battery drained

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SILVER_BULLET

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well its happened to me twice already that i go to turn on the truck and it wont start. i hook up the cables and it starts almost immediately. the truck is a 2012 so i wouldnt think the battery or alternator is bad but idk what else could be causing it. the truck did have led lights on the dome lights and on the mirrors when i bought it and i did get an aftermarket alarm installed but both times i made sure the doors where closed right so no lights where on and the truck was in my garage so the alarm wasnt on so im not sure if it could still drain the battery? Im going to take the truck in to the dealer monday since i cant today but does anyone have a clue to what it could be?
 
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SILVER_BULLET

SILVER_BULLET

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Yea ive never had this kind of problem and thanks
 

BlackedOutHemi

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Could be the security system hooked up wrong. Either draining the battery, or locking you out for some reason?


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SILVER_BULLET

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could be the security system hooked up wrong. Either draining the battery, or locking you out for some reason?


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even with it not being activated?
 

BlackedOutHemi

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If there's a constant power being drained someway then that could be the problem. Did it start happening after the security system?


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SILVER_BULLET

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if there's a constant power being drained someway then that could be the problem. Did it start happening after the security system?


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well the security system was installed about a week after i bought it which was a little more then a month ago and this did not start happening till last week. I did notice before though that when i would turn it on in the mornings or after it sat for a while it would turn on and sound like it kind of struggled a bit. Is there anyway you would reccomend me checking to see if it is the security system before i take it into the dealer?
 

BlackedOutHemi

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Without taking it out yourself and reinstalling it I don't think there is a way to check. Besides checking the install instructions with the wires that are going to it if you can find it.


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SILVER_BULLET

SILVER_BULLET

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I'm no good with that kind of stuff so It would probably be useless for me to look at the wiring... I guess for now I'll just get the battery checked and hope its just a bad battery
 

Ocelot

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My suggestion would be to unplug the security system for a couple days to eliminate it as the culprit.

If the battery still drains, although rare, it could be a bad plate in the battery causing a drain over night. The same thing happened to me with my Chevy Colorado and a one year old battery. It would be sluggish in the morning or wouldn't start at all. Once jumped it would be good for the day.
I even had the battery tested at Advanced Auto and they said it was fine, but I replaced it anyway with an Optimum Red Top and never had the problem again.

If you have another vehicle that you could swap the batteries for a day, then you would know. That way you could tell the dealer it was it was definitely the battery and get them to change it. They may not if it tests ok while it's there.
 
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SILVER_BULLET

SILVER_BULLET

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my suggestion would be to unplug the security system for a couple days to eliminate it as the culprit.

If the battery still drains, although rare, it could be a bad plate in the battery causing a drain over night. The same thing happened to me with my chevy colorado and a one year old battery. It would be sluggish in the morning or wouldn't start at all. Once jumped it would be good for the day.
I even had the battery tested at advanced auto and they said it was fine, but i replaced it anyway with an optimum red top and never had the problem again.

If you have another vehicle that you could swap the batteries for a day, then you would know. That way you could tell the dealer it was it was definitely the battery and get them to change it. They may not if it tests ok while it's there.

thats a good idea ill try to disconnect it and ill try the battery swap thing that way i can see what is the problem because i really hate having problems with it being so damn new
 
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SILVER_BULLET

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I was just reading about some caravans that had a problem like this and it was that the radio was coming on by itself or it never really turned off all the way so it drained the battery
 
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SILVER_BULLET

SILVER_BULLET

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Well i was washing the truck yesterday and i noticed through the window my radio opened up like when you press the button to eject the cd and then closed by itself. A couple of minutes later the screen that comes on when you barely turn the radio on showed up and turned off so im guessing something is screwy with the radio and that might be whats draining it but i sat in the truck for like half an hour waiting for it to do something again and it wouldnt so im going to have a hard time proving it to the dealer
 

quietpeen

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that is freaky
 

jlb

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lol, time to get out the video camera... you could leave one sitting there with motion detection on so you don't have to search through hours of video.

The dealer is probably just going to put a DMM in series with the positive terminal to test the draw on the battery when everything is "off" You might want to do that yourself first, and then start pulling fuses one at a time. Once one is out, put it back in if the reading doesn't change. If it does change at least you narrowed down your problem to a specific circuit.

If the radio is the problem, pull the fuse for it when you go in at night, and if your truck starts in the morning, maybe a was ghost bumping tunes at night lol
 
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SILVER_BULLET

SILVER_BULLET

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well after some fighting with the dealership it seems like they might have solved my problems all in one step. I think i have another thread where i posted that my tpms sensors never read well they changed the tpms module which was also drawing current from the battery even while it was off and now it seems like everything is fine. I am still going to leave the truck parked till friday and see if the battery is still charged and then ill reconnect my alarm since we proved that wasnt the problem
 
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