I think we need a little more info. What is the issue with the start/stop? What has the dealership told you they checked? Generally if your ESS system is not working its because the Aux battery no longer has enough energy to support the electrical load while the van is off. Did they check both the Aux and Main batteries?

 

One dealership told me it was the "little" battery not holding a charge. So instead of replacing the battery ( because it still had enough life not to replace ) they put it on a trickle charge for days. Said to drive it and that would recharge the battery. 30 minutes after driving it away from the dealership it does the same thing. Back to the dealership we went. For yet another line of BS not knowing what to fix or repair. They replaced the "little" battery and said that the system had to reprogram itself and the only way to do this was to drive it. They put about 150-200 miles on the car trying to fix it. I then called Chrysler and took it to another dealership that has been working with Chrysler's engineers. They have replaced multiple parts with no fix. Has anyone dealt with a lemon law ?

 

It sounds like you're having an issue related to engine stop/start (ESS), but the exact problem still isn't clear. I'm assuming the orange warning light for it is on, but what is the exact wording of the message you are seeing? Do you know which parts have been replaced? I'm guessing they've replaced the intelligent battery sensor (which doesn't affect the little auxiliary battery at all). Have they tested and/or replaced both batteries or just the aux battery? A bad main battery will drain the aux battery whenever the van is sitting with the engine off. Vice versa applies if the aux battery is bad and the main battery is good.

So far, it sounds like you have a textbook ESS/battery problem (which is very, very common), and you're dealing with incompetent dealerships. The van does need to relearn the state of charge of the aux battery after replacing it. This requires five drive cycles separated by at least four hours. The system can be reset if both batteries are disconnected, but the ESS warning/message will reappear if the root problem isn't fixed.

The fine print of the lemon law varies by location, but no matter where you live it's only applicable if you purchased the vehicle brand new.

 

The little battery not holding a charge is BS and then trickle charging it is BS - if a battery won't hold a charge it is dead, PERIOD. The little battery (AUX battery) is known to fail quite often, and here is the kicker - when the little battery goes, it will take the big battery with it!!! They need to replace both batteries, plain and simple.

 

Sounds like service advisor should be asking do you want fries with that order @ drive thru window

 

I have contacted the Attorney General's office for the state of Indiana. I live in Indiana, but purchased the vehicle in Kentucky. We live 10 miles for Kentucky. When I asked the Sales side of the dealership they sent me to Service. Service said oh no, have to go to Chrysler. Great customer service. So frustrating . I thought you went with the laws that you purchased it in. Much to my surprise, it is the state in which you live. Indiana law is much better, 18,000 18 months.. Kentucky is 12,000 12 months. I am at 16,500 and 14 months. Yeah Indiana !!! We as a society pass the buck real quick. What happened to helping people. I appreciate the posts. I will continue to research and gather more evidence for the Indiana Attorney General. Sad part is I like the van, but don't feel safe when I am not sure when the engine / motor will engage.

 

Please keep us posted as to what you find. As for Lemon law, I was told a long time ago it goes by the state you buy in. Which makes sense, I don't see how a state law can affect other states - how can Indiana force a dealer in Kentucky to do something? I'm not being argumentative, I'm just very curios about this subject

Good luck!

 

As Freddie has mentioned sadly the battery failures are becoming much too common for the Pacifica, just do a search on this site for the word "Auxiliary" lots of reading for you.

Also, as Freddie has mentioned if either of the batteries begins to fail it will take the other with it. When the van is running the batteries are separate, however when the van is shut off the auxiliary and main are electrically tied together thus they will try to reach an equilibrium where the weaker battery will draw energy from the stronger finally exhausting its reserves and you'll end up with 2 dead batteries and a van which will not start.

 

Sorry to the OP for these issues, what a hassle
And thanks to the knowledgeable guys offering all this awesome info, history and perspective!

I'm a new Pacifica owner, and I've never had a vehicle with ESS (engine stop start) before. But reading a little of this forum the last few weeks, I've certainly read about these battery problems!

My question is - what if we don't use it?
There's a convenient button to disable the ESS (or Auto Stop Start) on the instrument panel. If we use that button and turn off Stop Start most the time - will we avoid this issue?
I mean, if I don't use it... will I save the batteries... maybe they'll last longer... if they're not being used all the time to run all the lights, heated seats and HVAC, while the engine is "stopped" !!!

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this

 

Sorry to the OP for these issues, what a hassle
And thanks to the knowledgeable guys offering all this awesome info, history and perspective!

I'm a new Pacifica owner, and I've never had a vehicle with ESS (engine stop start) before. But reading a little of this forum the last few weeks, I've certainly read about these battery problems!

My question is - what if we don't use it?
There's a convenient button to disable the ESS (or Auto Stop Start) on the instrument panel. If we use that button and turn off Stop Start most the time - will we avoid this issue?
I mean, if I don't use it... will I save the batteries... maybe they'll last longer... if they're not being used all the time to run all the lights, heated seats and HVAC, while the engine is "stopped" !!!

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this

I have somewhat adopted this logic as well, use it as little as possible to preserve it's capacity. I have gotten in the habit of defeating the ESS by pressing the button each time I start the van, I like to see the blue light and the hesitation of the engine restarting when the ESS system is active is just down right annoying.

While this technique may somewhat help prolong the life of the batteries I'm not sure how big of a difference it will make. The ESS system just has some basic fundamental design issues that we as owners can't fix without spending money.

The Pacifica could have been supplied with better batteries, as Freddie has pointed out the capacity of the OEM batteries are woefully inadequate for the electrical loads of the system. Additionally, there seems to be a flaw in the design with electrically connecting the two batteries when the van is off. Eventually, one battery is always going to fail before the other, when this happens it will draw the capacity from the stronger battery and eventually kill it as well. Now you have two dead batteries. If you only replace one, most likely the one you need to start the van, your main battery, the new main battery will be killed a second time by the failed auxiliary battery and the viscous cycle will repeat. That certainly will not leave you happy!

Why did they choose a AGM type battery which should not be charged with more than 14.4 volts? I wonder how many people have tried to charge their batteries with a conventional AGM type charger only to have done some damage because there are very few chargers that you can limit the voltage on. Probably not many but all these issues just keep adding up to a poorly thought out design.

I keep saying the damage that this ESS system is causing to the reliability of the Pacifica is being overlooked.

 

I believe I fried the stock AGM in my Harley in 2 years from using a regular battery tender. I know have a NOCO Genius 3500 with AGM mode.

If you don't use the ESS, then just unplug the PCR and disconnect the AUX battery and you'll be running on a single battery like pretty much every car in the last century or so.

 

I believe I fried the stock AGM in my Harley in 2 years from using a regular battery tender. I know have a NOCO Genius 3500 with AGM mode.

If you don't use the ESS, then just unplug the PCR and disconnect the AUX battery and you'll be running on a single battery like pretty much every car in the last century or so.

This doesn't disable ESS. I know you've already made this known elsewhere, but this sentence might give newer members the impression that it does.

 

Okay, I searched "Auxiliary" on this forum and you have me convinced that indeed I may have a battery issue with both the small and large batteries. My question is when I replace both these batteries at the same time, will the "Stop/Start !" warning light on the dashboard go away?

Galileo/Moose2019
2019 Pacifica Limited 25500 miles, 3.5 liter gas with ESS, procured new 9/22/18

 

Once the batteries are replaced, and have been fully charged, the warning lights should be gone.

 

There should still be a warranty on those.

 

I had a similar ESS warning indicator turn on in the dashboard few weeks back, got an appointment with the local dealer after waiting for a couple of weeks. I was pretty sure it was the Aux battery which was dying or dead already, but prepared myself by reading the warranty doc thoroughly and confirmed with Chrysler customer service that this was indeed covered under warranty. I was actually surprised that the dealer service folks didn't try to pull another one of those 'oh sorry, but this specific part is under warranty for only 1 year or 12k miles etc.'. They replaced the Aux battery and its all good now.

Sorry to hear about OP's bad experience with the dealership service dept. I guess one thing I learned from this thread is that Bay area does not have the exclusive rights for really crappy dealership service. Looks like its a Chrysler dealership thing rather than a Bay area exclusive. They just don't care, bad reviews, escalating this to the management, Chrysler corp., nope, nothing matters. I'm pretty sure they will 'take care' of all the problems and issues once the warranty is over and they can run up the bill. I just hope I don't have to go to the dealership ever again once the warranty is over.

 

My 2018 with 19k got the warning sign for Stop/Start needs service too

 

My 2018 with 19k got the warning sign for Stop/Start needs service too View attachment 44898

"And another one bites the dust"...
It sounds pretty clear, re-reading again, what all these knowledgeable and generous folks have written above.

Step one, go to dealer and politely insist they replace BOTH batteries with new, fresh, fully charged batteries. Don't leave till they've done that... or you will be back additional times, and get more and more frustrated. This is covered under the 3 year 36k warranty, so there is no charge.

Step two, the warning message is likely to still be there when you drive away, but don't worry it'll be fine if they installed 2 new batteries. The system has to "learn" that 2 new batteries are there, and this takes a while. After driving it normally for 1 week, with rest overnight... the warning message will disappear.

Step 3, relax all is well. However remember this experience cause it'll happen again between 1 and 3 years from now. And next time, you'll probably have to buy both batteries out of your own account, not Chrysler's.

How am I doing guys - does that about cover it?

 

Excuse me but why is this in the "News" category?

 

Good question. Perhaps one of the moderators can move it?

 

Thanks Peter!

But, I don't think I'd want to see a full forum listing, when I go to pacificaforums.com and that's cause there are WAY too many categories. I'm not interested in checking through 30 titles!
When I first get on this site, what I'm most curious about is, what things people have been chatting about for the last month.

Beyond that, I can search for something I want to know about, if I don't see any related, recent, threads.

Anyway, the amazing huge number of miniscule topic titles is confusing and unnecessary. It'd be much easier to navigate, if things were consolidated to 5- 10 different topic categories, instead of 31.

Just my 2 cents,
Thanks, Greg

 

You can accomplish what you are looking for by clicking on the New balloon at the top right of the page. Then you can choose through the New Posts, or the Popular links.

 

Peterweb you are doing an admirable job

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I am NOT happy to be joining this club but it seems 'all are welcome'......UNSAT

Really?! I mean stinking REALLY?! We've had this new van for 30 days only! Made an appointment with the the local CDJR (they're booked out for until the 3rd week of March ) and I'm going to eat a $$ diagnostic fee already?

Checked the battery monitor just for GP...

Researching and reading amounts of different threads for this issue does not inspire confidence in a new owner. The mods ought to sticky this due it's 'popularity' for all the foot traffic this unique feature earns.

 

I am NOT happy to be joining this club but it seems 'all are welcome'......UNSAT

View attachment 45674

Really?! I mean stinking REALLY?! We've had this new van for 30 days only! Made an appointment with the the local CDJR (they're booked out for until the 3rd week of March ) and I'm going to eat a $$ diagnostic fee already?

Checked the battery monitor just for GP...
View attachment 45675

Researching and reading amounts of different threads for this issue does not inspire confidence in a new owner. The mods ought to sticky this due it's 'popularity' for all the foot traffic this unique feature earns.

Welcome to the forum.

Your van and batteries should still be under the OEM warranty so there "shouldn't" be a diagnostic fee. Even though I don't have stop/start in my van, it is probably an aux battery issue and since the two batteries are linked, the gauge will indicate a charged battery until the main battery gets brought down from the dying one. Some members would suggest disconnecting the aux battery so the main battery doesn't get brought down until you can get aux battery replaced or diagnosed. The "A" symbol will still show if the aux battery is disconnected.

See what the battery gauge reading is when you put the van in RUN without pressing the brake.

You can download more extensive owner's manuals from the Mopar website if desired.

 

GregMej, the sticker states the build date is 3-20 so I'm assuming the batteries are now 12 months old.

 

Interesting...

With my other van (2004) and other past vehicles, I think I've often gotten 5-6 years from batteries.
But as us Pacifica newbies are learning, these things go through batteries at a faster rate

From the info learned here, it's cause of how they're wired. One battery eats up the other battery quickly, cause of all the sensors and electronics constantly monitoring everything. And wow, every time ya get in - out, or open any door to get stuff in- out, almost all the lights turn on, or at least flash. I can go to Vegas for that, don't need a "light show" from my van.

Maybe you can get the dealer to replace both... cause how they kill each other. It'll last WAY longer getting 2 new batteries installed... save the dealer (and you) more time and hassle, later!

 

UPDATE: van was repaired under warranty by the dealer with no diagnostic fee. Spoke with the service manager about symptoms and diagnosis as well as relayed the research I conducted. He agreed and called me later to confirm the aux battery was toast and inform me the car was ready after changing out both batteries. All trouble messages and indicators are cleared, reading normal and ESS tested fine.

I promptly shut/disabled it (ESS) off using the dash button during the drive home...

 

part of my routine, turn of ESS before shifting the transmission to reverse and pull out of the driveway. That's me, but wife cant be expected to do the same, its too much (unnecessary) work. Hopefully this will double the battery life from 1 year to 2 years, lets see if it works out.

UPDATE: van was repaired under warranty by the dealer with no diagnostic fee. Spoke with the service manager about symptoms and diagnosis as well as relayed the research I conducted. He agreed and called me later to confirm the aux battery was toast and inform me the car was ready after changing out both batteries. All trouble messages and indicators are cleared, reading normal and ESS tested fine.

I promptly shut/disabled it (ESS) off using the dash button during the drive home...

 

Yes, I've never had a vehicle with this feature and I wish there was a way to get rid of it! My Auto Start/Stop service light (the A! with the circle around it) came on and won't clear, even after replacing both batteries. Don't know what triggered it, but SOMEBODY has gotta know why this is happening and how to fix it. I don't care if the ESS doesn't work because I don't use it anyway, plus I don't think it saves gas either. I just want the light to go off...it's annoying.

 

As I understand it, after a Pacifica battery is reconnected, the Intelligent Battery Sensor module needs to "relearn" the normal voltage condition.

The process involves 5 separate engine starts, with a minimum of 4 engine off hours between each re-start. IF you have not had 5 restarts with 4 hours of off time between the starts, the ESS lamp will remain illuminated.

 

Aight, I'll try that and report back. Thanks.

 

Any updates here? My 2019 is still showing the A! light weeks after replacing both batteries. It’s driven every day for at least a few miles but the light still won’t go off.

 

Have you scrolled through to the ESS status on your driver information center? That will tell you why the system is not ready.

A few miles is not enough to get things fully charged. You need a steady drive for at least a half hour if the batteries are not fully charged. I had to do this today to get my ESS system to the ready state.

Or you can put on a trickle charger overnight to get them up to snuff.