[treacych]

Hey all, first time posting here since I'm in quite a pickle. Sorry, here's the long version...
I recently had issues starting my GC. The first attempt to start would fail. Lights come on, the engine tries to turn over but quickly gives up. The second attempt it would start up just fine. After a few weeks (I got lazy over the holidays), it would usually take a third attempt before it started.
After some advice from a mechanic we replaced the main battery assuming that was the issue. Didn't fix it. After driving it just a few minutes, the ESS system seemed to give out. It attempted to engage when I came to a stop light but failed and the "Stop/Start unavailable; service stop/start system" error message came up. I took it to the dealership just to ask them some questions and they told me the ESS/auxiliary battery was dead. Made perfect sense.

While changing the aux battery, we accidentally hit one of the screws in that area with a wrench and sparks flew. Didn't think too much of it at first. We started the Jeep up again and it started fine but now a battery warning light was on. After a couple more starts, my GC started performing some sort of exorcism. All the lights/warning/everything just started going nuts. It was shaking, yes shaking, during it's freakout. It wouldn't let me turn it off and after about a minute of all of this, it shut down on it's own (I think, I was honestly freaking out myself).
We have a friend who had a similar issue with their GC and it turned out they also hit one of the screws with a wrench which blew a fuse. Unfortunately, the fuses for this are in a small panel underneath the positive jumper terminal (underneath the hood on the passenger side) apparently called a High Current PDC panel? Problem is we can't figure out how to remove this panel. As you can see from the pics, we have the top connectors removed but after that we're stuck. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd greatly appreciate it!

 

[treacych]

Ended up figuring this out the other day, thankfully. For anyone in the future who runs into this problem, there are two tabs (circled in screenshot) on both sides of the top of the black plastic case. Once you push both of those tabs, you should be to push the positive jumping terminal (circled in screenshot) down and the fuse block should slide out. Mine was stuck in there so hard so that's what made it hard to figure out (and not wanting to break anything else).
After we removed the fuse block, we were able to buy a new one at our local dealership. Here's the listing on the mopar website:
2011-2022 Mopar Fuse Block 68089468AA | Mopar Estores
2011-2022 Mopar Fuse Block 68089468AA

store.mopar.com
Amazon also has them (sold by Mopar) for about half the price but I would have had to wait a whole week for it to arrive.
Anyway, once we replaced the fuse block and both batteries (since that was the original problem), my Jeep started up real nice! All the warnings went away and auto stop/start actually worked for the first time in the whole year I've had my Jeep haha.

 

[treacych]

I do not see where you circled it

Sorry about that, here you go:
These are the two tabs and the piece that slides down is the whole fuse block in the center. Once you push the two tabs open, you should be able to push down on the big metal connector in the middle. Mine was stuck so it took us a few tries.

 

[treacych]

How do I take off metal part that is over the screw that u have circled

You shouldn't have to because it should push down to come out, not up.

 

[treacych]

Do you have to disconnect the main battery before replacing this part? Can anyone share more details on replacing this part? I've been ripping my hair out with this exact issue.

I don't know if you necessarily HAVE to disconnect it but it's probably a good idea. What exactly are you having trouble with? For us it was really hard to get the fuse block out. There's very little room and both of those black tabs have to be pressed in order for it to release the fuse block.

 

[treacych]

I’m am completely broken mentally at this point. Stress levels beyond your imagination. So I’ll start from the very beginning…
Last week driving with my kids and everything you described in your post happened. Pulled over… had the Jeep towed 50 miles. I rented a car while dealer was running tests on it. He calls and tells me nothing showing up on diagnostic tests but suggests possibly Aux Battery. It cost me $700. and I pick up the Jeep. 3 days later same exact thing happened. Had the Jeep towed and dealer ran tests with nothing showing up. I printed out your Post from this site and he claimed nothing was showing up. I dropped off the rental car again and picked up my Jeep yesterday. I have 3 young kids and I’m driving around nervous as hell. Decided to take it to a different dealership to possibly look to trade it in but they only want to give me $16,000 when I still owe $24,000. Now I just signed up for Triple AAA road side assistance because I’ve used my insurance tow allowance up.
So after reading all these posts referencing the same exact issue I was tempted to replace the Fuse Block myself. So now I’m just wondering is the first step to disconnect the Red power cable under the passenger seat from the battery before I disconnect the Fuse Block under the hood?

Wow I feel your pain, I'm sorry, this sounds incredibly frustrating! Car can be such a nightmare sometimes... Ok so just to be clear, your car is currently running right now, correct? The need for me to change the fuse block only happened after we accidentally blew a fuse while trying to change the aux battery. While loosening the nuts/bolts to disconnect the aux battery cables, we hit a piece of metal under the seat with the wrench we were using, therefore blowing one of the fuses (we didn't know we'd blown a fuse yet though). After we connected the new battery and turned the Jeep back on, it almost immediately started shaking, all warnings lights came on and off, horn was honking, and I literally couldn't control the car at all to stop any of this. After talking to a friend who had done the same thing we knew we probably blew a fuse like they did and the fuse block needed to be replaced. If your Jeep is actually running right now, I wouldn't think that this would be the same issue.

 

[treacych]

So was your original problem the Aux battery?

Hey, I'm glad we communicated too so I could clear up the fuse block confusion. Yes my original problem was that the Aux battery died. Over the course of about a month, it was having issues starting when I pressed the start button the first time. It would take a second or sometimes third time before the engine would turn over. The only error warning I got originally was "Stop/Start system unavailable; service vehicle" or something like that. I have also read that once your Aux battery dies that it will quickly drain your main battery so we ended up needing to replace both batteries. One had very little charge left; the other had 0 charge left. You could get your "new" aux battery tested to see what kind of charge it has. They do it for free at autozone or other chain auto places.
I'm no expert by any means so take my opinion with a grain of salt but... its possible the mechanic blew a fuse in the fuse block while they were replacing your aux battery, just like we did. When I went to my dealership to purchase the fuse block, a guy working there told me it happens to people a lot (their dealership mechanics and just normal customers) while changing the batteries since they're in such a tight spot on these Jeeps. I would definitely keep pushing back with the dealership because them leaving your jeep in worse condition than when you took it to them is unacceptable. Ask for a manager next time you go in, show them all the pictures you posted here and ask them if it's possible they blew a fuse while replacing the aux battery. At least ask them to check that fuse block as a curtesy so you'll know for sure. I'd say check it yourself but it's very hard to get that fuse block out. It shouldn't be for them though! There is a main fuse box in the jeep but then this fuse block is located underneath the battery jumping terminals on the top left corner under the hood. You can see the location in the very first picture I posted when I made this thread. Just so you know they're looking at the correct fuse block! Hope this helps, best of luck!
Here's a picture of the fuse block we took out and you can see the first fuse is blown.

 

[treacych]

I’m going to assume the mechanic the first time actually never changed my Aux battery even though they charged me for it. Once I had the Jeep towed the second time and I questioned their work… they seemed a little worried as if something or someone didn’t do the right job the first time. I sensed a lot of confusion the first time I had it towed. Like no one knew who was working on the Jeep and they never had follow up calls to me. I ended up calling them and a secretary just said oh yeah come pick up your vehicle it’s done…. Very strange but it is what it is. So as of now the Jeep is running and I’m back to commuting back and forth to work. I’m going to see how it handles this weekend and I’ll go from there. Maybe they actually fixed the problem the right way after the second time and I’m just worrying just based on how uncertain they were throughout the entire process. Thank you for all your help. Let’s hope I don’t have this problem happen again.

You're welcome! I know how frustrating it is... Fingers crossed for you!