RJL wrote:
We left Friday morning from SW Fla enroute home to S. Jersey. Later in the early afternoon a Ford pickup towing a camper pulled next to us on 95 N and said our red cable was dragging. Luckily I was a mile and a half from a rest stop so we pulled in, sure enough our power cord that charges the battery as we're driving had dragged for a bit and was destroyed. I unhooked it, started the Jeep and let it sit while we had lunch. After placed the key in the "acc." position and continued on until 5 and pulled into a CG. Started the jeep up again, shut it down and and grabbed some sleep. The next morning I plugged in our "Brake Buddy" system preped it for the drive that day, put the key in the "acc." position and left at 0700. Fast forward to 2/p and the sensor that plugs into the cigarette lighter begins to flash red, then stays glowing red, indicating something is wrong with the "Brake Buddy". Pull off in VA and sure enough the battery is completely dead. Take the power cord out of the cigarette lighter in the Jeep and finish our trip that day (Saturday) and arrive home yesterday with no supplemental braking system or blinker/stop lights on the Jeep. My question is does the key have to be in the acc. position, or can it be off. I noticed that when the transfer case is in "N" and the transmission is in "P" that I can move the steering wheel with no lock, however the Jeep manual clearly states the key must be in the acc mode while flat towing. I read in here somewhere that it's not necessary to have the key in acc position and that it's ok to have it off. Which is it? The reason I ask now is my battery in the Jeep is trashed and I'm wondering if I just put the ignition in the off position when I lost the cable I might have been able to save the battery.
Sorry for the book.
Bob
Hey Bob,
I just pulled up a '10 JK owners manual on line and, to me, it doesn't make any sense. In step #8, it says to turn the engine off and turn the key to "ACC" position.
But, in step #13, it says to disconnect the negative battery cable and store it away from the battery.
Now, are they wanting you to put the key in the ACC position just to make sure the steering is unlocked? And that disconnecting the negative battery cable is to insure there is no battery drain due to certain parts of the electronic system being activated by leaving the key in the ACC position? If those two assumptions are correct, then yes, now it makes sense.
Scott
