Battery issue or no?

[MrEricHiggins]

Curious to hear your thoughts or wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. My truck is a 2021 1500 eTorque, it has 33,5xx miles on it and I’ve had it under 3 years. It’s still under factory warranty.

I woke up this morning and my truck wouldn’t start. It tried cranking but the battery did not have enough to start it up. Knowing that the battery is covered for 3 yrs/36k miles, I jump started it (CEL came on) and took it in to the dealership.

They told me that they had to run a 4 hour test on the battery and it is coming back as good as they think there is a power draw coming from somewhere and that’s why my truck wouldn’t start. Nothing was left of and nothing was left plugged in. They said they can run an electrical test but they noticed it have aftermarket headlights (Morimoto XB) and fog flights (Diode Dynamics SS3) and say that if they determine it’s coming from that, I’ll be charged the $650 electrical test fee. I’ve had both sets of lights for well over 2 years and never had an issue, especially since they are plug and play and work when the truck tells them to work.

Do you think I have anything to worry about with the lights? (I don’t) Do you think there is a legitimate power draw that can be coming from somewhere? Or do you think they are trying to get out of replacing the battery while making money on a test?

Thanks in advance

 

[Eighty]

Lights don’t just suck power magically. Either the truck provides them power or it doesn’t. The only reason I can think that they’d say that is if there’s a wiring oddity that is shorting power somewhere.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Might have just been a fluke. My truck did that one time within fist year I had it. Hooked up a battery charger and the charger said the battery was bad. Scheduled appointment with dealer a d jump started it to get to dealer. Got the same thing they said battery tested goodz charges it up and sent me on my way. Three years later, and I finally replaced the factory battery with an H8 AGM, only because I noticed the battery wasnt holding as good of a charge as new, and the charging voltage while driving never dropped from 14.7.

 

[go-ram]

My experience was similar to HSKR R/T's, except I am still on the original factory battery. I am guessing that maybe during or after an over-the-air update the 12" screen stayed on or something like that.
.
When I picked mine up from the dealer after the battery test, the tech suggested a battery tender, because I can go a full month without driving my truck. I decided to go with the tech's suggestion, bought a Noco Genius 10 (combination battery charger & battery tender). Have had zero problems since. I also carry a Noco GBX75 Li-ion jump-starter in the truck at all times as extra insurance (that's what the Ram Roadside Service tow-truck driver used to get mine going when the battery was dead).

 

[Jeremys1978]

Having similar issues. 23 1500 Lonestar V8 4x4 eTorque 20k. Dec 23 went to crank it and the battery was completely drained. Put a meter on it and it was reading 3.5v. Jumped it and drove it the rest of that weekend without issues. Scheduled an appt at local Ram dealership the Tuesday after Christmas. They checked and said everything was working fine and if I had any more issues to bring it back. Then this morning went to auto start it, and it was dead again. Not as bad as last time, the truck still unlocked from the key fob. Didn't get a chance to meter it cause I was running late to work. It was charging around 14v the ride in and once I got to work I turned the truck off, checked the battery from the dash and it was reading 12.8v. No point in taking it to the dealership, they will just say everything is reading fine and charge me again without resolving anything, smh. Couple of things to note, never had any issues with the truck till this. They did the 08A recall update on Dec 14th which I believe they reprogrammed the PCM. Both mornings it has died has been colder ( for my area ). The 23rd it had been in upper 20's during the night for a few nights in a row, then had a warmer spell until this morning when it was 34. I ordered a blue tooth BMS from amazon that will be here tomorrow. Gonna try to monitor the battery and see if I can tell what is going on.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Having similar issues. 23 1500 Lonestar V8 4x4 eTorque 20k. Dec 23 went to crank it and the battery was completely drained. Put a meter on it and it was reading 3.5v. Jumped it and drove it the rest of that weekend without issues. Scheduled an appt at local Ram dealership the Tuesday after Christmas. They checked and said everything was working fine and if I had any more issues to bring it back. Then this morning went to auto start it, and it was dead again. Not as bad as last time, the truck still unlocked from the key fob. Didn't get a chance to meter it cause I was running late to work. It was charging around 14v the ride in and once I got to work I turned the truck off, checked the battery from the dash and it was reading 12.8v. No point in taking it to the dealership, they will just say everything is reading fine and charge me again without resolving anything, smh. Couple of things to note, never had any issues with the truck till this. They did the 08A recall update on Dec 14th which I believe they reprogrammed the PCM. Both mornings it has died has been colder ( for my area ). The 23rd it had been in upper 20's during the night for a few nights in a row, then had a warmer spell until this morning when it was 34. I ordered a blue tooth BMS from amazon that will be here tomorrow. Gonna try to monitor the battery and see if I can tell what is going on.

Take battery out and take it to a parts store and have them test the battery. To properly test it, it needs to be out of the vehicle.

Another thing is unhook negative terminal, connect your meter between cable and battery to measure amp draw. Let it sit for at least an hour, leave key in the house and come back out and see what the amp draw is with truck off

 

[Richard320]

Check the nuts on the cables attached to the power distribution center. There have been a few posts about them coming loose and killing everything.

 

[Jeremys1978]

I really appreciate the advise.