i have a 1999 durango that keeps dying on me. i will put it away for the night just fine, nothing wrong then the next morning the battery will be completely drained. No door lights will come on, it wont unlock and the car wont even turn over. normally i charge the battery and it works again for a week or two. now car will start but wont idle, after you start it, it shuts off after about 10-20 seconds. The battery is new so maybe the alternator? any ideas?

 

if its starting fine one day then you put it away and the battery is dead in the morning, you have something that is drawing current all the time, its time to figure out which circuit (fuse) is drawing the power and trace it to either a short, or a faulty piece of electronics on that circuit

 

If you have a multimeter that shows you amperage draw, just start pulling fuses and seeing which fuse in the PDC box or on the side of the dash is pulling current.

 

You are on the right track. First off check that alternator out. It could be a parasitic draw but probably is the alternator or a blown fuse since when you charge the battery on a charger it will run fine for a week. As a side note if that alternator is bad get it replaced and get the new battery load tested. Since it has been drawn down completely multiple times you may have killed it. Remember a bad battery will kill a good alternator and a bad alternator will kill a good battery...

 

+1 Green!

 

The diodes in the rectifier of the alternator can fail and let voltage flow both ways causing a dead battery.

 

+1 Biff

The OP needs to find where the draw is coming from, either buy a test light or Multi-Meter. Personally, I don't like a light but it will work.