About 3 weeks ago my 2005 dodge grand caravan would not start (clicked over and over again when trying to start - autozone reported battery was totally dead) - replaced the battery and have not had any issues until today - go to start the van and it doesnt want to do anything - not even the clicking - jump the van and it starts right up - drive it to autozone where they say that everything checks out fine in the battery and the alternator - let it sit at home for about 2 hours - go back out and the battery is once again so dead that you can't even lock the doors with the keyfob after initially trying to start it.

What are some of the first steps that you would take in trying to see what is causing this issue???

 

Went back outside and the positive post on the battery was blazing hot - after reading some about it possibly being the IOD fuse causing an issue - I pulled and looked at the fuse - the fuse was fine - but after leaving the battery unhooked for a while and re-inserting the fuse - the van started right back up - going to wait about 1 hour and go back and see if the battery has been drained again or if the post is hot again.

 

When the new battery was drained was it charged back up? If it wasn't that would explain the scorching hot positive as the alternator is jamming amps back into the battery. Get a multimeter that can read amps and see what kind of a drain there is on the battery as it is sitting with nothing on. Should be less than 1/2 amp. If it is above that start pulling fuses until the drain goes away then you know what circuit it is on and start working from there.