The Tale of The Dead Battery

"MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner" (montegoman562)
08/04/2014 at 10:19 • Filed to: Dead Battery, Jeep, Crazy Sunday

So this is the story of my Sunday Morning and the Dead Jeep:

The schedule for the day was supposed to be pile into the 2008 Jeep Commander Sport V6 and drive to the Detroit Zoo (located in Royal Oak, MI....not Detroit. It's a GREAT ZOO though if you're in the area!) then after the zoo go over to visit a couple friends for a BBQ.

It's a good thing our 1.5 year old is easily distracted because he really wanted to go to the Zoo.

Go to start the Jeep and DEAD.

There's only one problem with this scenario, because I know you're all just thinking, well jump it then! But it's not that east giving our current parking situation.

If you can see where my Milan is parked in this image you'll get an idea:

The Jeep was parked in this position with the Milan and Montego in the garage. Which means they are TRAPPED. After the jumper pack was taking too long to get it going and even hooking the Montego battery up to it wouldn't work so - I decided it was time to push the Commander down the driveway and then back up with my wife fighting the power steering to make it turn. "Throw it in Neutral let's get going!" I shout, to which she replies...."I CAN'T!"

Well it's my first time pushing a modern vehicle that has the safety feature so you can't pop it in neutral. So I figure out how to pop open that little access door near shifter and get it rolling. FYI AWD Jeep Commanders are not light. The Montego is drastically easier to push.

So we get it moved, back the Milan out of the garage and jump it, it runs, but we know better than to turn it off until we get where we need to for a new battery. The 6.5 year old original battery was on borrowed time anyhow.

So I take it over to Advance Auto Parts where I get all my parts. I pull in we turn it off and just for giggles see if it'll start again - NOPE. So we go in and find out we have to pull a fuse and hook up some "saver pack" to it or the Jeep thinks it's being stolen and locks down, which means a trip on a flat bed to a dealer. Of course it's the hardest fuse to ever get out in all of history. Advance guy finally went inside and opened up a new pair of "bent end" needle nose for me to reach it.

180 bucks later we have a new battery and the Jeep is alive again.

Missed out on the Zoo though, had a good BBQ and thank god he had some delicious whiskey.

DISCUSSION (21)

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:24

Changing batteries is an unbelievable pain in modern cars. My car and my mams car have both deactivated keys because the battery was removed. I use my spare, she had to have hers reprogrammed.

McMike > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:27

Do you have a charger with a starting mode? I've used mine in situations like that. Takes a few minutes to get enough juice into the battery, but it's quicker than moving cars around.

Like this (or similar)

505Turbeaux > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:31

if your battery was well and truly dead, why did you have to connect a bridge pack and pull the fuse? Wouldnt it always think it was being bagged when you had a dead battery? Maybe a capacitor to save that little bit of juice to trip security mode or something

$kaycog > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:33

Yay, whiskey! What a terrible Sunday morning.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
08/04/2014 at 10:39

ugh what a pain in the ass

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > McMike
08/04/2014 at 10:39

mine is unfortunately just a trickler charger and not a full on jumper pack. It was free so I don't complain (gift from in-laws). If we weren't in a rush it would have been fine.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > 505Turbeaux
08/04/2014 at 10:41

I think if it disconnects when it still even has accessory power it will do it? I don't know we could get some interior lights on but not much else. Maybe you're right and it has a bit of internal power storage or something, Advance's computer said we had to do it, I'd rather take the extra 20-30 minutes (yes it seriously took that long to get the fuse out, which is asinine) than have it end up on a flat bed.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:42

Yup, I usually connect the new battery with jump leads before removing the old one, but a cheap parts store changed my battery a little while before I bought the car. So no remote central locking for me...

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > $kaycog
08/04/2014 at 10:42

Jameson Black Barrel.

Just what I needed

505Turbeaux > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:43

damn was the fuse on the main board? I don't know why I always loved the commander for some odd reason, but this kind of crap would put me off. You have the 3.5? I have replaced numerous engines in cherokees with the 3.5, but never in a commander for some odd reason

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
08/04/2014 at 10:46

Thankfully my cheap parts store read the line item in the computer before grabbing the battery!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > 505Turbeaux
08/04/2014 at 10:49

that's because it has a 3.7L! hahaha. It was available with 3.7 V6, V8, and then Hemi V8 and I believe RWD, AWD and true locking 4x4. It was on the interior fuse board under the drivers side dash, it just happened to be the furthest up and to the left which was real hard to reach. Honestly it probably would have been quicker to unscrew a couple dash panels, if he had given me those bent needle nose to begin with it would have been out in about a minute/minute and a half, was super easy to put back in just couldn't get a tool up there to grab on to it.

Commanders can be SUCH cool trucks. All the Grand Cherokee lift/suspension parts bolt right on to it and you get a much more rugged exterior appearance than the GC (if you ask me)

505Turbeaux > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:50

yeah I always thought of it as more of a wagoneer than a GC. PUT WOOD GRAIN TO IT NOW

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 10:51

They can read? Definitely a step up from the place this battery came from then...

shop-teacher > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 11:02

I love bent needle nose pliers. They're in my top 5 favorite hand tools.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > 505Turbeaux
08/04/2014 at 11:12

Hahaha, only thing going out the outside would be from the following list:

Brush Guard

Lift kit

Bigger tires

Light bar

Black out grille

Black wheels

black JEEP lettering

(note this is my WIFE's DD and she wants all those things)

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
08/04/2014 at 11:13

HAHAHA

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > shop-teacher
08/04/2014 at 11:13

I seriously need to invest in a pair after seeing how useful they are, I can't believe I've survived so long with out them.

shop-teacher > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 11:45

They're surprisingly hard to find, for those of us with no access to a tool truck. ACE makes a pretty good cheap pair that I've been happy with. Klien makes a good pair too, available at Home Depot.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > shop-teacher
08/04/2014 at 11:58

I'll have to look for them. Apparently Advance Auto Parts sells a pair (which felt nice in my hand yesterday) for what it's worth, no idea how good they long term.

shop-teacher > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
08/04/2014 at 18:39

I'm sure those will be just as good as the Chinese made Ace hardware brand pair I've got, which have been fine. I wish Channellock made a pair, all my other pliers are made by them, and I love them.