Dodge Ram Battery Drain Diagnosis

In this video I show my struggles of trying to figure out the intermittent battery draw

[@djosbun]

I’m sorry to hear that the customer was upset about the situation, Sadel. If all your previous work was “fix it no matter what”, the customer was in the wrong for assuming that you’d have this fixed in a short period of time. He/she should have stated up front that this vehicle should be handled differently than all the others you’ve done for them.

[@0RayJones]

I had a very similar draw issue. It would kill the battery in a day, 1/2, day, a week. No pattern. Multiple shops/techs had looked at it. Multiple parts had been at it. Had the same waveform as you described. Long long story short, the alarm guys cut the shut down signal wire from the ignition switch to BCM. It was a Ford F-250. Your video brought back some PTSD. The public doesn't know the struggles that we go through!

[@DTEAuto]

lol, yes this one was terrible to figure out

[@JoelAutomotiveInaction]

Great diagnostic process , I have find out there is difficult to collect money from diag related to network issues or parasitic draw.

[@DTEAuto]

yes, very difficult to do so

[@mrblonde2013]

Intermittent battery draws are the worst. Crystal clear communication with the customer and expectations are vital. Time spent is irrelevant, if the customer wants the car fixed, its going to cost $$$. Thank you.

[@DTEAuto]

👍👍

[@alvaroavendano4121]

Sadel, the man with the plan! Thank you for taking the time to post this so that we mortals can learn. 😀

[@DTEAuto]

My pleasure! and hopefully you and others can learn from this one , thank you for watching

[@eacherenkeka]

These are the hard ones Sadel! and when you make them happened, they are not easy to be resolve. Probably that is why other techs won't bother to try. These needs a lot of time and patience! Good that you figured it out Sadel! Thank you for sharing!

[@DTEAuto]

Yes, this one was one of the hardest yet

[@gabrielrivera6855]

that's a good one

[@AliTech644]

Sir your first fan and viewers here❤

[@Auto-Tech]

Son los casos que nos gusta recibr a todos, "intermitentes" 😂

[@DTEAuto]

the worst ones 🤦‍♂️

[@joeysee9463]

Thank you for the great information as always. How do feel about using amp clamps for parasitic draws?

[@DTEAuto]

Me, personally, prefer using the amp meter, but if all you got is an amp clamp, that works too. I believe I got tricked one time with a false or incorrect reading using the amp clamp, so I tap directly into the circuit with the amp meter. The more important thing that I have always expressed, is to try and scope it or graph it, that way you can see the actual activity and not just a number. Graphing out the activity can help you determine if it's a module or not. Thank you for watching

[@IamReadyToRock]

Interesante