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2010 Charger Battery Drain

Started by timewbank, November 01, 2016, 12:39:09 PM

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timewbank

I have a 2010 3.5L V6 charger that I have owned since 2011 and driven 90,000 miles without an issue - until now.

About a month ago I went out start the car in the morning and was unable to unlock the car as the battery was dead, so got AAA out to jump start the car.

The next morning the same thing happened and since the car was 6 years old decided that the battery was probably due a change.

That seemed to fix the problem but a week later I came out to start the car and the battery was dead. After jump starting and leaving the car to charge the battery I then took the car to O'Reilly's to have the battery and charging system tested. They confirmed the battery was good but diagnosed a faulty (shorted) diode in the regulator that was draining the battery whilst the car was parked. To solve this they sold me an alternator but when I got home and got the new alternator out of the box it had a label stating that the regulator was external to the alternator, so I took it back and did a little research, which revealed that the regulator was in the PCM. I also confirmed that there was a 1.8 Amp draw on the battery when the car was parked (even with the trunk light removed). I tried pulling every fuse and relay in the trunk and under the hood in turn to isolate the circuit responsible for the draw but none of them reduced it, so I bought a new PCM and got the dealer to flash it at a total cost of about $450. In the meantime I installed a battery isolator so that my Wife could disconnect the battery when she finished driving the car each day whilst I was a away on business.

Once I got back I fitted the new PCM and removed the battery isolator. Everything was OK for a week until the battery drained again! After kicking myself for not testing the drain after fitting the new PCM I decided that it would be best to use the expertise and access to technical data of the dealership to diagnose the problem, which cost me a further $320.

Their recommendation is to replace the alternator and instrument cluster but I have no real confidence in the diagnosis and wonder if anybody else out there has similar experience or is able to offer help.

The write-up from the dealer states "Checked for excessive draw per customer request - found intermittent spike in draw from 10mA to 2-3A. Disconnected PCM: no change. Removed and disconnected cluster. Draw dropped to 8mA and stayed there. CAN plug in either connectors to cluster and can see spikes in current draw. With cluster disconnected; reconnected alternator - saw spike in current draw. Recommend replacing cluster and alternator."

Apart from this not making complete sense I was expecting a more professional approach to fault finding than merely unplugging things, so don't have any confidence in the diagnosis. As an aircraft avionics engineer I am technically literate but lack the documentation to do a more professional diagnosis. Can anyone help?

lukedukem

Sorry to here your having issues with your car, but this site is mainly for older chargers. not to say your question won't get answered, it just might be easier to get an answer from the LX forums.
http://www.lxforums.com/board/

Luke
1969 Charger XP29F9B226768
1981 CJ7 I6 258ci
2016 F150, 5.0, FX4, CC

GOTWING

We had a draw on our 10 Challenger, after a frustrating time, it ended up being the "dealer installed" subwoofer in the trunk. But like they said go to the LX forum you will be able to share issues there. Good luck. :yesnod:

timewbank

Guys, thank you for your help.  I shall try the LX forum as you suggest.