2001 Grand Cherokee Idling problem

The battery on my Jeep ran down due to radio being on and car on ACC. I tried to start it and she would barely turn over. I hooked up my small Sears charger to the battery posts and let it charge for an hour or so. The car starts right up no problem. The problem I now have which I've never had before, is that the idle drops when I come to a stop and stalls out. I restart the car and give it some gas and off I go until the next situation where I have to stop.

Does anyone have some input for me on this? I didn't touch anything except I used a hose to clean the top of the battery off before I put the charger on it. The car has had a chance to dry out for 2 days, and I sprayed WD-40 on the wires to help displace any moisture.

Any ideas?

Reply to
wanderer
Loading thread data ...

Reply to
L.W.(Bill) Hughes III

Had the same thing happen when a battery ran down due to parking too long. I did discover that some brands of gas worked a bit better than others in "retraining" the thing to idle properly. Chevron was terrible even using premium, Shell wasn't much better. Oddly enough Valero mid-grade kept it idling enough to allow it to slowly behave.

Allegedly a dealer can reset it with a scan tool for the typical gas in your area if you fill up and take it in. If you can keep it running by putting your foot on the brake and slightly on the gas, an honest dealer might tell you to save your money.

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III proclaimed:

Reply to
Lon

I agree with Bill. Give it 5-10 more cold-starts; it should smooth out just fine.

Over time, the computer 'learns' how best to run the engine, including idle. If your battery dies, it 'unlearns' the things it learned, so it has to do it all over again.

Reply to
Outatime

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.