they said if there are no codes, they cannot do anything about it. After 6 more months, I insisted they test the batteries and BOTH failed their tests even though I never had any sluggish starting symptoms. Both batteries were replaced but it took several days of driving before ESS got satisfied. It was and is still very random in its operation.
Now, I'm experiencing sluggish starting sometimes and the Remote Start function won't work when the battery is low on charge. I'm trying now to get into the dealer for battery testing and hopefully, a warranty replacement again of the battery(ies).
I recently rented a 2020 Pacifica for work and its ESS worked very well and often. I will follow up on the findings of my battery testing.
Now, I'm experiencing sluggish starting sometimes and the Remote Start function won't work when the battery is low on charge. I'm trying now to get into the dealer for battery testing and hopefully, a warranty replacement again of the battery(ies).
I recently rented a 2020 Pacifica for work and its ESS worked very well and often. I will follow up on the findings of my battery testing.
My 2018 Touring L was built Sep 2017. Now at 17k miles, I have gone through two sets of batteries and multiple charges in-between. I have had several ESS discussions with the dealership and have reported the issue to both Consumers Union and NHSTA. The dealers, and Chrysler, know something is wrong. CU's Reliability rating is "double-red-down". The most recent move, 1/31/2019, was to switch to a new battery supplier. My log of 22mos of use, including many different combinations and permutations of conditions, indicates that the auto's active and passive power usage simply outpaces the charge rate. I will be insisting on a new set of batteries before the warranties expire.
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Our Pacifica has been Sleeping off & on for a couple weeks now with a New ESS Aux14 Battery, new main too, but it hasn't learned a thing yet. I'm giving it another week then the ESS battery will be disconnected. I'll find some use for it or sell it on Craigslist to an ESS owner. Already put a piece of black tape over the A! Indicator. At 114deg in Phoenix we want to keep the AC compressor spinning & not ESS'ing.
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