2005 Chrysler Town and Country. Battery drain, good alternator.
Asked by RWutster Jul 25, 2014 at 04:39 PM about the 2005 Chrysler Town & Country Limited LWB FWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Battery is good, Alternator is good. Battery is drained while car is not running. Once
jumped it will run and battery charges. If turned off after running it will turn back on, but
after sitting overnight it will not start. OBD codes said low system voltage and low voltage.
When trying to start it has a slow weak turn over, and after a quick charge starts. Looking
for suggestions for causes or points where a drain might occur.
4 Answers
If you are sure battery doe,s not have a weak cell and draining over night,you may want to check your iginition switch,it is the source of power.
Ok checking thank you
Look for lighting on all the time, aftermarket electronic alarms certain amps, DVD players will draw all the time. Test by using a 12v test light. Remove the positive connector from battery, connect clamp end to connector touch tip of test light to positive terminal on battery if test light illuminates bright you have a 12v draw (battery dies overnight) faint it dies over a week. You are allowed .05 tenth of a draw before it becomes paracitic. Disconnect any aftermarket appliances one at a time till test light darkens. If no appliances are present. You are looking for a light module, power door lock ect.
My wife has a 2007 Town and County, which has plagued us with batteries drain issues when a door is left open. Front, back, and hatch cause this. I have opened the hatch, turned off inside lights, and a few hours later I have a dead battery. I decided to get to the bottom of the issue, so I hook my handy dandy Peerless meter to in-line and set it read Amperage. What I found was a bit shocking (pun intended). When I opened a door, allowing the dome lights to turn on, the meter shows a drain of nearly 10 amps. I suspect if I were to replace the incandescent dome lights with LEDs the draw would be significantly less. Turning off the dome lights, and just opening a front door, showed an one Amp draw. This was the same for the back and hatch door. After closing a door, there is a drain for about 20 seconds, and then the meter drops down to zero Amp. If you do the math this a new 550 Amp battery can handle a door open without issue for quite some time. Unfortunately over time a battery quickly looses capacity, especially if you are cycling the battery level repeatedly, which a lead-acid battery does not like. I tried this on my 2002 Ford Taurus, and the door open and dome light draw was negligible, which explains why I can leave the hatch open all night/day and still start the car. The solution? Shut your doors or turn off your dome lights if you have to have your doors open for extended periods of time. i.e. while deep cleaning the funk deposited in the carpets and seats by your children.
