Dealership has no idea what’s wrong - Help!

[Vmd2011]

Our truck battery dies constantly. If the truck isn’t turned on/driven it will die completely within 4/5 days.

We’ve gotten 3 new batteries in the last year and this issue continues. We took it to two different dodge dealerships and they ran all electronic the tests, and cannot find anything draining our battery. The alarm also goes off randomly everyday! The dealership basically said there’s not much they can do since they ran all the tests. We have the lifetime warranty and cannot even use it, bc they can’t find the issue. So frustrating.

Has someone been through this? Please help us figure out the issue.. we don’t know what to do.

it’s a 2011 Ram 1500.

 

[crash68]

You'll need a digital multimeter that does DC current. Pull each fuse and jump between the terminals with the meter and read how much current that circuit is drawing. If it shows over a 10-15 ma current draw leave the fuse out. Once you've gone through all the fuses, charge the battery and investigate what circuits you have the fuses out of

 

[KeepRight]

Our truck battery dies constantly. If the truck isn’t turned on/driven it will die completely within 4/5 days.

We’ve gotten 3 new batteries in the last year and this issue continues. We took it to two different dodge dealerships and they ran all electronic the tests, and cannot find anything draining our battery. The alarm also goes off randomly everyday! The dealership basically said there’s not much they can do since they ran all the tests. We have the lifetime warranty and cannot even use it, bc they can’t find the issue. So frustrating.

Has someone been through this? Please help us figure out the issue.. we don’t know what to do.

it’s a 2011 Ram 1500.

I'm sorry for the trouble. This type of thing interests me... It's the fighter jet mech in me.

Obviously, you have a parasite (electric) draining the battery. We could run down the list of items.

Cold weather will drain/damage a battery, esp if not fully charged.

Heat will drain the battery.

Again, I'm sorry for your trouble... If I can help, just ask

 

[OCDTech]

Great tech, great method.

 

[madtrucker2016]

OCDTech very good video for the problem the poster is having .that is why I have a problem I try and look it up on you tube. Good deal hope you helped the guy out

 

[NJMOPAR]

Check the wiring to the underhood light for pinching. Look up under at night to make sure the light is off with the hood closed.

 

[Vmd2011]

Thanks everyone. Before we go out and buy one of these meters and check the fuses... Is it not safe to assume the dealership already did these exact tests?? We’re not good with cars at all.. so I can’t imagine my husband and will be able to figure out the issue if the dealership couldn’t.

 

[tap4154]

Is it a factory alarm, or aftermarket? If it's going off randomly, seems to me something is wrong and it may be the "parasite". Can you disable it? Also if you have a glovebox light, make sure it shuts off when closed. Have heard of the underhood light being stuck on as well.

 

[Vmd2011]

Yes it is the factory alarm..

 

[Vmd2011]

I forgot to mention that this whole thing started after we accidentally left our travel trailer plugged to our truck overnight.. so the trailer lights were on and drained our truck battery. Truck died, but we were able to jump it and all was fine. Then the issues with the alarm started within a week. We replaced the battery twice... issue is still happening.

not sure if the trailer thing is just a coincidence or not, but figured I’d mention it just in case

 

[LeesEvoX]

I forgot to mention that this whole thing started after we accidentally left our travel trailer plugged to our truck overnight.. so the trailer lights were on and drained our truck battery. Truck died, but we were able to jump it and all was fine. Then the issues with the alarm started within a week. We replaced the battery twice... issue is still happening.

not sure if the trailer thing is just a coincidence or not, but figured I’d mention it just in case

Random thought then..
Does the key fob work? Draining the battery that low might have reset the communication with the fob. If the truck appears dead after 4 days. Just see if there is voltage to the battery

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Tach_tech]

You'll need a digital multimeter that does DC current. Pull each fuse and jump between the terminals with the meter and read how much current that circuit is drawing. If it shows over a 10-15 ma current draw leave the fuse out. Once you've gone through all the fuses, charge the battery and investigate what circuits you have the fuses out of

Only issue with pulling the fuse is that if it’s a module staying awake, pulling the fuse can cause the module to reset and it may begin working properly. If you’re going to test at the fuses, you should leave them plugged in and test across the fuse measuring milivolts. I believe the spec is anything above 300mV is a cause for further investigation.

 

[KeepRight]

Thanks everyone. Before we go out and buy one of these meters and check the fuses... Is it not safe to assume the dealership already did these exact tests?? We’re not good with cars at all.. so I can’t imagine my husband and will be able to figure out the issue if the dealership couldn’t.

While you're on to something. I have 35 hard core fighter jet mechanics who work for me. Each of them exp from 10 yrs to 45yrs. All of us miss things. I watch a young guy follow through where the older guy missed. He didn't miss things cause of age... We get tunneled into a troubleshooting mode.

I'd either make a list of possible areas. This is what you'll use to ensure you didn't miss anything.

I won't list them all-

Int lights
Hood lights
Key FOB
ALARM

First - ensure the battery is good, can hold a charge...

Note it takes cars about 5+miles to recharge the battery from it being started. A weak batt can drain on it's own in a couple of days. Esp if it's really cold or really hot outside.

I think many of us are willing to help.

 

[yoda]

Only issue with pulling the fuse is that if it’s a module staying awake, pulling the fuse can cause the module to reset and it may begin working properly. If you’re going to test at the fuses, you should leave them plugged in and test across the fuse measuring milivolts. I believe the spec is anything above 300mV is a cause for further investigation.

Very good advice, and byother posts of yours I can tell you know what your talking about.
No shortage of people on here that go straight to the dealership, stealership bashing, (not too much this thread yet) and by there advice can tell they have no clue what they are talking about.
I cant defend the dealerships in question because I have no idea if they know what they are doing or not. That said if they have done a proper IOD test, (ignition off draw) and it passes less than 30 milliamps. The draw could be intermittent, can be very difficult to diagnose. First you need to catch it doing it.
The random alarm could be a clue

 

[tap4154]

Yes it is the factory alarm..

Do you have the manual for it? It may be that you need to reset the alarm after replacing the battery. Should be a procedure for that, but the dealer should know it too (maybe).

BTW this is why I've NEVER put an alarm on any vehicle I've owned

 

[gofishn]

Everyone makes mistakes, Everyone is fallable, take it to a reputable mechanic, preferably a Electrical Mechanic.
Here , in town, we have a shop that specializes in Electrical Gremlins. Try to find one lie that, near you.

The dealer has doen all he could or is willing, take your pick.
Warranties only pay so much for diagnositic, soemtimes, it takes far longer than that to fidn the issue, thru process of elimination, than the dealer will get paid for doing and no one works for free.

Good Luck

Fuse in is best method to test, btw.
However, it could be something that does not have a fuse for it too.

 

[madtrucker2016]

Check the wiring to the underhood light for pinching. Look up under at night to make sure the light is off with the hood closed.

Some guys on this site have reported that the dash cluster stays on all night with all the headlights and parking lights shut off. You have to wait like one hour and walk back to your truck and peak into the drivers window and see if dash cluster is all lit up .That might be a problem too.

 

[CVX20]

You have warr. you just need an decent dealer.If they don't have a tech that can find a parasitic draw in this day and age they should have their dealership pulled.More than likely the techs don't want to take the time because they know they're going to loose money on the job.Welcome to flatrate.

 

[yoda]

The alarm going off concern could be key, something as simple as a flakey door ajar switch in a door latch would cause the system to keep waking up the modules. you can go into the system with a good scan tool and see what last tripped the alarm. That could give you something to go on

 

[Tach_tech]

Very good advice, and byother posts of yours I can tell you know what your talking about.
No shortage of people on here that go straight to the dealership, stealership bashing, (not too much this thread yet) and by there advice can tell they have no clue what they are talking about.
I cant defend the dealerships in question because I have no idea if they know what they are doing or not. That said if they have done a proper IOD test, (ignition off draw) and it passes less than 30 milliamps. The draw could be intermittent, can be very difficult to diagnose. First you need to catch it doing it.
The random alarm could be a clue

I am a dealer tech. The problem with an intermittent parasitic draw is that unless you can perform the tests when it’s happening all you can do is guess at what’s causing it.

The list of possible causes is a lengthy one. If your alarm is going off at random that’s a good place to start. Wether or not that’s the cause is hard to say, but it’s a problem you can see that should be fixed.