Hi,

I am wondering if I may need new batteries as after a few days of sitting without starting when I go to start it barely turns over, not like when I drive it daily it seems alot quicker to turn over. How long can a good battery(s) go without starting up in pretty mild weather of around freezing ( Vancouver BC winters are not terribly cold).

Thanks for any inputs.

 

Good batteries should last more than a couple of days. From my experience a bad battery will go down overnight. Sounds like your batteries are either getting weak or you have a parasitic drain. You can google that last one as others can explain it better than me. Most auto parts stores will check the condition of your batteries for no charge. The only other advise I can give you is if you have to replace, replace both of them at the same time. Good luck.

 

I second the above post.

 

I have parked mine for 2-3 weeks and it starts up just fine. Have your batteries load tested and see how they hold up.

 

If your batteries test fine, you are going to have to test for what is draining it. I learned a cool technique this summer. First of all, disconnect both positive battery cables. The put you multimeter on amps and measure the amps being drawn between one of the positive posts and the appropriate positive cables. That will show you howbig a drain you are dealing with. That is pretty standard and nothing special or neat. Hook your batteries back up. Now for the neat part. Go to your fuse block - I would start with the one in the cab. Pop a fuse and measure the current draw with your ammeter across the two posts for the fuse you just pulled. Kep working your way through your fuses one at a time. When you find circuits pulling amps, Bob's your Uncle, you have figured out where in your electrical system the draw is that is draining your batteries. Then you just have to narrow down the problem within that specific part of your truck.

 

^^^pretty cool troubleshooting idea. This should be in electrical FAQ for future reference.

 

After everything times out, Dodge's rule of thumb is 30 milliamps for maximum ignition-off draw.

 

I will get them load checked. I think one is about 9 years old. The other is almost new.
Good to have a shared knowledge base for troubleshooting.
Cheers.

 

Diesel_Power - if you have a Princess Auto in your town, they sell battery load testers for about $50. I bought one last year - someone is using it every couple of weeks.
It is super handy to be able to load test batteries without having to remove them from the truck. No more undoing hold-down bars and lifting heavy batteries in and out of truck.

 

you should awalys replace both batteries at the same time.

 

This is hard on the wallet but true.

 

Dodge says your batteries should last at least 21 days without the engine running.

Ignition off draw test



Remove fuses one at a time to find which circuit might have a problem

 

Infidel - doing it the way I mentioned above does exactly the same thing

 

I know, but sometimes a picture is worth...

 

Dont overlook cleaning the connections. Remove the terminals, clean them with a battery brush as well as the battery posts.

Wipe off the top of the battery because the buildup of grease/dirt/oil on it can actually provide a path for current between the two posts/terminals causing battery drain and/or improper charging

pop the covers off and make sure there is enuff fluid. Only add distilled water if needed.

My non-everyday driven truck has been turning over slower than I like, so I just did this service today and it made quite a difference on how my truck starts! My batteries are the largest Duralast one that Autozone sold 4 years ago.