I have the same issues with the battery going dead, from seemingly little things on... while cleaning the car or having it worked on.... Have replaced battery once already, the new one has died 4 times already... Have read other posts about alternator problem. Going to try replacing alternator possibly next month, and the wiring to upgraded ones like another post suggests, although I'm at a loss as to how to find which cables to upgrade to, hopefully my mechanic will know. Also next time I buy a battery, I will buy a battery with more power.

 

we started out having the same issuses. then all the dash lights would come on and it would drain the battery the only way to get them off was to unhook the battery cable. then turn the I O D fuse around to shipping mode so i replaced all the relays turned the I O D back around and we still had the same problems. HELP HELP HELP this has been going on for more then a year wife really not happy
also the car has a really bad wining sound to it thought it was the alteranter but it checked out good changed the serpenteen belt and that didn't help any more thoughts

 

One possible cause of a battery drain is a light left on somewhere in the car. Kids like to play with lights in the car and will fail to turn them off, just like in the house. Or, it could be one in the glove box or trunk that you can't see.
Failing that, there may be a short somewhere. There are some posts here that are not correct about getting a little spark or hooking up a test light between the negative cable and the battery post. Keep in mind that there is ALWAYS a little drain on the battery under normal circumstances. The clock and the receiver for the remote lock/unlock feature are always on and draw a little current. These can be defeated by pulling the IOD (ignition off draw) fuse. The normal range of current draw for these features is about 0.050 amps (50 milliamps). If the draw is more than that, look for a short. You'll need a digital volt-ohmmeter with an ammeter function to measure the current. There will be a small surge at first which should settle down after a very short while to the minimal level (computer booting up). If you have an excess current draw, pull fuses one at a time until it stops, or at least settles down to the minimal number. Once the fault is isolated to a particular circuit, you'll have to track down the short. It could be a faulty component in the circuit. It could be from collision damage if there was come. It could be a wire chafing where it goes through an opening in the sheet metal. It could be lots of things so you'll just have to be patient to track it down. This isn't rocket science but it can be tedious. It's worth it to try it yourself because you don't want to be paying $50 or $100 an hour to have a mechanic do the simple but time-consuming work. Even if you can only isolate it to a particular fuse you will be able to give a mechanic a big head start in finding the problem.
Problems with the dash might require outside help:

Mr. Whizard Technical Services - Instrument Cluster Repair, Speedometer Repair, Odometer Repair and Digital Dash Repair

As for your whining noise, it's virtually impossible to diagnose strange sounds from long distance over the internet. Belt squeal can come from a loose belt. It can also be from a bad belt that sat on the shelf too long and got old and hard before you bought it. Could be a bad bearing in the alternator or power steering pump. These are just guesses.

Also be aware that if your battery is weak, the car's electronics might do weird unpredictable things.

 

That is a very helpful tip to troubleshoot battery drain and shorts.
Thanks.

 

My "battery issue" turned into much more, and most mechanics don't look for it since it's pretty rare.

My alternator is going bad, which i thought but didn't think there was a problem as long as the battery was staying charged. Well it caused the battery to overheat and pop a terminal, and battery acid coming out, all of which the 3 different people I had look at it said no problem, just clean the acid off. But it was dripping down onto my wiring harness which is pretty much toast now.... and so may the body harness be.

So frienly warning, if your battery starts having acid around the terminals, a decent amount (mine was only on pos) check to make sure it's not leaking, also if alternator suspected of going bad, change the battery. Chrysler wants to charge us 6k for the whole job... I'm gonna have to search for used parts. I have a site I got from a nice person here. They are about 250-280 per... so that's a lot of $ difference there....

 

Anyone found the solution to this problem?

My 04 Pac has had the same problem as long as the tread has been going on.

Since I bought it four years ago - After just some minutes with the doors open the battery is too low to start. All features consuming power like headlights staying on after doors locked has been turned off to make it possible to live with. It works every day as long as I am aware of it.

All the time when starting it sounds like the battery is low. After giving it a boost with a charger the starter sounds OK for some starts before it is back to "normal". This indicates that the charging does not work as it should. I have changed the battery three times in three years because it wears out from constant too low tension.
The idling tension on the battery is low, but the charging tension is Ok and well within the spec.
Sometimes there are a little flickering in the lights, but not a lot. I have checked out the power supply to the CPM, known from another tread. It is completely ok. Also all other wiring has been checked out.

I am an electric engineer/generator technician of profession and have 25 years car experience from my extensive car hobby. I have picked the alternator into its smallest pieces two times to examin it, but I just can`t find anything wrong with it! I expected to find a defect diode or something, But no! I have also measured all possible parameters, but no answers. And it does not have to do with draining power leaks!

Once I experienced the problem during summer vacation after being on the road, driving for 28 hours! 10 minutes with the doors open unpacking the car, and it was too low to start.

Just can`t explain it! Anyone else?

One year old the battery is about to die again, leading to other issues. Had It disconnected for charging yesterday. Now - after two starts the break warning light, ABS and TC light came on and stays on. I don`t even have TC!

I am so tired of this. Thinking about changing Alternator anyway just to try something.

Also the heater fan does not turn off anymore. Constantly running on maximum. This started some days earlier. I first thought it might be because of low/erratic tension on the electronic controller, but it`s maybe not related. Planning to check the resistor assy.

 

My daughter's cruiser has a new battery since it was dead one day when she went out to drive. She only drives every few days or so since she lives on campus.
Now with the new battery it's doing the same thing. Took it to a mechanic that said it must think the doors are open. However, no interior lights were staying on. So, we decided to just shut off all interior lights from the dash (which is annoying when getting in at night), that doesn't work. It's still dead after about 2-3 days of not driving it. Its ok if driven daily. We even had the alternator checked. Not that either. What else could it be?
We even get the passenger seatbelt alert coming on for at least the first 10 minutes of every ride. It usually goes off after a while, but one day we were in it for a long time and that came back on. Again the mechanic thought it was more to fix it than it was worth. I just want a car that works. I want to fix it. I don't want to have to wait for a jump. I'm now driving this car since my van is in the shop. Why would I let my 18 year old have it back if it could leave her stranded at night in a college parking lot?
BTW, no we have no 'extras' added to this car. It has the stock radio etc. We even unplugged the chargers in the car thinking maybe it was that. However the radio doesn't stay on the same station if you turn the car off then right back on. I hate this car!

 

I was wrong, it's not the seatbelt light and bell going off, it's the airbag signal....as if it thinks someone is in the seat but not weighing enough. And it happens with or without someone (of any size) in the seat. Probably has nothing to do with the battery. But those are the ONLY issue with the car at all. It has 72k miles.

 

It's not easy to say what the problem is from what you describe. Of course there could be a current drain. That would have to be checked out. But from Your description my best guess would be that the car are being used too little? You don't tell how long trips the car would be used for, when it's being used? And how many days between each trip? is it normally used once or four times a week? Cold weather conditions With heater, defroster and wipers on, or AC? If it's being driven less than 30 minutes a week and several short rather than one long trip this sounds normal. some current drain is normal as some of the Electronics(alarm ++) is alive all the time. It would need a trip of at least half an hour to top up the battery once a week. A New battery would normally not be delivered fully charged. And unless it was, you would have the same issue even With a New battery installed. A solution could be to install a tricle charger to keep the battery topped up, or to take the car for a longer trip once a week With as little Power consumers as possible? You may also have low charging tension(see my follow up to my own problem above), or an intermittend problem With the alternator or charge Control Circuit.
You say the radio change the channel if you switch off the ignition? Does it loose the "memory"? could it be the IOD (ignition off draw) fuse is in wrong position? Yet this would probably have caused Your other problem to disappear if it's caused by normal current Draw.

The airbag problem is not related and a known issue. It could be the occupancy sensor or the belt buckle sensor. Should be diagnosed.

 

It's dead if it sits for 3-4 days without use. And the days it is used length of use varies. Somedays it might be just to the store and back, some days it might be all the way to her school to pick her up for a weekend. She's 45 minutes away. I've never owned a car that couldn't sit (with a new battery) for a few days without draining. And we've had this car nearly a year. It's only been the last couple months it's done this. I live in TX so it's never cold, even in winter. Yes we've had the ac on lately, but we've been turning everything off; interior lights, ac, radio, unplugging chargers etc to try to figure it out. Heck after typing this earlier, I went out to see if the hood had a light, it doesn't. Neither does the glove box. It has 2 overhead lights and a cargo area light. All go out when the door shuts (when they are in the on position on the switch). No running or headlights are on either. Sunday we let it sit running in the driveway for about an hour while we washed it. And we've started twice today without going anywhere. So, it's still starting now since we keep turning it on. But what a pain and waste of gas. We have a trickle charger but last time it was too dead to charge it. Had to use another vehicle to get it running. The radio will revert to satellite when we turn off the vehicle and start it again. But we don't have the service so we just have to change it to radio each time. It does keep the preset stations though. Weird. The battery is about 2 months old. The old battery was beyond dead. We immediately drove the 45 minute drive to our house after we got the new battery from where our daughter lives. Should have been sufficient to charge it fully. Thank you for trying. I think I'm going to have to swallow my 'mechanic's daughter' pride and go to the dealer....which I dread. My Daddy was a car guy. I hate paying more than I should for anything on a car. And this one is not half as bad as my van. I just need to find a better mechanic. I don't have my father to do it anymore.