another dead battery story

2275 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by DESIREE, Nov 23, 2005

jmk

Discussion Starter · Nov 21, 2005

Left town on Saturday and wife calls me on Sunday saying she tried to start the SRT8 but the battery was dead. I got back Sunday afternoon and there was just enough juice in the battery to make the instrument panel lights flicker - not even a dome light. Put the charger on it for 10 hours overnight and in the morning the starter was barely able to crank the engine over, but it did start. Since it was started I ran it over to the dealer. They measured an 800 milliamp draw on the battery with the ignition off, but it went away after they opened and closed all the doors. The service manager speculates that it might have been a door switch stuck - but not enough to engage the dome light. Sounds quite speculative....

Anyway, their check on the battery indicated no problem there, I drove off...

Now I wait and see if it happens again.

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jmk

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 22, 2005

I took all your advice and left the rear seats down and checked for a light after the car was parked. No light, no evidence of any peculiar electrical activity. Got to work and then decided to go out and check the car again. Went into the EVIC diagnostic mode - battery voltage read 10.8. Not good. Car barely cranked over - but did start. Drove directly to the dealer again. He puts on his battery diagnotic tester - which diagnosed to replace the battery. Half hour later, back on the road again. Faulty battery after 8 months and 7000 miles. Hopefully this is the end of it and not some other electrical gremlin.

I have had the worst luck with factory batteries. If I get a year out of them I count myself lucky.

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jmk

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 22, 2005

Thats a handy little chart there for battery charge condition. The EVIC display reads out about 14v when the car is running. I will keep an eye on the battery voltage after it sits for a while. It is easier to read the battery voltage by dropping into the EVIC diagnostic display when the car is not running than by popping the hood or trunk and hooking up my multimeter.

Who knows, there may really be a small intermittent current drain on the system and the battery failing may be the effect rather than the cause.

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