Hello all. I need your help. I own a 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan that ends up with a dead battery after being turned off for a while. The car stayed over night at the dealership and had all the tests know to man done. Would you believe they could not find why or what is draining the battery. I've had it with this car and seriously considering trading for something else. I've had to replace the engine mounts and the alternator. This car is only 5 years old. Any advise would be appreciated thank you. By the way this car does not have an FSM the mechanics at the dealership checked.

 

Did "all the tests known to man" include disconnecting/removing the battery and checking if it still discharges, or replacing your battery with a known good one and checking if that battery discharges? I would think it would also be a fairly simple test to see if there is a load on the battery that shouldn't be there when the engine and all accessories are off.

If indeed it is a problem with your car and not the battery, you probably have a wire short that could be anywhere. If you don't have any other problems like a check engine light or any other dashboard light, I'd guess it was in an accessory or lighting system.

Good luck.

 

Was the dealership at least able to confirm that the battery had drained? Did they give any specifics regarding what tests they ran?

 

Don't recall the model years but some have TSBs stating the radio isn't turning off even though it appears off. Try disconnecting it. Did they do a parasitic power drain test?

 

You can do the draw test on EVERY fuse and relay, HOWEVER the TIPM has internal drivers (that are not fused or testable) and such and can malfunction and cause a drain. Usually a good clue that this is happening is that it takes the removal of 2,3 or more fuses at once to get rid of the draw. That is, if the draw is live.


Newer cars are different to test draw on, as they have a BUS bias that has to power down (go to sleep) before you can get an accurate reading on the ammeter. This can take up to 20 minutes on some cars. Multiply that times every fuse and/or every load and you have yourself a hell of a diagnostics fee. Also, the more modules you have, the more complicated. Minivans are loaded with modules!

Most of the draw issues I run into like this end up being the TIPM itself.
There have been 3 in the past that have been the Liftgate module waking up and pulling the battery down.


This is all I do every day all day. Tell them to disconnect the TIPM connectors one at a time to try and narrow it down a bit. And remind them that the alternator and starter can cause a draw also.

 

TNTech. Educate me. I've read several times, actually many times an option to avoid the 20 minute power down wait is to disconnect both battery cables and hold them together for a few seconds to discharge the system. I've never been comfy with that. How about you? My fear is you ever so slightly allow the cables to loose contact before all the charge is drained, create an arc and associated voltage surge forcing you to empty your wallet replacing modules.

On another point, according to some in years past there were long back orders for TIPMs. Are you finding that's still the case or has Chrysler got a handle on it now? Thanks for any info you can pass on.

 

It's fine to do a capacitive discharge, but it's not gonna help stop or diagnose a draw, or do anything to effect the BUS sleep time. Tech support even plays that card on a case from time to time. It CAN and often does wake up a non responsive module, which is the only reason I ever really use it. I actually used it today on a Patriot to wake up a wireless control module (no crank), then I could do the software update for the intermittent no crank on that very module.


The potential stored in any of the modules can't damage the modules under normal conditions. There are diodes all over the place to stop that. Ground path essentially remains the same even though the battery isn't there.

 

We run into a backorder here and there, but it's nothing like it was. I think that fuel relay recall getting caught up helped immensely. The last one was a Caliber/Compass that was way out.

 

My '11 Caravan had same issue, battery drain, wouldn't turn over, sometimes turning off while driving. Through online search it is a defective TIPM which is causing the fuel pump relay to remain on = draining the battery. Found a guy online who makes a bypass cable that has worked great so far. Did you get your issue fixed? Also I didn't know there was a fuel pump relay recall!!

 

There's not a recall on the minivans, but I imagine that recall parts package would work. I think there are some for sale on Amazon actually.