2021 1500 eTorque Hemi 5.7 Bighorn
Within 6 months of purchase, would come out and find my truck dead, battery drained. Intermittent, clearly something left on with enough current draw to do this overnight. But (seemingly) everything shut down properly. Suspected computer, etc. Battery was replaced. Same issue would reoccur every 4-6 months. Oddly, sometimes it appeared that the display would come on when it shouldn't. Hence thinking computer issue.
This took a very long time to figure out, but I think it is finally sorted out. I'm pretty confident it has been resolved. It's been a bit since it was fixed, and given the duration between the last presentation of the issue it needed some time to see if it would happen again.
I don't know if this is in the system, or if a notice or some kind of internal issues note is appropriate, but here is what the problem turned out to be:
It was the switch for the glove compartment door!
From what I can tell, the throw on the switch is wrong for the door. What happens is the switch does not open to shut off power to the bulb except in the case where the door is almost completely closed. If the glove compartment door is only very, very slightly open, within the tolerance of the latch basically, the switch does not open and the light stays on, draining the battery.
What needs to happen is for there to be a switch that opens some distance before the plunger is completely depressed, not right at or very close to the limit of the depression. But that switch, and the subsequent replacement, doesn't work that way. And thus the problem.
The problem isn't actually resolved, it's just bypassed. I own the truck now and I may install an on/off switch inline. But given that a replacement switch has the same issue, to prevent the problem I removed the bulb. No bulb = no current to drain the battery even if the switch does not open. Incandescent bulb means enough current draw to drain the battery, when the problem would happen.
I'm not sure if the design of the switch is wrong or they're from a bad batch. But the switch is the problem.
I hope this helps someone, or does in the future.
Within 6 months of purchase, would come out and find my truck dead, battery drained. Intermittent, clearly something left on with enough current draw to do this overnight. But (seemingly) everything shut down properly. Suspected computer, etc. Battery was replaced. Same issue would reoccur every 4-6 months. Oddly, sometimes it appeared that the display would come on when it shouldn't. Hence thinking computer issue.
This took a very long time to figure out, but I think it is finally sorted out. I'm pretty confident it has been resolved. It's been a bit since it was fixed, and given the duration between the last presentation of the issue it needed some time to see if it would happen again.
I don't know if this is in the system, or if a notice or some kind of internal issues note is appropriate, but here is what the problem turned out to be:
It was the switch for the glove compartment door!
From what I can tell, the throw on the switch is wrong for the door. What happens is the switch does not open to shut off power to the bulb except in the case where the door is almost completely closed. If the glove compartment door is only very, very slightly open, within the tolerance of the latch basically, the switch does not open and the light stays on, draining the battery.
What needs to happen is for there to be a switch that opens some distance before the plunger is completely depressed, not right at or very close to the limit of the depression. But that switch, and the subsequent replacement, doesn't work that way. And thus the problem.
The problem isn't actually resolved, it's just bypassed. I own the truck now and I may install an on/off switch inline. But given that a replacement switch has the same issue, to prevent the problem I removed the bulb. No bulb = no current to drain the battery even if the switch does not open. Incandescent bulb means enough current draw to drain the battery, when the problem would happen.
I'm not sure if the design of the switch is wrong or they're from a bad batch. But the switch is the problem.
I hope this helps someone, or does in the future.
