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Bad Battery Issues

40K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  mikesha 
#1 ·
Did anyone ever have their clock on the radio lose time? For the first time since I've owned the car the clock had to be reset. It's just like someone disconnected the car's battery but this wasn't the case. It was parked at work for the day. I've already checked the battery cables and all appears to be okay.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Well, ready to leave for work this morning and the cars radio clock again lost it's time. Then went to try and start the car and got the usual low battery starter clicking sound. Luckily I have the Neon and off to work I went.

Got back home and did more testing and found 11.7v at the battery. I then used my jumpstart battery pack and it started the car. Read the charging volts with my scangauge and saw 13.7v. So I assume the charging system is okay.

Tomorrow I'll be getting a new battery and hopefully that's the problem. BTW, I found out that these cars has a german style battery. It has a lower height profile than the typical american style battery, and more costly.
 
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#5 ·
this is one thing i need to remember to do is load test my battery when im at work one of these days..

Definitely need to do it before winter here lol
 
#6 ·
Car has been running great since replacing the battery. I will stress this more than any other car I've owned but to have this car's battery load test checked. I believe like any other new car out there dependent on electronics that a healthy battery is very important.

Maybe request to have the mods to retitle this thread to "Bad Battery Issues" and sticky it. I feel it will help a whole lot of others out there before they start replacing parts or paying for dealer/repair shop visits.
 
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#8 ·
I just came on here to post up my battery issue and then i saw this thread...alright well i went out to start my car last week and everything was dead..interior lights wouldnt go on or anything, so i jumped it and took it to my friends shop to get a new battery..i got a new one..and i drove the car that day, ran great..i didnt drive it the 2nd day at all..and i went out the following day and the car is dead again with the brand new battery..so i jumped it and took it back to his shop..he ran a diagnostic test..and the battery is fine..but he found that there is something drawing from the battery so much after the car is off and the key is out, that if i were to not drive it for a few hours..the battery would die..which is what is happening..so while he had his machiene hooked up to view the draw, he started pulling fuses to see where the draw is coming from..None of them changed anything..which apparently didnt make sense to him..and im not good with electric so yeah, i dunno..anyways..he printed out my data report paper and such and told me to bring it to the dealership and maybe they can find the issue..we also disconnected my gauges to see if that was drawing the power..but it wasnt the issue..any ideas? anything would be better than driving with a jump box in the trunk...and i really really hate the dealer after they screwed me last time..
 
#9 ·
2 weeks after i bought my car this happened. it was a simple fix if its the same problem. under the hood in the fuse box their should be a couple fuses in white plastic(hard to explain if you need a pic i can get one)they pop out and bounce around. i only had to fix this twice since i got the car.
 
#11 ·
I'm really not sure if I have a battery issue or an alternator issue. I have a 2007 Caliber SE that I bought at the end of June 2006. It's been a pretty good car and I really can't complain. However, earlier today, I was getting into my car after Church and as I put my key in the ignition, I noticed that the odometer didn't even come on. I turned the key and got nothing but clicking. Even after I took the key out, I could still hear some kind of soft clicking. My dad came and hooked up the jumper cables and it wouldn't start on the first try, but it did on the second try. We drove over to Auto Zone and had the battery tested, but not before I stupidly shut the engine off. The guy asked me to start it and it wouldn't start. He checked the battery with it off and it said the battery was bad. My dad had the guy get a battery to hook up to mine so it would start to test it out that way, and it took three or four tries to get it started. Then, once it was started and idled for a bit, the engine just died. We jumped it again and it even sounded like it didn't want to stay running as the guy was testing it. He said the alternator seemed to be failing. We went in to get a price on an alternator and found out that a new alternator will cost me $300. Then, a thought came to mind, I have almost 94,000 miles on my car and it's still under the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. So one question running through my mind is, is the alternator covered under the powertrain warranty? Since, it's a Sunday, I have no options as far as calling the dealership or Dodge for that matter to get that question answered. I've read other posts on a thread for the battery draining, but I don't have power locks or windows. The really strange thing is that each time I had to have the car jumped, one and only one of my radio preset stations was reset or something because it wasn't on the station I had it on. But all the other presets were what they usually are. Oh and I think I had to turn the radio back on every time I had my car jumped too. It's very strange and being unemployed and working only part time, I don't have a lot of money to throw at the dealership. I'm hoping I can get it fixed under the powertrain warranty, but that would be too easy. Any advice or knowledge on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for being longwinded.
 
#12 ·
Dont quote me on this, but im pretty sure the alternator is not covered under the powertrain warranty.
 
#17 ·
Well, I kind of figured as much. That stuff should be covered because you definitely need power from the alternator and battery to drive the car. Thanks for your input, though.

[edited by staff]

Depends which powertrain warranty you have. There's different plans available so you need to check which one you selected. I have the Added Care Powertrain Warranty which does cover electrical repairs.
Would that have cost extra, though? I'm really not sure what I got; I'm going to call the dealership in the morning, though. It's funny, I thought they were supposed to give you a copy of your warranty information when you buy a car. However, I checked my glove box and found no such papers. I may end up having a friend just replace the alternator for me; I really don't want to risk any extra money on the dealership. I had an acceleration issue last year and they charged me close to $300 to clean the throttle body and that still didn't seem to fix the problem; it seemed to go away on it's own. It taught me to not trust a Toyota dealership with my car (it used to be Toyota and Dodge, but Dodge pulled out in Feb or March of last year). Now the whole company is shady. Thanks for your input, though, I'll definitely ask when I call in the morning.
 
#15 ·
Can't you find a place that sells remanufactured alternators.
If you can you can probably get it for more than half the price of a new alternator.
 
#16 ·
I really don't know. What kind of places sell remanufactured alternators? Plus, would it last as long as a new one? I live near St. Louis and while I can navigate my way around an autoparts store, I don't know a thing about remanufactured parts unless they are sold in an O'Reilly's, Advance Auto Parts, or wherever.
 
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