New TJ owner. Need help.

[Justacoolride]

Hi everyone. I really enjoy looking through this forum. I bought an '05 TJ Sports about 2 months ago. It's a 4L with 84K miles. Last week I took out the battery tray (not OME) to fix the rust. When I lifted the tray off, I saw a sensor wire which I didn't know what it was at the time. The sensor wire was laying under the tray compartment. My guest is that it been off for quite some time. There was double sided tape on the sensor which wasn't sticky at all. I had the tray sanded, welded on a mounting bracket, and painted. My tray doesn't have the hole for the battery temperature sensor like the OME tray that I looked up. I figured it's ok since that's how I got it. I put double sided tape on the sensor and tried to attach to the tray underside. Since the tray was slick from being painted, and also the cold weather. I couldn't get it to stick. So I just laid the BTS in the compartment under the tray and reinstalled everything. Went to start the jeep. It started right up. It was fine until the third day when I went to start it for work. It started but not in an instant. I thought maybe of the cold weather. The next day when I went to start it. It just went click click click. The radio, dash had power. So did the interior lights. I had it started after a few clicking sound via jumper cables. I let it ran idling for 20 minutes. The next day. It wouldn't start. Just clicks. So I went and looked up BTS. I read all about it. I then took everything back out, including the BTS harness. I used a multimeters and got a reading of 12.1K Olms on it. I drilled a 1" hole on the tray for the BTS just like the OME trays. I reinstalled everything. Started the jeep with jumper cables and let it ran for 30 minutes. I then turned it off and was able to start it right after that. The next day it just clicks again. I haven't checked any fuses. If so, how and where do I need to check? Your help is greatly appreciated.
Btw. The battery is faily new Optima red top

 

[Chris]

What does BTS stand for?

The first thing that comes to my mind is a bad battery. You jump started it when it was dead, it started up, but letting it idle for 20 minutes won't charge a dead battery. Once the battery is dead, it's toast.

I would check the battery voltages and see what it's putting out, because there's a good chance your battery is dead beyond charging. What you're describing sounds exactly like that at least.

Even if the battery is newer, it's still very, very possible.

 

[Justacoolride]

What does BTS stand for?

The first thing that comes to my mind is a bad battery. You jump started it when it was dead, it started up, but letting it idle for 20 minutes won't charge a dead battery. Once the battery is dead, it's toast.

I would check the battery voltages and see what it's putting out, because there's a good chance your battery is dead beyond charging. What you're describing sounds exactly like that at least.

Even if the battery is newer, it's still very, very possible.

I think it's Battery Temperature Sensor. Thanks for the help. I'll tried a new battery tomorrow.

 

[Chris]

Let us know if that solves it. I am honestly thinking that it's the battery (or alternator if it doesn't end up being the battery).

However, if your battery temperature sensor is going bad, it should bring up a check engine light to tell you so. If you suspect it's bad, I would go ahead and replace it. It's a cheap replacement part, and I would probably do it anyways just to rule it out of the equation.

 

[glwood]

What the heck is a battery temperature sensor?

 

[Chris]

What the heck is a battery temperature sensor?

The cut and paste answer:

Battery temperature sensors are a feature found on the charging systems of modern vehicles. With the continuously advancing electrical systems found on newer vehicles, batteries are becoming an increasingly important component to modern cars.

As its name suggests, battery temperature sensors detect the temperature of the battery so that the charging system voltage can be increased or decreased according to the vehicle’s needs. When the battery temperature is low, the system voltage is set high and will automatically decrease as the temperature increases. For this reason, when the battery temperature sensor fails, it can cause problems not only for the battery, but the entire electrical system as well. When the battery temperature sensor fails, the vehicle will usually produce a few symptoms that can notify the driver that a problem has occurred and should be serviced.

 

[glwood]

Great...something else to wonder about...

 

[StG58]

Great...something else to wonder about...

Don't worry! Be happy! Isn't that how the song goes?

 

[glwood]

Don't worry! Be happy! Isn't that how the song goes?

Yes it does. I was a little happier before I knew there was a BTS, though...it reminds me of the TPMS on my Tacoma.

Wish there was such a thing as a WTS (wife temperature sensor)...