Dead Battery on a 2026 1500 with 5.7 torque

[BobH2020]

I needs some serious answers here if anyone has one. I accidentally left my tailgate down yesterday and the bed light was on. When I came out this morning, I had absolutely no power. Couldn't even open the garage with the buttons on the visor. I've been reading about the etorque battery being a real pain. I tried jumping it the traditional way with no results. I've got a battery charger on it now. Multimeter reads 5.6 volts on the battery terminals. I could really use some advice. Truck has 5100 miles on it.

 

[mikeru]

The 48v etorque battery isn’t used for powering anything in the truck except the etorque MGU. It sounds like the bed light killed the main 12v battery. Hopefully it will be okay after charging it. The 48v etorque battery should not have been affected by this.

 

[crash68]

Multimeter reads 5.6 volts on the battery terminals.

You have a really dead battery, it's possible that an internal cell failed but let the battery charger run for several hours or even overnight and check the voltage again.

 

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

I needs some serious answers here if anyone has one. I accidentally left my tailgate down yesterday and the bed light was on. When I came out this morning, I had absolutely no power. Couldn't even open the garage with the buttons on the visor. I've been reading about the etorque battery being a real pain. I tried jumping it the traditional way with no results. I've got a battery charger on it now. Multimeter reads 5.6 volts on the battery terminals. I could really use some advice. Truck has 5100 miles on it.

Have it towed to the dealer for repair under the new car warranty.

 

[Burla]

Yeah, don't tell them about the tailgate neither... If the light never gets hot, it's led, and would never drain a battery in a day.

 

[olyelr]

The lights eventually shut off (or are supposed to anyway). How do you know it stayed on?

 

[KeithP]

^^^^this……my guess is your battery has a bad cell. Unfortunate but it happens.

 

[BobH2020]

The 48v etorque battery isn’t used for powering anything in the truck except the etorque MGU. It sounds like the bed light killed the main 12v battery. Hopefully it will be okay after charging it. The 48v etorque battery should not have been affected by this.

When I put a multimeter on the battery, it's reading 6.5 volts. I've disconnected the terminals from the posts and attached a battery charger to the posts. A short time later, the charger begins to click and the "on" LED is flashing. In looking at the Schumacher charger site, it says it may do this if the battery is too dead to charge and the clicking is a relay to keep it from overheating. I'm in a full conundrum on this one.

 

[ibike]

Sounds like your light didn’t shut down like it should. It’s still a warranty issue in my opinion. I leave my tailgate down frequently and have never had a problem. My tailgate is down now and has been down since Friday. Not a doubt in my mind it’ll start Wednesday when I need the truck

 

[Art_in_CO]

That also happened to me with my 2024 when it was only several months old. It wouldn't start - had to use the little manual key to unlock the driver's side door. Had it flat bedded to my dealership. The service manager said I wasn't driving it enough. Then, after I showed him on my app that it had been driven 60 miles 3 times in the past week, he told me "that's what our computer says."

So I went down the the NAPA store a couple miles away and ordered a new AGM Odyssey battery. All electrical is perfect since. My original battery was probably defective.

That's the only issue I've ever had with this truck (knocking on wood......)

 

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

When I put a multimeter on the battery, it's reading 6.5 volts. I've disconnected the terminals from the posts and attached a battery charger to the posts. A short time later, the charger begins to click and the "on" LED is flashing. In looking at the Schumacher charger site, it says it may do this if the battery is too dead to charge and the clicking is a relay to keep it from overheating. I'm in a full conundrum on this one.

Why are you insisting on fixing this issue yourself, when the vehicle is under warranty?

 

[RamCares]

If you decide to have this concern serviced by a dealer, please DM us. We can check for pre-existing documentation and information in order to support you to help prevent this from reoccurring.

Chris,
Ram Cares