so my truck (2006 Dodge Dakota) was running fine, parked it at dads and left it there a day and over night, then went to start it and the battery was completely dead. no lights, no anything. tried jumping it, nothing at first, then charged a while, then tried and got a bunch of clicks, charged it more n tried and it finally started. ran for 2 seconds and died. tried again, it started again, I pumped the gas and it was responsive to that, then 2 seconds later, died. tried again, and back to nothing at all, we had it connected with the jump cables for probably closer to two hours. towed it to the shop, they asked me if I had switched the jump cables because the key or something wasn't communicating with the engine. told me they had to replace some fuses. said it needed reprogramming. took them 3 days and it cost me 500. never mentioned an alternator, solenoid, starter, or whatever, not even sure if they checked those things.. does that seem right? got it back, and it took two tries to start it just getting in. oh, and now the engine light is flashing (it wasn't on before), still, drove it about 3 blocks home since they were closing and none of the mechanics were there still. turned it off at home and right away tried to start it again, and it almost didn't start had to turn the key twice. shut it off over night, and now it's totally dead again, no lights, no nothing. I'm taking the battery out right now to charge it over night. i bought a new battery about a year ago when the same drain was happening, figured it must have been old. I had just bought the truck, it's a beater, fairly rusty but passed inspection. parked at dads is the first time i've needed to jump it since buying the new battery. every once in a while I'll start it and it'll sort of run for a sec and then die the same way. almost like it isn't getting gas. that's only happened maybe twice tho. and as soon as I try turning the key to start it again it works just fine.. everyone I asked before taking it in said it was an alternator, it's never been quite this dead tho so maybe the battery is draining somehow? it's got 1/2 tank of gas in it. anyone know what to do? obviously reluctant to take it back in with a bill like that n nothing fixed, but I really don't know much about engines to try myself.. but no problem trying if it's something I could do myself with reasonably low risk of making something any worse. any advice here would be appreciated!

 

ps. just read about the security system's little red light, that actually was on when all this started happening, but we were able to jump it. it's on again now. not sure if it's relevant but lately it has stopped honking when I use the key fob to lock the doors, it usually does. it hasn't since I got it back from the mechanic either.

 

Taking the battery out might have wiped it's memory, there is a way to re-enable the security honk, it's in the owner's manual.

The engine stuff seems odd. These trucks get a little squirelly when the battery is old or dead, so that's definitely the first place to start. Once it starts doing it again (my spidey sense tell me the issue is coming back), put a voltmeter on the battery terminals to see if it's even holding a charge. And once it gets running, you can use the voltmeter again on the battery terminals to see if the voltage has increased enough to charge the battery.

Since it was flashing the money light at you, there are most likely some codes on it to help narrow the troubleshooting.

 

Jesus, that's alot of money and work for what is most likely just a battery that won't maintain a proper circuit anymore, even if only a year old. And the mechanics, especially now, will gladly take your money as long as you keep throwing it at them.

Countless previous threads here mention that these trucks have a very "sensitive" electrical system and require a battery that is always running at peak voltage/amperage and continuity, otherwise all sorts of electrical gremlins appear...If the battery is losing its ability to maintain the electrical circuit, then these electrical components quickly start losing their ability to function.

Don't do anything else until you replace the battery with a new one, and then go from there. If it turns out to be something else, at least it's money well spent to cross off the #1 electrical problem-generating component of Dakotas off the list.

 

It's not just Dakotas. I've helped others out with late 90's early 2000's Chrysler products chasing weird issues which was just a bad battery.

 

I've learned a lot about this the last few weeks.. thanks for your help you guys.
I think I've figured out that it's due to a worn key. I can take it out of the ignition at any time, truck running or not. since the windows seem to always work, I've realized I probably was removing the key while still in an on position, and the windows or click were still running.
I think the key might have been on when the mechanics took the battery out, and I think maybe they left it out too long. they said that I must have crossed the cables but I'm pretty certain I didn't. would I have been able to start it at all if I had? if I did, and the fuses were blown because if that, wouldn't I have noticed something weird? I didn't.
I think the need for reprogramming the computer was due to the battery being taken out. I've also learned that this could cause a misfire? I got a code reader, it gave me p0300 as the only code.
should still go get a new battery and start with that? I am tempted to just erase the codes and see if the light comes on again. I read i could do this by disconnecting the battery completely, draining any residual power, then hooking it all back up, putting the key in and to the on position for a minute, then starting it and idling for 5min, then driving around above 2000rpm for 15min.

im also going to ask for my money back from those mechanics.. I think I've accomplished more just reading this forum and watching YouTube .. wish me luck ha!
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