Crazy Canuck

My daughter has been driving the vehicle for the last week with no issues. Temperatures at night around - 17C. Battery drain issued fixed. I hope this help someone else electrical issues in older vehicles can be a real nightmare. I am thankful it was just the brake light switch and not the computer.

Hey Guys, My daughter has a 2010 Dodge Journey SXT and it has been a great vehicle. She has over 250,000 kms (150,000 miles) on it and the only thing we ever dealt with were tires, oil changes, brakes and rear struts. This summer though, the alternator starting making some noise and all the lights on the dash were flickering so I went to Auto Value and got a new alternator so I figured I would replace the battery at the same time since it was almost 6 years old. We live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and it is not unusual to have at least a couple of months of -20C to -30C weather and I don't have a heated garage so changing batteries when they are in the damn wheel well in mid-January is not my idea of fun. The vehicle ran great until a couple of weeks ago just out of the blue the battery started dying overnight. My daughter could drive it all day starting and stopping it with no issues but when she parked it overnight the battery was DOA in the morning. So, of course, she would call me at 7:30 AM to come jump her battery so she could get to work on time. Luckily the temperature has been well above normal, so I was able to get outside and do some troubleshooting on the vehicle. Alternator was putting out 14.4 Volts and after a 15 minute drive battery was charged back up to 12.6 V so I eliminated the battery and the alternator as issues. So, I tried doing a parasitic drain test using a 1 ohm 10 watt resistor in series with the negative battery cable to check voltage drain. I had about a 45 mV drain on the battery which after some searching on the internet seemed to be within reason for some electronics and the TIPM. I was at a complete loss about what was draining the battery for over 2 weeks. It would run fine all day but if it sat overnight battery would be drained in the morning. Finally, this morning I got up with my wife at 5:30 AM to help her get ready for work. So, I went to the front door to remote start her vehicle and I look outside and the brake lights were lit up on the 2010 Dodge Journey SXT sitting in the driveway. JACKPOT. I went outside and pumped the brake a couple of times and the brake lights went out but the battery was dead. I got out of the vehicle and walked around the back and just out of the blue the brake lights came on again. I called the local Dodge dealership and ordered up a brake light switch and went and picked it up a few hours later. $27 Canadian. You can probably by them in the states for $10 knowing how they rip us off up here. Installed the switch and tested it for a few minutes and everything seems to be working fine. Drove it all day without issue, but the real test will be leaving it parked all weekend. Might be worth a try for you guys to get a new brake switch and see what happens. Maybe you will get lucky. Hope this helps someone. It is a really frustrating problem boosting batteries in the middle of the winter. Crazy Canuck

My daughter has a 2010 Dodge Journey SXT and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We get some really cold nights in January and I have been getting up early before I go to work because my daughter phones me every second morning asking me to come over to her place to boost her vehicle. So I traded her vehicles and I have been checking for a parasitic drain on her battery for the last 2 weeks without any luck until this morning at 5:30 AM to help my wife get ready for work. I went to the front door to remote start my wife's car and noticed the brake lights were activated on the 2010 Dodge Journey SXT so I went outside and yes the battery was dead again. I checked a few websites and this is a known problem with Journeys and the brake switch staying on after turning it off. I would never have noticed it if I would not have gotten up at 5:30 AM with my wife. Thank you honey! Now replacing my brake light switch. I will let you know if that solves it but I am 99.9% sure that is the issue.

My daughter has a 2010 Dodge Journey SXT and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We get some really cold nights in January and I have been getting up early before I go to work because my daughter phones me every second morning asking me to come over to her place to boost her vehicle. So I traded her vehicles and I have been checking for a parasitic drain on her battery for the last 2 weeks without any luck until this morning at 5:30 AM to help my wife get ready for work. I went to the front door to remote start my wife's car and noticed the brake lights were activated on the 2010 Dodge Journey SXT so I went outside and yes the battery was dead again. I checked a few websites and this is a known problem with Journeys and the brake switch staying on after turning it off. I would never have noticed it if I would not have gotten up at 5:30 AM with my wife. Thank you honey! Now replacing my brake light switch. I will let you know if that solves it but I am 99.9% sure that is the issue. The switch is at $20 at Rock Auto. Worth a try it might fix your issue.