2006 pacifica
 

In 2007 my dad bought a 2006 Pacifica with about 16K miles. Currently it has 23k miles. I went out of town for 45 days and when I came back the battery was dead. I had forgotten to take off the cables on other occasions and even when I was gone for up to 3 months when I came back the car always started. So I bought a battery charger and charged it to full. I used the car and the next week when I tried to start same thing happened. So I charged the battery again and used the car. Then the next week when I tried to use the car again same thing happened, just get a little noise when I try to crank the engine. So I charged the battery again but this time the car won't start with the full battery. When I put the cables back on the battery the cd changer in the car starts to make noise and blink orange lights for several seconds then it stops. WHen I put the key in and turn on without cranking engine the AC turns on and the lights on dashboard turn on. But engine wont start. I dont think battery is problem since it says "full" on the charger and their is no troubleshooting symbol which would otherwise show if battery is damaged. Prior to all this the battery had never been charged or given problems. Please help with any info or tell me if there's a way that I can at least turn the car on to take to the dealer that's about 2 miles away. I dont wanna have to call a tow truck. Thanks!

Johnny

You may have a short or perhaps there's a light on in the glove box or something like that drawing the battery down. You should check for current draw with everything shut down. It should be in the range of perhaps 0.050 amps. This is the current needed to run the clock and the remote keyless entry receiver. If it's more than that, you'll need to determine what the problem is. You can narrow down the problem by pulling fuses one at a time to see which circuit is drawing juice when it shouldn't.

Your battery may be suspect. You can pull it out and drive it to a battery store for testing without towing the car if you have access to another set of wheels.

You can jump start the car to get it in for service.

I had to change the battery recently. the outdoor temp went down and the car wouldn't start. it would just click repeatedly. all the dash lights would turn on and the radio would play.

it turns out that even if the battery has juice, it may not generate enough amps to start the engine.

Thanks! It was the battery, it turned out that when my dad bought the car they sold it to him with a "junkyard" battery and not an original Mopar. I bought a new one and everything works ok now.


Johnny