Draconicus Mechanicus
Active Member
Just had power problems about four hours ago during a run into town, just got home with AAA. Going to call FCA about towing it to the local dealer tomorrow after work.
Remote started the truck, grabbed stuff from the house, and got in and left. Got a mile or so down the road when a message on the dash came on, "Battery Saver On Some Systems may have Reduced Power". Didn't know what that meant so I took a photo and carried on with the intent to look into it when I got back home. Pulled up the battery voltage on the dash to keep an eye on it, if it was low I was going to turn around and park it back in the driveway. It read 15.2V while driving, and 14.2-14.3 when start-stop activated at the two traffic lights I got stopped at. It restarted on it's own as normal both times and voltage went back up to the 15V area, nothing acted strange, I thought it was no big deal. Went a couple more miles down the road to the store I was going to, parked, shut off, and opened the door to get out. As soon as I opened the door, all interior power cut off as if the battery suddenly died. No shutdown splash screen like normal, dome lights went out, everything dead. Ignition button does nothing, no locks, no windows, nothing shows on the dash screen or radio, the only sign that there's any electricity at all is the foot well lights still functioning. Battery shows 11.9V on the multimeter, 12V+ if I let it sit disconnected for a bit. Seems to hold pretty steady at 11.99-11.97. Pulled a bunch of fuses and relays with no change or noticeable damage, large fuses all look good, pulled the B+ input to the fuse box and scrapped it off but there was no corrosion, ditto with the battery terminals, everything looked completely fine. Just, no power to anything except the foot well lights. The headlights function if I turn the dial, no warning dinging or any sign of life at all on the dash still. No button backlighting illuminations.
I did have an issue in May, the day my free trial of the app connected services ended. The truck wasn't recognizing the key fobs, and told me such on the dash. I fixed that by leaving the battery unhooked for 45 minutes and putting my battery charger on it, I don't know which of those two things was the solution but I'm wagering it was the battery unhooked part of the deal resetting the RFH. It did the same thing again a few weeks after that but fixed itself by the time I grabbed tools to unhook the battery. Zero issues since. But it's never just completely lost power on me.
I the only modifications I have made besides programming is the ACC upgrade, zero issues from then until now. In June I added a Blackvue DR750X, fuse tapped and set to shutdown at a highish voltage, somewhere in the high 11's IIRC, it's been like that since then and hasn't caused any issues even if I don't touch the truck for days at a time. I commute to work on a motorcycle so the truck really only gets used when I'm transporting something that can't fit in a backpack. I've never had any problems with the truck besides the two times it didn't like the key fobs, and both times it just kinda fixed itself with no dealer intervention. It's never been to the dealer or messed with to any real extent as far as electrical goes, the fuse taps just plug in where the normal fues goes so no cut wires or anything there. Both those fuses look good, I reseated them with no changes. Guess I could try removing the taps and putting new fuses in the slots, see if the blackvue is causing the problems. I would think if the dash cam was internally shorted it wouldn't cause this, as it's on a low amperage fuse, I can't remember if it was 5 or .5 amp, whatever the instructions wanted is what I put in, the passthrough side got the stock 10amp fuses put back in.
I've seen a few others with battery issues very similar if not exactly what I'm having, and the solution being a new 12V battery. I'll let the dealer try that for me as I don't want to buy a new battery and not be able to return it if the problem persists. Right now, I have the battery out and on a charger, I'll leave it there until tomorrow afternoon and see if that changes anything. Whether or not it does, I'm giving the dealership a call and having them look at it, that's what the warranty is for and I'm at 11K miles and owned this truck since November last year, well within the coverage limits. But I'd like to at least be able to roll my drivers window up before it sits at the dealership, as that was down when I parked and can't be rolled up without getting the truck's ignition button to do something. For now, trash bag and tape will do to keep the bugs out, and hopefully the rain that's coming in a few days. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears, otherwise I'll keep y'all updated with any changes and what the dealership says.
Remote started the truck, grabbed stuff from the house, and got in and left. Got a mile or so down the road when a message on the dash came on, "Battery Saver On Some Systems may have Reduced Power". Didn't know what that meant so I took a photo and carried on with the intent to look into it when I got back home. Pulled up the battery voltage on the dash to keep an eye on it, if it was low I was going to turn around and park it back in the driveway. It read 15.2V while driving, and 14.2-14.3 when start-stop activated at the two traffic lights I got stopped at. It restarted on it's own as normal both times and voltage went back up to the 15V area, nothing acted strange, I thought it was no big deal. Went a couple more miles down the road to the store I was going to, parked, shut off, and opened the door to get out. As soon as I opened the door, all interior power cut off as if the battery suddenly died. No shutdown splash screen like normal, dome lights went out, everything dead. Ignition button does nothing, no locks, no windows, nothing shows on the dash screen or radio, the only sign that there's any electricity at all is the foot well lights still functioning. Battery shows 11.9V on the multimeter, 12V+ if I let it sit disconnected for a bit. Seems to hold pretty steady at 11.99-11.97. Pulled a bunch of fuses and relays with no change or noticeable damage, large fuses all look good, pulled the B+ input to the fuse box and scrapped it off but there was no corrosion, ditto with the battery terminals, everything looked completely fine. Just, no power to anything except the foot well lights. The headlights function if I turn the dial, no warning dinging or any sign of life at all on the dash still. No button backlighting illuminations.
I did have an issue in May, the day my free trial of the app connected services ended. The truck wasn't recognizing the key fobs, and told me such on the dash. I fixed that by leaving the battery unhooked for 45 minutes and putting my battery charger on it, I don't know which of those two things was the solution but I'm wagering it was the battery unhooked part of the deal resetting the RFH. It did the same thing again a few weeks after that but fixed itself by the time I grabbed tools to unhook the battery. Zero issues since. But it's never just completely lost power on me.
I the only modifications I have made besides programming is the ACC upgrade, zero issues from then until now. In June I added a Blackvue DR750X, fuse tapped and set to shutdown at a highish voltage, somewhere in the high 11's IIRC, it's been like that since then and hasn't caused any issues even if I don't touch the truck for days at a time. I commute to work on a motorcycle so the truck really only gets used when I'm transporting something that can't fit in a backpack. I've never had any problems with the truck besides the two times it didn't like the key fobs, and both times it just kinda fixed itself with no dealer intervention. It's never been to the dealer or messed with to any real extent as far as electrical goes, the fuse taps just plug in where the normal fues goes so no cut wires or anything there. Both those fuses look good, I reseated them with no changes. Guess I could try removing the taps and putting new fuses in the slots, see if the blackvue is causing the problems. I would think if the dash cam was internally shorted it wouldn't cause this, as it's on a low amperage fuse, I can't remember if it was 5 or .5 amp, whatever the instructions wanted is what I put in, the passthrough side got the stock 10amp fuses put back in.
I've seen a few others with battery issues very similar if not exactly what I'm having, and the solution being a new 12V battery. I'll let the dealer try that for me as I don't want to buy a new battery and not be able to return it if the problem persists. Right now, I have the battery out and on a charger, I'll leave it there until tomorrow afternoon and see if that changes anything. Whether or not it does, I'm giving the dealership a call and having them look at it, that's what the warranty is for and I'm at 11K miles and owned this truck since November last year, well within the coverage limits. But I'd like to at least be able to roll my drivers window up before it sits at the dealership, as that was down when I parked and can't be rolled up without getting the truck's ignition button to do something. For now, trash bag and tape will do to keep the bugs out, and hopefully the rain that's coming in a few days. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears, otherwise I'll keep y'all updated with any changes and what the dealership says.
