I just purchased and 2017 Durango V6 GT AWD and I have been noticing a couple of odd quirks. If I set the auto comfort on with every start, it doesn't come on when I start the vehicle and I have to manually activate them after I start it (no big deal but concerning). So I set the Auto Comfort on to remote start only and that worked... yesterday. This morning it didn't work (under 40 degrees) and I went into the menu and saw that it was set back to every start, which I guess in it's coded language, means "at no starts".
Also, the Dash Fuel economy units keep reverting back to KM/L instead of MPG. I typically notice this after I have started the vehicle, click the heated seat and steering wheel icon on the intro screen, then shift to reverse to back out, when I start down the road I notice the heated seat and steering wheel have went off, then I glance down at dash and notice it is back to KM/L for fuel economy units.


Seems like the in dash computer is losing settings overnight or something, it also has trouble connecting to my phone by bluetooth on every other start or so and I have to turn the bluetooth off on my phone and try again to get it to connect.

 

Is it still the original battery? Typically the batteries in Mopars seem to last longer than anyone should expect them to, but on more modern vehicles I'm satisfied if I get 3 years of service out of a battery. The new electrical systems are pretty dependent upon really healthy batteries. The system voltage may be dropping low enough to drop the volatile memory settings, but not low enough to cause the gear reduction starter to drop out. Just a theory based on something I experienced on a couple of different FoMoCo vehicles recently, although instead of the starter motor being the load that put them over the edge, it was the brake lights.

If you have a multimeter with a Min setting, you could monitor the battery voltage when starting the truck to see how low it drops. If it's dropping below 10.2 volts you should consider replacing the battery.

-Rod

 

I can monitor battery voltage but I do not believe this is the problem. I have had much older batteries than this. The vehicle is not that old yet and the battery seems to be totally fine. I typically see a minimum of 5 years of service out of a vehicle battery before it becomes an issue (The battery in the Camaro SS I traded in on this was 9 years old and just starting to show issues). I believe the issue to be one of the connections from the in dash control to one of the periphery devices. I was hoping someone else had experienced the same issue. I have noticed that a lot of other people have had issues with it losing their seat settings, which is sometimes related to a loose connection at a module beneath the seat.

 

I agree that 5 years of service out of a car battery used to be the norm, but not so much anymore. My experience is 3 years is the new norm, and that seems to align with battery manufacturers since now typically they offer a 3 year warranty versus years ago when they offered a 5 year warranty with pro-rating.

-Rod

 

Our experiences differ for sure. If I were to only get 3 years out of a vehicle battery, then I would surely never buy that brand again. I get over 3 years out of the economy batteries from wal-mart (only a 1 year warranty) that I put in antique tractors that don't get started/charged nearly as often as my vehicles (once every few weeks or months). I own and maintain 15 tractors, 3 vehicles (Durango, Mustang GT and Dodge Ram 2500 diesel) and various other pieces of equipment that have automotive type batteries and they all last over 3 years. My diesel truck is probably the hardest on batteries and it typically needs a set every 5-6 years.

 

An antique tractor doesn't have sensitive electronics on it like a modern car/truck. I will say the only vehicles I've really had batteries issue with after 3 years have all been modern FoMoCo products (4 of them now - 2002 Lincoln LS, 2011 Taurus SHO, 2013 Escape, and 2013 Lincoln LS). I have had better luck with my Mopars (2011 Durango Hemi, 2014 Durango R/T Hemi, and 2014 Ram 1500 Hemi) and batteries.

I'm not saying this is definitely your issue, but if you have a decent multimeter with a good sampling rate, it's easy and free to check and would take less time to check the minimum voltage during a cold start than typing up a post here.

-Rod

 

Both batteries are fine, load tested good.

Another odd thing happened last night, just odd and I fear there is a loose connection/bad unit somewhere causing strange behaviors. The units (5, 10,30+) from the little MPG graph just disappeared and did not come back this morning. I really believe there is either a loose connection from the in dash display/control to one of the external devices or the in dash system is just getting flaky. It is really laggy at times anyway. When I remote started it this morning the heated seat and steering wheel did come on (according to the display) but I believe the steering wheel was only on for a short period of time and the seat never did get warm. It was 21F when I left for work and the steering wheel was definitely warm for the first few minutes of my 45 minute drive, but the seat never felt warm.

 

I found a post about part of the issue I seem to be having. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...l-average.html
looks like a recall may have fixed one person's issue, but there do not appear to be any open recalls for my vehicle.

 

I set the overall Units setting to US instead of Custom, like it was when I bought (instead of continuing to change the mileage units back to MPG every day or two). It has been fine for a few weeks now. The seats and steering wheel heater have been coming on when they should and the Fuel Mileage units have been staying MPG, instead of constantly switching to KM/L.

 

The key fobs can be set to recognize different preferences for different drivers. Could your fob need to be tied with your settings? I believe you mentioned you bought used, same issue for me.