KILLIN BATTERIES

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erlltroll2002

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Virginia
Ram Year
2021
Engine
3.0L Fiat Diesel
So I have a 2021 Rebel, 3.0L Ecodiesel. Since November of 21 I have had multiple battery issues. I currently am at around 8500 miles.

At around 3000 miles I had a suspension stabalizer system warning light come in and stay in every time I started the truck up. Unfortunately it took about 3k miles to take it in due to my wifes car being on COVID hold at the shop. The dealership tested everything, and then told me it was a known issue and RAM was trying to determine a cause and correction for it.

About a month later (November 2021) I drove the truck on a 3 hour round trip on a Saturday. The next morning the truck had ZERO power. Nothing, no locks, no interior lights, etc. Multimeter showed 2 volts. I jumped it with my box, let it run about 10 minutes and shut it off. I then started it again, and it started fine. Battery meter was showing around 11 Volts. I am sure this was just charging juice from the alternator. I wanted to shut it down and see how it would start again, but it would not shut off. In my mind I had a runaway diesel happening (JK, not quite to that worry yet, but it was a thought.) It did turn off automatically about 10 minutes later. Question #1- Is there such a timer sequence to not allow the truck to turn off with a low batter voltage? I continued to charge it, and had a tow truck come tow it to the station. The dealership said it was a bad battery and replaced it.

About 2 months later, it was dead again. I had it towed to the dealership, so they could look at it again. It was around 8 volts this time. They had the truck for 3 weeks and could not find every draw issue. They did replace the RF console and that cut the draw down from 5 amps to about .75 amps. The remaining amps would fluctuate and disappear. When I picked it up, it hesitated to start, threw an engine trouble light and water in the fuel filter light. They took it back in the shop and "drained" the water and reset the engine trouble light. I took it home.

12 hours later, it would not start and had 10 volts on the battery meter. I jumped it and drove it in, and they still have it. As of right now, they can not duplicate any issues, but I am at a loss of patience with this issue. I have a STAR case in, but now they are asking me where I keep my FOBs in the house, do i keep the FOB in my pocket when I may not be driving the truck (just walking around the yard/garage), etc. It just seems like it shouldn't matter where I keep the FOB. I should be able to leave it in my truck for 2 weeks without it killing the battery.

Any thoughts, questions, experience with this? I am sure I have forgotten some details as I am really frustrated. I love the truck, and want it back, but I really am losing a lot of faith in MOPAR right now.
 

RAMaway

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Location
Chesapeake, VA.
Ram Year
2020
Engine
Hemi 5.7 etorq
A new Battery, as the RAM has a run of bad (cheap) batteries.
Had a like problem with my 2020, Hemi. Purchased a Gas Mat
at Costco for &175. out the door, and just for grinds we checked
the draw and in less than an hr. it was under 50 ma.
 

mikeru

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^^x2 on replacing the battery. Even if it's out of pocket. There are lots of stories on this and other 5th gen forums about people having strange electrical problems, which go away when the OEM battery is replaced. I'm not going to recommend a specific battery to go with, just to stay away from another OEM battery.
 

chopperman1

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5.7L HEMI
Did they replace the battery at any point? They should have! A battery drawn down that low will will never recover 100%. I would start by replacing that and troubeshooting your draw further. A sleeping car/truck shouldn't draw more than 80 miliamps.
 
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erlltroll2002

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Virginia
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2021
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3.0L Fiat Diesel
Did they replace the battery at any point? They should have! A battery drawn down that low will will never recover 100%. I would start by replacing that and troubeshooting your draw further. A sleeping car/truck shouldn't draw more than 80 miliamps.
They have replaced it twice, but it is just the OEM battery. I am hearing a lot of MOPAR issues with batteries, and that a premium aftermarket battery solves most of the issues.
 

shrubs

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Nolensville, TN
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2015
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5.7 Hemi
They have replaced it twice, but it is just the OEM battery. I am hearing a lot of MOPAR issues with batteries, and that a premium aftermarket battery solves most of the issues.

I have had random OEM parts that were awful. It was hard to wrap my mind around the suspicion of an OEM outfitting their vehicle with an inferior part and then distributing that same inferior part to their parts inventory for distribution.

Batteries seem to be popular lately on the inferior OEM parts list.

I have no specific recommendations except to be clear on a replacement part warranty and return policy. YMMV. Most of the time I feel you get what you pay for, just don’t pay way too much for what might be better.
 

Mister Luck

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Incompetency on part of the dealership
I would reach out to Ram Cares and ask them for an opinion through a private message.

My personal opinion is start with a
Multi-meter and test the alternator yourself , post pictures of your battery installed , it could be the serpentine belt tensioner has failed or the serpentine belt has stretched in any case the alternator doesn’t seem to be charging the battery.

You should see 13v or better on your charging system dash gauge when the truck is at idle.
 

06 Dodge

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They have replaced it twice, but it is just the OEM battery. I am hearing a lot of MOPAR issues with batteries, and that a premium aftermarket battery solves most of the issues.

I got 12.5 years out of my 06 Mopar batteries only replaced them as part of preventive maintenance...
 

olscout

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Back in the 80's we had a Dodge Omni that had two Mopar batteries last 13 months....just out of warranty. My 16 Ram has the original battery which is making me nervous, although it's working fine. Probably depends on who they contract with year to year as far as quality....
 

Jim113

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Ontario, Canada
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2020 Longhorn
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Hemi 5.7
They have replaced it twice, but it is just the OEM battery. I am hearing a lot of MOPAR issues with batteries, and that a premium aftermarket battery solves most of the issues.
Had the same problem with my 2013 Longhorn .... Went to visit my son in another province and the night before I was leaving to return home my truck wouldn't even turn over ... had it towed to the nearest dealership and they put a charge on the battery (OEM) and said it was fine ... Charged me $48 and the truck was only 3 weeks old ... On my way home had a low battery warning come on ... Was able to make it home and went to my local dealership and they found the OEM battery was defective and replaced it ... Wrote to FCA and got my $48 reimbursed under warranty ... Same thing occurred with the new battery, so I went out and bought a Northstar AGM and absolutely no issues after that ... I even put my Northstar into my new 2017 RAM when I traded the 2013 in ... No issues with it during the 3 years I had that truck either ...
 

wsutard1

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2022
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HEMI 5.7 eTorque
I would also drop some coin on a hood battery and see what happens. However, do not give them your current as a core trade in. Instead keep it.

If the new battery doesn’t solve the issue then put the old back in and take it back to the dealership. I would not take it in with an aftermarket battery.

Make sure you document this process from your description you are closing in on Lemon Law territory. But you need your service requests documented. In my state it’s 3 attempts to fix the issue, then the law kicks in.

My guess is that there is some kind of grounding issue going on with the truck that is causing massive drain of the battery. They have replaced the OEM battery with another. It’s highly unlikely you received 2 bad batteries.

I would start to beef up on your states Lemon Law.
 

huntergreen

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Back in the 80's we had a Dodge Omni that had two Mopar batteries last 13 months....just out of warranty. My 16 Ram has the original battery which is making me nervous, although it's working fine. Probably depends on who they contract with year to year as far as quality....
Same here. My 16 original battery is is working fine, but I’ll most likely change out in oct or November before the cold weather hits.
 
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erlltroll2002

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3.0L Fiat Diesel
Currently I am seeing about 12.9-13.2 at idle depending if it is before or after a drive. When I turn off the motor and check the battery, I am seeing almost a constant 12.7V. When I start it up the next morning, it is pretty constant at 12.3V (after sitting 12 hours). What should the normal values be? Still seems like a little bit of a draw or it could be a crappy battery, yet again. Still on the OEM battery. I plan on buying an Interstate or Odyssey this weekend.
 

crash68

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Currently I am seeing about 12.9-13.2 at idle depending if it is before or after a drive.
I wonder if the IBS is not working properly. The IBS is mounted on the negative battery terminal and in part in part controls the charging system.

Probably the only thing that could draw enough current to pull the voltage down at ide would be the glow plugs and electric cab heat, you could rule those out by pulling the fuses for them.
 
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