Been good! Till now..

[GoMango16]

Maybe the a/c compressor seizing put too heavy of a draw on a weak battery, it shorted one of the cells out and it's just now showing up...

 

[jdmartin]

This helps you in no way, but a funny story about shorts: when I was in the Navy years ago I had a 79 Olds Delta 88. It had a massive short in it somewhere, so bad that if you left the battery hooked up and went into a store or something for 15 minutes it was too run down to start. I got super efficient at popping the hood every time I stopped the vehicle and pulling the positive battery cable. You might wonder why I didn't try to fix it - this car was wayyy too far gone to spend any money or effort fixing. It leaked oil and burned oil simultaneously so bad that I had to add a quart every time I went somewhere. It smoked so bad it looked like it was on fire. It would leak a couple of quarts out overnight. I used to keep a case of oil in the trunk, and then got tired of buying it so had my buddies save their oil when they changed it and I would use that.

I got the car for free

 

[Jako]

This helps you in no way, but a funny story about shorts: when I was in the Navy years ago I had a 79 Olds Delta 88. It had a massive short in it somewhere, so bad that if you left the battery hooked up and went into a store or something for 15 minutes it was too run down to start. I got super efficient at popping the hood every time I stopped the vehicle and pulling the positive battery cable. You might wonder why I didn't try to fix it - this car was wayyy too far gone to spend any money or effort fixing. It leaked oil and burned oil simultaneously so bad that I had to add a quart every time I went somewhere. It smoked so bad it looked like it was on fire. It would leak a couple of quarts out overnight. I used to keep a case of oil in the trunk, and then got tired of buying it so had my buddies save their oil when they changed it and I would use that.

I got the car for free

Reminds me of my younger years. 1962 Chevy Biscayne going over a tight bridge with a bad steering box, among many others. Chevy was my brothers and was a freebie.

 

[Willwork4truck]

This helps you in no way, but a funny story about shorts: when I was in the Navy years ago I had a 79 Olds Delta 88. It had a massive short in it somewhere, so bad that if you left the battery hooked up and went into a store or something for 15 minutes it was too run down to start. I got super efficient at popping the hood every time I stopped the vehicle and pulling the positive battery cable. You might wonder why I didn't try to fix it - this car was wayyy too far gone to spend any money or effort fixing. It leaked oil and burned oil simultaneously so bad that I had to add a quart every time I went somewhere. It smoked so bad it looked like it was on fire. It would leak a couple of quarts out overnight. I used to keep a case of oil in the trunk, and then got tired of buying it so had my buddies save their oil when they changed it and I would use that.

I got the car for free

I worked at a Shell gas station as a college kid in 1974, one day a guy pulled up and asked if he could get some oil out of the “drip can” there on the pump island. Everything liquid went in there, ATF, Oil, coolant... So I said sure, and he poured a couple-three qts worth into his old heap’s engine then droving off, fogging the area mosquitos...

 

[Jako]

I worked at a Shell gas station as a college kid in 1974, one day a guy pulled up and asked if he could get some oil out of the “drip can” there on the pump island. Everything liquid went in there, ATF, Oil, coolant... So I said sure, and he poured a couple-three qts worth into his old heap’s engine then droving off, fogging the area mosquitos...

My 94 Ford explorer has a vacuum diaphragm on the transmission. When it went bad the vacuum sucked transmission fluid out and put the tranny fluid in the engine, tranny fluid down/oil level up. That was a head scratcher for a while. Didn't seem to do any damage from what I could tell.
When the mechanic replaced the vacuum diaphragm he left the pin out. That created a problem until it was diagnosed and repaired.
Now on really hot days it will puke all the tranny fluid out. Still haven't figured that out, it has 4 wheel drive and is used primarily in the winter.
So nice to have the Ram!

 

[Willwork4truck]

This could be way off but on a competing RAM forum (ramforum.com)there’s this post in the thread of “truck won’t start”.
‘Hope this helps...my 2019 RAM 1500 Laramie Longhorn suffered numerous dead battery events and it took nearly a year to get to the bottom of it. My dealer replaced the battery, the battery sensor (located on the +pos terminal) the electronic steering rack which has a sensor that can drain the battery and my 12" uConnect radio. After all of this my truck is running very well and can be parked for weeks at a time without battery drain. Ask your dealer about the steering rack and battery sensor.‘

 

[jdmartin]

I worked at a Shell gas station as a college kid in 1974, one day a guy pulled up and asked if he could get some oil out of the “drip can” there on the pump island. Everything liquid went in there, ATF, Oil, coolant... So I said sure, and he poured a couple-three qts worth into his old heap’s engine then droving off, fogging the area mosquitos...

LOL.

I forgot to add the Paul Harvey "Rest of the Story" on that story.

I was getting transferred from Norfolk to Staten Island with my ship. I was about 6 months from the end of my enlistment and had a truck so I decided I was going to abandon the Delta 88 in long term parking before we left. I parked it way in the back, popped the hood and unhooked the battery cable, left the old windshield wiper bottles full of used oil in the trunk and left the keys in the ignition. Then I got my truck and drove to Staten Island. About 3 months later we were sent to Mayport to cruise the reservists for 2 weeks. We stopped in Norfolk for resupply for 2 days and I decided to walk out to long term parking. Car was still sitting there, keys still in the ignition. I opened the trunk and poured a gallon of oil in the crankcase and hooked up the battery cable and the damned thing started up on the 2nd or 3rd try! So I was the only guy on the ship to have wheels for 2 days while we were in Norfolk, so me and my buddies used it to bar hop the whole time. The end of 2nd night I wrote out a bill of sale on a napkin for a buddy of mine that was getting processed out with a bad back, for $1, and gave him the keys. He later reported he drove it all the way, non-stop, with his wife from Norfolk to Alabama. Parked it in his parent's driveway and it never started again even with a new battery

 

[too.many.tacos]

Day 3 at the dealership. They told me yesterday there is something definitely draining the battery. They keep reiterating that it may be an aftermarket item doing this. Still no answers.

I have an iPhone cable plugged in to the dash for my iPad and a 12v usb into to top plug for my phone. All go off with the key. There is a wire from the battery that goes to my shell that I pulled the fuse on while initially testing myself so no juice there. I’m losing my confidence in this dealer. @RamCares


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[airgas1998]

easy to blame the mods when they don't have an f'ing clue...

 

[RamCares]

Day 3 at the dealership. They told me yesterday there is something definitely draining the battery. They keep reiterating that it may be an aftermarket item doing this. Still no answers.

I have an iPhone cable plugged in to the dash for my iPad and a 12v usb into to top plug for my phone. All go off with the key. There is a wire from the battery that goes to my shell that I pulled the fuse on while initially testing myself so no juice there. I’m losing my confidence in this dealer. @RamCares


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Hi @too.many.tacos - Would you mind following up with us via private message to provide your VIN and contact information? I would like to escalate a case on your behalf to a specialist who can provide you and your dealer with an additional layer of support!

Mark
RamCares

 

[too.many.tacos]

Messaged. Thank you.


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[Memphsi87]

My glove box light goes out with no problems. Just weird that I go from a fully charged battery to 9 ish volts in a matter of 2-3 minutes. It’s gotta be something big.


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if it’s dropping to 9 volts that fast you have to have a bad cell in that battery. Theirs 6 plates in a battery that should all rest at 2.1v-2.2v, equaling about 12.6 to 13.1v resting off a 24 hr charge. I would suggest taking the battery out if you can and seeing what it rests at after it’s been charged and rest it for 24 hours. Once you start dropping below 10.8-11volts you start risking damaging the plates in the battery.

 

[too.many.tacos]

UPDATE:

I received a prompt phone call from the dealer once @RamCares got involved.

They explained to me that the radio (12” UC) and the USB ports were pulling amps long after they key was off. Somehow they retested the battery and found that it was bad. (Interesting, but I’ll go with it for now) They put in a new battery last night and the truck started fine this morning.

90 seconds later I got a phone call from Ram Cares which is awesome. They stated that they had spoken with the dealer and explained to me what was going on and if there were any more issues going forward with this same problem to call them back.

Fingers crossed fellas.


Side note: If the stereo setup is constantly on, shouldn’t I upgrade the battery to something more capable of handling it? (ie: Deep cycle)?

I’ll keep everyone posted on what happens.


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[Memphsi87]

UPDATE:

I received a prompt phone call from the dealer once @RamCares got involved.

They explained to me that the radio (12” UC) and the USB ports were pulling amps long after they key was off. Somehow they retested the battery and found that it was bad. (Interesting, but I’ll go with it for now) They put in a new battery last night and the truck started fine this morning.

90 seconds later I got a phone call from Ram Cares which is awesome. They stated that they had spoken with the dealer and explained to me what was going on and if there were any more issues going forward with this same problem to call them back.

Fingers crossed fellas.


Side note: If the stereo setup is constantly on, shouldn’t I upgrade the battery to something more capable of handling it? (ie: Deep cycle)?

I’ll keep everyone posted on what happens.


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Are they just replacing the battery or something else as well? As far as a better battery, nothing will help if they don’t fix the main cause of it. You’ll keep going through batteries. Just stick to an AGM battery and that will be your best bet.

 

[too.many.tacos]

Are they just replacing the battery or something else as well? As far as a better battery, nothing will help if they don’t fix the main cause of it. You’ll keep going through batteries. Just stick to an AGM battery and that will be your best bet.

As far as I know it was just a battery swap with OEM. I’m 1.5hrs from the dealer headed there now. We will see.


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[RamCares]

Messaged. Thank you.


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Thank you again for taking the time to follow up with me on this!

Mark
RamCares

 

[Memphsi87]

As far as I know it was just a battery swap with OEM. I’m 1.5hrs from the dealer headed there now. We will see.


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I wonder if the battery was so bad it wasn’t letting the truck do it’s shutdown process correctly, leaving some circuits open Causing the drain.