2017 Dodge Ram 5.7 has a trickle drain and i can't figure it out. Anyone else have this problem?

[BigHornRam17]

There's been alot of talk about trickle drains but I have yet to read one that has done what my ram has. One day my truck was just dead so I jumped it and it ran fine. The next day was a repeat. I replaced the battery in the key fob and purchased the most expensive replacement battery they had and it still needs jumped everyday. Could it be the security system on it? The lights on the dash will periodically light up. I'm going to check the fuses again and clean the TIPM and post the results I get but if anyone has any insight please let me know.

 

[4xdad]

On my 2015 pw the trailer wiring pigtail corroded and shorted and killed the battery overnight 400 kms from home and 60 kms back in the bush luckily I had 2 12 volt batteries and a generator and battery charger got us going to get home I unplugged the pigtail and it’s fine

 

[rule18]

@BigHornRam17 Welcome to RamForum. I'm going to move this thread into the 4th Gen section, you'll get more views/responses.

 

[KCHawg]

On my 2012 !500 Express with the 5.7, I had a drain overnight. It ended up being my fuel pump relay, it was causing the fuel pump to run all the time.

 

[Dean2]

Turn the truck off and measure the draw, should be +400 MA, then let the truck go completely to sleep, then measure the draw. If you still have more than 10 miliamp, start pulling fuses till you isolate the excess draw. Then just trace that system.

Put your FOB well out of range so you don't wake the truck back up, and don't touch door handles etc. If you are storing a FOB in the truck, take the battery out of it or your truck will never go to sleep properly.

 

[Daniel Ortiz]

@BigHornRam17 , I was concerned once as well after fiddling with some of my internal power charger outlet fuses that killed my old battery, and after replacing the battery decided to do a parasitic draw test as @Dean2 recommends. I followed Brian Laskowski's (FordTechMakuloco) advice on doing the test. I bought a cheap multimeter from Walmart, and it was good enough. It didn't have memory and the other spiffy functions a fancy Fluke meter does, but you can just sit there and stare at your Walmart meter for 15 minutes like I did. A beer helps.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Turn the truck off and measure the draw, should be +400 MA, then let the truck go completely to sleep, then measure the draw. If you still have more than 10 milli-amp, start pulling fuses till you isolate the excess draw. Then just trace that system.

Dean2 gave great advice!

You (or someone) will have to do basic troubleshooting. Here is a video to get you started. Pull fuses and you might even want to pull the alternator wire eventually if you have to. There are a number of Y/T videos worth watching which will make the task more manageable.

Car Battery Drains Overnight Or After Days Of No Use! PARASITIC DRAIN

Car battery drains overnight(dies), or after days of no use, parasitic drain, parasitic draw, engine will not start. How to easily find/locate/identify the s...

www.youtube.com

 

[mesa]

There's been alot of talk about trickle drains but I have yet to read one that has done what my ram has. One day my truck was just dead so I jumped it and it ran fine. The next day was a repeat. I replaced the battery in the key fob and purchased the most expensive replacement battery they had and it still needs jumped everyday. Could it be the security system on it? The lights on the dash will periodically light up. I'm going to check the fuses again and clean the TIPM and post the results I get but if anyone has any insight please let me know.

Mine does the same as yours did you figure out what the cause was?

 

[indept]

Turn the truck off and measure the draw, should be +400 MA, then let the truck go completely to sleep, then measure the draw. If you still have more than 10 miliamp, start pulling fuses till you isolate the excess draw. Then just trace that system.

Put your FOB well out of range so you don't wake the truck back up, and don't touch door handles etc. If you are storing a FOB in the truck, take the battery out of it or your truck will never go to sleep properly.

Instead of pulling each fuse you can just measure the drop across the fuse, there are openings on the top of fuses where you can touch both probes on it. If it's THE culprit it will have a higher voltage drop than others. It's faster than pulling every fuse one at a time & puting it back. This will allow more time for beer drinking so it doesn't get warm

 

[GTyankee]

You might check your rear bumpers trailer plug
sometimes there will be corrosion between the plugs pins

Spray the plug with CRC QD electronic cleaner every once in while, whether you use the plug or not