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Hello,
I have a 2006 Dodge Stratus V6 Auto sedan with about 140k miles. A couple winters back the battery seemed to be getting weak, was taken to an auto parts store to be checked and was replaced. It seemed to be fine for a couple of months, but once we got into the colder part of winter it started acting up again, eventually dying very quickly ( would start with a slow crank after 2 days, no lights on the dash after 3 days ) I had no luck finding the draw myself, with the battery of the Stratus being in the wheel well and motivation to work outside in New Hampshire winters being nil, I took it to a mechanic who also found no parasitic draw, and thought it was the battery. Soon after temperatures warmed up, the car could sit for weeks at a time without a problem, and it was forgotten about. The next winter comes, the battery starts going dead again, and i take it to a new mechanic who also couldn’t find any draw, and the battery was replaced again, under warranty. All was fine for another couple months, but again the battery started going stone cold dead after 3 days, dropping well below 12 volts. It is very consistent in the cold months, barely starting after 2 cold nights ( starting it once it’s warmed up to about 30 degrees ) and in the summer it doesn’t seem to drain at all, after parking the car last Wednesday the voltage stayed at 12.3 from last Thursday until this Thursday. With winter coming soon I would appreciate some guidance. Could it be that the 2 new batteries in the last 18 months were bad, is there something that can draw on the battery only during cold weather, or is there something I’m missing entirely? Thank you very much for your time.
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At 12.3 volts, your battery is already low on charge.
It sounds like a case of chronic undercharging which could be poor connections at the battery or alternator, a loose alternator belt, a bad alternator, a bad battery or even too heavy a load on the battery drawn by an aftermarket sound system.
Have the battery tested and have the charging system tested.
Clearly something is wrong even now.Thank you for your response, there were a few things I forgot to mention that you brought up. The voltage reading while charging is 14.2 volts, but I didn’t remember to check the voltage of the battery until it had been sitting for over a day through a cold night, which is when i got 12.3, and the weather has been much warmer since. I’ll be able to get an accurate reading of the battery at a ” full ” charge tomorrow if that’s at all helpful, but I do know it’s well above the 12.3 I saw the next day. The belt tension seems to be fine, and the belt itself was replaced at 120k miles. The car is completely stock, only the basic Chrysler radio and speakers, no extra lights etc. When it was initially checked out they supposedly checked the charging system and claimed it was fine, and checked again by the second mechanic. All of the connections seem fine, no signs of corrosion and I removed and checked the wires on the alternator just to be sure, and a diode check on the alternator showed no problem there. After having two mechanics say they can’t find any drain, tell me the charging system is fine and toss a new battery in it twice and still have the same problem I’m at a loss. If that’s what it comes down to I can have the battery and charging system rechecked, but I don’t know if there’s something they’re missing or not checking properly, and I would hate to put a third battery in it if there’s still a deeper problem killing it.
If you only take a short trip to a local store and back, maybe the car isn’t run long enough to fully charge the battery.
Maybe there is no obvious corrosion on the battery end or alternator end of cables but an engine ground cable or starter end of the cable could be bad.
You can do voltage drops on cables to see if there’s an issue.
Perhaps the battery is not the right one— under capacity for the vehicle–as in maybe it needs 700CCA and the battery you bought only provides 450CCA.
Can’t think of any other causes.
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