Is there anyone else like me out there?

The two biggest things I HATE about today’s cars are: 1) everything being dependent on computers, and 2) the “auto stop/start” feature.

Angela and I purchased a new Jeep just prior to our move to Georgia. Just like every other modern vehicle today, it has electronic transmission, electronic emissions sensors, electronic keyless ignition, the air conditioner it totally digital, the dashboard is all digital, etc. Everything is run by computer! What’s worse, all of these systems are connected. So, if a “chip” that runs one system goes screwy, it can affect other systems.

Ten years ago, I had a Subaru Outback. One day, lights just began flashing on and off all over the dashboard. Lights I’d never seen before were blinking on and off. The “check engine” light was on. The oil pressure light was on. Other engine lights were coming on and going off in no discernible pattern. I took the car in, only to find out it was a sensor in my exhaust system that had gone bad and was triggering all that crazy stuff all over my dashboard. Worse still, it was going to cost me $4500 to get a new sensor put in! I skipped the sensor replacement and traded the car in for a Ford truck.

Then there’s the automatic “stop/start” feature. If you have it, you know what I mean. You stop your car at a red light, and within 10 seconds or so, the engine shuts off. Take your foot off the brake, and the engine starts again. It seems pretty cool when you first experience it. However, the novelty suddenly fades into a psychotic fear of traffic lights when the engine fails to start when the light turns green, there’s a line of cars behind you, and you have to put your car in park, turn off the engine, and then re-start it manually.

To make things worse, car manufacturers set the “auto stop/start” as the default to the system. In other words, you have to manually turn it off! It’s “ON” automatically every time you start the vehicle.

Well, there are workarounds. In my Ford, it was simply a matter of disconnecting one wire from the battery.

Our Jeep has the “auto start/stop” feature as well. One day last year, it just stopped working. The little indicator light that shows the feature is off was permanently lit. I was happy about it, because I hate my engine shutting off when I don’t want it to.

But about two months ago, the Jeep’s battery kept dying. I’d fully charge the battery, and in two days, it would be completely dead again. I did a little online research and discovered that one of the most common causes for this in Jeeps is the auxiliary battery dying, and then draining the primary battery.

Auxiliary battery???? I had no idea there was an auxiliary battery! You can’t SEE the auxiliary battery. It’s buried under the main battery, and you have to take a tire off to get to it. A little more digging revealed that the auxiliary battery powers the AUTO STOP/START function! So, now I had TWO reasons to hate that crazy feature.

So, again, the auxiliary battery controls the auto stop/start. The auxiliary battery is connected to the primary battery. When the auxiliary battery dies, the auto stop/start quits working, and the auxiliary battery keeps drawing voltage off the primary battery. Got it?

So, I researched some more and found some DIY videos on how to disconnect the auxiliary battery from the primary battery, which permanently disables the auto stop/start. BINGO! I killed two birds with one stone. It was a simple matter of removing one fuse and disconnecting one wire from the positive battery terminal. Problem solved!

Well, that was until last week.

On my way to church, I hit a little bump in the road, and the Jeep dropped out of gear. It was as if someone had reached over and pulled the gear shift into neutral. I had to stop the Jeep, shift into park, and back into drive to continue. It happened again just before I got to the church. It didn’t happen on the way home, so I thought the engine being turned off and starting again must have “re-booted’ everything and fixed the issue. (Did I mention that I hate computers running my vehicles?)

Unfortunately, it happened again the next day as I was trying to head to a doctor appointment. The Jeep dropped out of gear three times just getting out of the driveway. On top of that, the dashboard started going haywire. So, I parked it and drove my truck to the appointment instead. Later, I got the Jeep towed to the repair shop.

For two days they did computer diagnostics on it, trying to find the problem. One of the technicians (remember the days when they were called “mechanics?”) called to discuss the situation with me. I let him know about my DIY fix to stop the auto stop/start. He thanked me and said he’d take a look.

Well, what I didn’t know was that, apparently, the auxiliary battery also handles some additional computer functions that control other things besides the auto stop/start (like my transmission and dashboard!). The shop replaced the dead auxiliary battery, and all of the problems went away.

Changing out the auxiliary battery would have cost me about $130 and a couple of hours wrenching on the Jeep to get it installed. Unfortunately, having the shop run a bunch of computer diagnostics, and then replace the battery for me, costs just shy of $500.

Have I mentioned I hate computers running my vehicles?

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