Lost all electrical on the road

[cowboydoc]

We were driving down the road and radio went out, then daughters dvd, then truck started running rough, and everything completely died. Got towed into nearest dealer and they said the batteries were both bad. It's a 2005 quad cab, dually with 14k. Why would the batteries just go bad? And why both at the same time? They said the alternator and everything was fine.

 

[rbattelle]

Any chance something environmental killed the batteries? Like excessive heat or cold?



Has the voltage gauge acted funny at all?



-Ryan

 

[EBottema]

Possible electrical gremlin or something draining power when the truck is off.

 

[cowboydoc]

They did a load test with the truck off and said nothing was draining. They thought that the trailer was draining the batteries. To their credit they did test everything. I'm just a little worried because I've never heard of that happening before and many, many times my wife and daughters are away at rodeos on their own. That's why I went with Dodge after the 6. 0 disaster. I thought Dodge at least with the drivetrain part would be more reliable. I hope this was just a fluke thing.

 

[Graphic man]

One batterie could have had a dead short and took the other one out,

if you have a volt meter you can read the voltage, engine off around 12. 2VA

and running around 14. 2VA

At least that way you can keep a close on them.

i would not trust the factory gage! IAMB



Scott

 

[tkerrigan]

With two paralleled batteries, if they are tested at the same time, one bad one will make both look bad. One cell in one battery shorting out will reduce the voltage to about 10. 5, that will choke the good battery down to 10. 5 also. If you are stuck someplace, try disconnecting one battery, then the other. Sometimes that will get you going. Also for that reason, batteries should always be bought in pairs. Good luck.

 

[EBottema]

Dodge has the superior drivetrain but ALL manufacturers these days have electrical problems with since there is so many electrical componets on new cars

 

[JHardwick]

Dodge has the superior drivetrain but ALL manufacturers these days have electrical problems with since there is so many electrical componets on new cars

dude, you need a briggs, then you'll only have a mag, wire and plug to worry about :-laf

 

[EBottema]

Please do me a favor and go call any lemon law attorney or look at any local dealer service dept and find all the electrical problems on every new car, even luxury cars like mercedes and bmw. Your foot sure loves your mouth...

 

[rbattelle]

If we could travel back in time to, say, 1985, we could call any lemon law attorney or look at any local dealer service department and we wouldn't find hardly any electrical problems on new cars. Wow, amazing.



Of course, instead we'd find all mechanical problems on every new car, even luxury cars like Mercedes and BMW.



This makes it clear that we can't build defect-free mechanical systems, nor can we build defect-free electrical systems. And travel by horse is annoying because horses get health problems that sometimes can't be fixed. We can't walk anywhere, because people get health problems too that can't be fixed.



I think we should all just stay home and lay in bed praying the bedsprings don't fail.



-Ryan