Dealership has no idea what’s wrong - Help!

[tjkoen01]

Check on Amazon for a Bluetooth battery monitor. It records your battery voltage and graphs it on your phone. You’ll be able to see if it is a slow discharge over time or if it is an intermittent load based on the voltage. You can also see if there is a voltage drop before the alarm goes off. They run $30-$40.


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[MikeBrew]

Call the phone number in your manual for corporate. Make them open a case. Follow up with a handwritten letter to corporate. Take names and times and keep calling. If vehicle is new start lemon law procedure.

 

[dude22573]

Buy a clamp style amp meter and clamp it around your batter positive. Start pulling fuses 1 at a time until you find what is drawing a load.

 

[Bearstopper]

I recently noticed my under hood light was burnt out. After replacing that bulb, my battery went dead. The switch is operating correctly and there is no light on when the hood is down but it still kills my battery. I am going to replace the light and go from there. Removing the bulb has temporarily fixed the issue. I would pull the bulb on yours and see if it solves anything for you. It’s worth a shot.

 

[tjkoen01]

Buy a clamp style amp meter and clamp it around your batter positive. Start pulling fuses 1 at a time until you find what is drawing a load.

I have a Fluke 376 (high end DC clamp meter) and it is only ready down to a tenth of an amp, not sure that is enough resolution to pull this off. Also, my truck has more than one lead coming off the battery so it is impossible to get all of them into the clamp. Could rig something up if need be.

This is part of the reason I got the battery monitor. It also monitors crank time to give you a heads up to a weak battery.


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[CYSTemrebel]

I had a similar problem and the diagnosis was alternator failure. New alternator fixed it. That was 113,000 km ago.

 

[anchorsaweigh]

"Oh well" answer from the dealers is unacceptable. You need to elevate this.

 

[george wellburn]

its possible your alternator is fried.

 

[Tach_tech]

I have a Fluke 376 (high end DC clamp meter) and it is only ready down to a tenth of an amp, not sure that is enough resolution to pull this off. Also, my truck has more than one lead coming off the battery so it is impossible to get all of them into the clamp. Could rig something up if need be.

This is part of the reason I got the battery monitor. It also monitors crank time to give you a heads up to a weak battery.


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A normal amp clamp or meter won’t work, they’re not accurate enough in the mA range. They do make amp clamps specifically for reading in the mA range though.

 

[Bob Macknight]

its possible your alternator is fried.

I agree,its possible when you got jumped it fried your alternator,on another note,go into your vehicle settings if you can and change the engine off options to turn off immediately when you shut down

 

[tjkoen01]

A normal amp clamp or meter won’t work, they’re not accurate enough in the mA range. They do make amp clamps specifically for reading in the mA range though.

I also have a Fluke 755 (I think that is the number) it reads 0-20mA, but the clamp won’t fit.


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[CaptOchs]

I had something similar on a different truck. I started looking for clues by seeing what works and what doesn't work. For me it was an Expedition and the rear wiper was frozen because the grease dried up. On a hunch I just kept trying things like door locks, windows, lights, and wipers. I found the rear wiper wasn't moving at all. I went to the back and that motor was hot to the touch. It was still hot even with the truck off.

The trailer plug is a little suspicious since that was when your problems started. Most trucks kill power to the 12v feed if the truck is off so it doesn't kill the battery. If yours is on all the time, try and trace back the +12v wire. If it wasn't routed from the factory people sometimes add them in by tapping into something or running all the way to the battery. I'd look for a fuse and pull that.

 

[Dennis Donvito]

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.

 

[Dennis Donvito]

Sounds similar to the problem we had at the Post Office with the 2003 Caravans. The problem was in the Integrated Power Module. Vin specific Integrated Power Modules were replaced and problems were resolved.

 

[Doba 79]

I have had this happen on 3 different trucks it was the alt draining the batterys . the alt still charged but had a short in the diodes I unhooked the alt for 3 days and hooked it back up and truck started fine changed alt and batteries quit going dead

 

[Marshall]

Not saying every dealer but most dealers sub out the work to other shops because they don't want to tie up a worker for half a day or possible day on this.Also it depends on the dealership. My dealer would most likely sub it out.The shops mechanics bid on the jobs they do so they don't want work like this.

I find this a bit strange, I can see machanics doing jobs that they are better trained for, transmissons, motor , what ever , bidding on a job, My son was the transmission and diesel go to guy. Sounds like the owner could be getting the short end of the stick. Mind you I guess if you all bid on ****** oil changes, I can see maybe you have to farm it out.

 

[CVX20]

Op said in the first post both dealers couldn’t find a draw, so it’s entirely possible that when they perform the draw test that the issue isn’t present at that time.

Ive dealt with that same scenario lots of times. When it’s an intermittent issue you can’t test for a draw the traditional way, unless you can make a seamless break when you hook up your meter. A lot of times disconnecting the battery resets whatever module was causing an issue and now theres no draw.

In those cases it’s better to test mV across the fuses or use a amp clamp capable of measuring mA.

That's why you install an isolation switch between the battery and the cable.You then drive the vehicle using or operating all the options.Back to the shop,connect your meter,open the isolation switch,wait for everything to go to sleep(seen vehicles take over a 1/2 hr)and observe you reading at that point.Hooking the meter before opening the switch keeps everything powered up that could be drawing.A lot of Amp clamps are to bulky to do individual wires so reading mV's at the fuse might be a better option.Never had any issues just pulling fuses to locate the circuit causing the issue.Once you're there it's usually not that hard to nail down.

 

[bskl76]

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 tried reading the whole thread but couldn’t had to go to work. But I don’t think Anyone has mentioned that the fuel pump relay in the tipm for your model year ram truck & few other Chrysler vehicles were known to stay on and drain the battery. It was hard to diagnose because it was intermittent. Anyways hope you figure it out

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Ok this is old School on finding a parasitic draw with the engine off disconnect the Negative battery cable
I use a 12volt circuit tester with a light put the ground connector from your tester on the negative battery cable and put the needle from your tester on the negative battery post and if you have a draw the light will come on the tester open up one of the doors to check this the light will come on when you open the door then off when you close the door, this is saying you might have a hot to ground if the light is on continually.

 

[tron67j]

I posted here once or twice already, but an interesting thing tonight. I'm sitting in my truck in my garage for about 10 minutes and four times I heard distinct switching noises coming from my dash. two of them were around the center and one of them was off on the passenger side. It almost sounds like what a CD sounds like when it loads in a player, but I don't have a CD player in my truck. My door shut there's no key nearby but I've heard it, as I said, a number of times. Anybody ever hear that before, and if so do you know what that is?