We have a 2011 Durango express awd that we purchased used in February 2012. We have never had a dodge but loved it up until recently. A couple months back we kept having a cylinder misfire and got that fixed which was luckily covered by the powertrain. Over the last week my car started making a horrific sound and then the battery light came on. After taking it to the dealership we find out that our alternator was going bad which I don't understand since I would think our car is still to new for that. Our warranty has run out so after getting a $750 quote we decided to get it rebulit for $150. Feeling relieved that we just saved mega money, especially since it's Christmas time, I thought we were in the clear. Well I drove the car to the store and the battery light came on again. Crap! All the dash lights went out and the wipers went crazy and then all of a sudden it goes back to normal leaving the battery light still on. I took it to advance and the battery tested bad so we replaced it costing another $200. Well I thought that fixed it until the light came on again. I took it back to advance and they made sure the alternator is good which it was and then they checked the new battery which also tested bad. Luckily I was bringing our old battery back so they tested it just to see and it was fine so I was able to return the battery I had just bought and get my money back. Now we are trying to figure out what is going on. We are thinking it is something to do with the battery wires but not 100%. I am really not happy that we are having to deal with this on a newer vehicle. We are a military family on an extremely tight budget (like most people these days) and can't afford to keep throwing money in a car that we feel shouldn't be having these problems to begin with. Does anyone having any pointers on what we might can check to try and fix this ourselves to save money? I'm beginning to think we have a lemon and it breaks my heart.

 

From what i have read on this forum, because of your wipers turning on by themselves and your dash lights turning off, it sounds like your tipm is going bad or bad.
Search for tipm on this forum or on google. Maybe someone who has experienced this can chime in.
Good luck.