winstonbaby
Yelm, WA USA
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We left WA on Friday on our way to Sonoma. After we stopped for the night, I went to check on ou Toad. The battery was Almost dead!
I think I must have left the radio on in the jeep. This is an 07 Wrangler. Also, to get the steering wheel to unlock, the key must be turned one click past off. unfortunaitely, this also energizes the radio, wipers or blower for the heater, if left in the on position.
Anyway, I figured I would just jumpstart the rig at our destination and be done with it!
Not so! While still hooked up to the tow bar, I tried to jump start the jeep.
everything energized as it should, lights, radio, wipers, but all I would get is a "click" when I tried to start her.
I thought the battery must be soo drained that it wont let me start her by jumping.
So i even tried to jump start bypassing the battery entirely by removing the battery cables, hooking up the jumper cables to the coach batteries.
Same thing, click, click, click!
My wife and I decided to disconnect the jeep from the coach and push it aside.
We had a heck of a time trying to get it un hooked as it was on a slight down grade.
Once we got her unhooked, BAM....she started right away!
This is the 6th trip we've taken with this setup but the first with this problem.
Was the fact that the jeep was grounded to the coach thru the towbar causing problems with trying to jump start?
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winstonbaby
Yelm, WA USA
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sorry for posting in the wrong forum!
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fireman50
Tennessee
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The only thing that I could think of that would cause that would be a grounding issue. If you raise the hood, open the fuse box and pull the IOD fuse - the one with the white plastic around it - you won't have the problem of draining the battery with the key on.
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Joy
Henderson KY 42420
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There's nothing worse than dragging around a dead toad!!! (sorry - couldn't resist!)
See ya' down the road!
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LIFE ISN'T ABOUT HOW TO SURVIVE THE STORM BUT HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN.
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YC 1
Yuba City Calif.
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The ground between the vehicles should have absolutely nothing to do with it. It actually would have added additional assurance of getting a good negative path.
I suspect the act of dislodging the stuck tow bar and moving the vehicle around gave a kick in the pants to a stuck solenoid. Or, you really did not have the best jumper cables.
Just yesterday a young couple across the street were trying to jump start a small pu. They had a long set of jumpers and the guy remarked that he would charge the battery for awhile and then push start the truck. I asked him to hit the key for a second and sure enough the thing would only click. He then did what I absolutely do not recommend and that was to tap the leads of the cable together. I could tell by the arc that these cables had issues. Grabbing my jumper cables from the MH we were able to actually get him going in just seconds.
With a very dead battery it takes a good set of jumpers to get it going without charging. I often refer to those cables as charging cables so people will understand. Of course the battery posts and cables are often a mess as they were yesterday and the charging vehicle was at idle which would take 30 minutes of running to even hope for a good turn over.
I have the charging vehicle raise the rpm's for about 5 minutes and rarely have any problems then.
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reno82
Cardiff by the Sea, CA
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Did you try giving the starter a tap with a wrench? You may have a starter going bad and getting hung up.
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Twomed
On the road USA
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New Wrangler Towing
Long thread...but all the answers to the new Wrangler oddities is in here. 
Happy Trails
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SoCalDesertRider
SanDiego, CA, USA
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Sounds like a starter going out to me.
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winstonbaby
Yelm, WA USA
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All great replies! I tried to think of every possible issue, bad starter, engine somehow locked up, or transmission somehow engaged.
But as soon as the rig was unhooked and before testing for any of the before mentioned possible causes, it started right up...and has worked perfectly since.
I am leaning towards low quality cables combined with a stone cold dead battery as the main problem. although, this still does not really explain why the trouble with jumping the jeep while hooked up.
Thanks to all who replied!
Don
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Anson
Raleigh NC
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Twomed wrote:New Wrangler Towing
Long thread...but all the answers to the new Wrangler oddities is in here. I agree with this, same thing happened with our jeep and it was the starter, a few taps did it for awhile but then ended up having to change the starter, it took about 15 mins to replace it.
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