Factory battery draining?

[Gardner]

Hi there,

This situation certainly sounds frustrating. Have you considered visiting another dealer for a second opinion? If you choose to go that route or revisit your original dealer for further diagnosis, please feel free to send us a private message. We'd be happy to offer an extra layer of assistance at that time.

Lex
Ram Cares

 

[Gardner]

Thanks.

I only have one Ram dealer in my small town. As a follow up, I'm now at 24000 miles without any more incidents. My plan is to keep on keeping on until the problem repeats itself.




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2019 Bighorn Crew cab, 4x4, 3.21 rear and the usual standard stuff. Build date 11/18.
Options: Delmonico Red, Cloth buckets, level 2 equip package (8.4 in screen and other stuff).
5.7 Hemi, Ram SS running boards and an after market American tonneau fabric cover.

 

[RamCares]

Thanks.

I only have one Ram dealer in my small town. As a follow up, I'm now at 24000 miles without any more incidents. My plan is to keep on keeping on until the problem repeats itself.




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2019 Bighorn Crew cab, 4x4, 3.21 rear and the usual standard stuff. Build date 11/18.
Options: Delmonico Red, Cloth buckets, level 2 equip package (8.4 in screen and other stuff).
5.7 Hemi, Ram SS running boards and an after market American tonneau fabric cover.

Understood. We are glad to hear that you have not experienced this issue again. If you end up running into further concern or need any assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team via private message.

Lex
Ram Cares

 

[bvigne01]

Yea. I have a 20 longhorn and am on my 2nd battery replacement. So the 3rd battery that’s been in the truck. my old 4th gen truck I could let sit a week or more with no problems. This truck if it’s going to sit longer than the weekend I put it on a trickle charger

 

[Tidewater Ram]

My 21 Limited eTorque battery died twice a few months ago so I replaced it with an Optima. Two days ago it died again. Dealer said they think the problem is with the PCM needing multiple updated. Everything including the eTorque recall is now up to speed so we’ll see what happens. Meantime i’ll carry a portable jump starter just in case.

 

[rws1944]

There are lengthily threads on this forum about oem batteries, all not very good. I commented before about my 2019 1500 battery. I finally replaced the factory H7 with an Interstate H8 AGM and have had no issues since. The battery tray is sized to H8 and all that is needed is to remove the spacer. Save your self from all the uncertainty of the OEM battery and simply replace it with a H8 AGM.

 

[Purduegranite]

2019 Bighorn, replaced OEM battery 2 weeks ago. Drove it normal as our other car just got tboned. Drove it over the weekend to help family move. Wife goes out today to drive it. Dead. Checked the battery 4.5V. Use a jumper with boost and it starts. Start to think it is alternator as V crept down while idling. But still tolerable. Come back out to disconnect ground and see what draw is in it while it just sits. Dead again...keep in mind this was maybe 4 hours between. Check it and there is a pull. But it doesn't seem high enough to drain it. Nothing has changed recently so it doesn't make sense. Nothing plugged in to USB, doors closed. Both times truck was unlocked when we went to start it. Not sure if that is standard but we always lock out vehicles.

 

[Purduegranite]

Couldn't find the culprit this morning after an hour. Tried the charger I have and barely got the battery higher, need a higher amperage charger. Tried to use the jump box I have and it wouldn't start after 3 tries. Used roadside and they towed it to a dealer. New alternator arrived after the fact but I don't think that is the issue. Will have to wait 11 days until our appointment or get lucky and they work it in. Meanwhile down to 0 cars due to accident and waiting for new car to get to dealer.

 

[larry329]

I have a 2019 Ram 1500 limited with all the electronics. Less than 2 years ago I had the battery replaced under warranty. Now fast forward almost 2 years and I am having issues once again. The dealership supposedly checked it and said it was good. I have had to jump it twice is the last 2 days. I spend quite a bit of time in it as it is my office, I am an inspector. I have all the dome lights off and I have to turn my headlights off and turn the radio off before turning off the ignition. I also try to rememeber to open the door for the retractable running boards before turning the motor off. I can not keep the door open or the tail light and cargo light will drain the battery. I will start it quite often as I am getting in and out of it quite frequently.
So I monitor the battery throughout the day. My battery seems to be tip top in morning at 14.5-14.7 volts. I lock my doors at night, every night. Possibly all electronics go to sleep at night with the door locked? Throughout the day that number will drop and usually be around 13.5-13.7 volts on the drive home. I am sure the alternator is doing its job. Why does it continue to drain through the day, but seem to be in great shape in the morning?

 

[SD Rebel]

Sounds like you maybe have a ground issue or something else big draining. Our trucks are designed to shut off interior lights after 10 minutes should they be left on, but they don't stop the discharge of something else.

There are quite a few tutorials on YouTube that show how you can chase down a power drain by checking the breaker boxes. I would do that first than have your truck sit for days or weeks having the RAM dealership try to figure it out. Bringing it to them after you figure it out if it needs warranty work. I know they should do it, but we know the reality of our service departments isn't always prompt or accurate. This is one job you may want to tackle instead of them, at least initially.

 

[larry329]

Sounds like you maybe have a ground issue or something else big draining. Our trucks are designed to shut off interior lights after 10 minutes should they be left on, but they don't stop the discharge of something else.

There are quite a few tutorials on YouTube that show how you can chase down a power drain by checking the breaker boxes. I would do that first than have your truck sit for days or weeks having the RAM dealership try to figure it out. Brining it to them after you figure it out if it needs warranty work. I know they should do it, but we know the reality of our service departments isn't always prompt or accurate. This is one job you may want to tackle instead of them, at least initially.

SD Rebel, Thanks for the response. Yeah I have seen the videos and maybe I will give that a try. If I could find the issue, it should be covered by my extended warranty. My truck is supposed to go in the shop here in the next couple weeks anyway. That would be 4 birds with 1 stone!! LOL

 

[jjclonghorn21]

I have a 2021 longhorn limited. I have been having the dead battery issue for the last 8k miles. I now have just over 28k. I also have the ram box option. They keep opening up randomly. There have been a couple of trouble shooting bulletins on this problem. The bulletins indicate the connectors are letting moisture in therefore causing the ram box lids to open.
I think that these connectors are also causing the battery drain as the last two times my battery went dead, I had run the truck through the car wash. It is going in the shop tomorrow for the ram box opening again. I will add the battery drain issue (again) for them to troubleshoot. I am not confident that they will resolve it as I did the research to find the TSB's on this forum. The technician also said there was an issue with the back window leaking and causing electrical issues, not sure if that is my issue. I also posted this in the troubleshoot battery drain link above.

 

[jjclonghorn21]

Well the ninth trip to the dealer may be the charm. The technician found a wire inside the ram box door panel that had the insulation scraped off and was touching things it should not touch, He replaced the door panel. The battery was no longer draining and my driver side panel did not open on the drive home. Time will tell.

 

[steveo18]

This may have been mentioned before, but it is worth mentioning again. Recently my 2020 Laramie has had a few instances where it would not start, 6 days apart. The first time it was a rough start followed by nothing. I used a power brick and it started and all codes eventually went away. The second time it was a hard start followed by nothing. first jump did not work, battery read 8 volts. Waited and second time it started and got me home. Charged over night and once the charger was removed the battery began discharging immediately. Charged again and reseated every fuse in the interior and exterior fuse box. 80% were not seated all the way. After this voltage rebounded to 12.48 volts and is holding steady.

 

[MarkHodges]

I have a 2022....my truck is now in the dealer for the 3rd time for battery, no start issue.
First time, battery had 8 CCA instead of 800 so they replaced the battery. they blamed it on cold weather.
Next time it died it got towed in, when it was warm out....they found a ton of undervoltage codes and a ton of other transmission codes all covered under TSB's. They flashed all 3 major components and tested battery and it started fine.
Today I was at my cabin and after 4 days of sitting, opened truck door and all I heard was a single ding....my heart sank as I knew exactly WTF that meant. Tried to start..nothing.
Hooked my new Battery booster to the truck and it started throwing service needed codes for everything. Tried to start and it would crank but not start. After 2 tries of starting, my booster was absolutely drained. Exactly what happened with my old booster too (so I thought it was my booster..apparently not).

Now my truck is stuck 4.5 hours from me at a dealer as I had to come back to the city for work. Luckily my wife's vehicle was with us...it's been sitting for 3 weeks at the cabin and started just fine...sigh...

The only good thing is the tow cost them a pretty penny because the closest towing company was 45 minutes to me, 30 minutes to nearest dealer, and then 60 minutes back so I am sure that wasn't cheap for FCA I get some small satisfaction out of that.

I figure a few more times of that and someone is going to start to pay attention to the problem....