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Who here had a dead battery on a new '11?


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DodgeCares, thanks for the quick help with this!

I am bringing my Journey in tomorrow to have TSB 08-016-11 Rev. B and 08-023-11 Rev. A performed to fix my issues with the dead battery and now HFM not working after the battery died.

I will let everybody know the results of this when I get the vehicle back.

Got my Journey back from service today. Had both TSBs applied. Will have to wait and see if the battery dies again. The 08-023-11 TSB did bring my bluetooth back to life. The display no longer automatically switches to the phone menu whenever a bluetooth connection is made, YAY!

I had a whole bunch of work done at this service. I'm going to start a new thread about it so that others will know what I had done. Hopefully it will help others who may have some of the same issues I had.

My dealer knew nothing about these TSBs. The service rep actually thanked me for bringing them to his attention as he has already used them on a few other vehicles. No idea why they couldn't find them themselves but THANKS DodgeCares! Without your help, I'm not sure what would have been accomplished at the service.

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  • Official Dodge Support

Got my Journey back from service today. Had both TSBs applied. Will have to wait and see if the battery dies again. The 08-023-11 TSB did bring my bluetooth back to life. The display no longer automatically switches to the phone menu whenever a bluetooth connection is made, YAY!

I had a whole bunch of work done at this service. I'm going to start a new thread about it so that others will know what I had done. Hopefully it will help others who may have some of the same issues I had.

My dealer knew nothing about these TSBs. The service rep actually thanked me for bringing them to his attention as he has already used them on a few other vehicles. No idea why they couldn't find them themselves but THANKS DodgeCares! Without your help, I'm not sure what would have been accomplished at the service.

Drb,

Just so you know, your response made my day!

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  • 2 weeks later...

:rant2: Well 1600 miles and 2 months and the battery is DEAD AS A DOORNAIL ! No lights nothing! You have got to be kidding me! Had to use my 20 yr old Jeep to jump it.

I have read everyones post and was taking it into the dealer this morning to FINALLY get the hitch wiring harness installed (had to settle for the 4 pin harness since not sure if I would ever see the 7 pin--different thread, sorry)

He said not a problem, well my wife didn't see it that way! She wants to trade it already. I'd lose my shirt on that deal. And trade for what? Another Chrysler product?!?!? Doubtful! Tired of defending them! My father built them on the line for 28 years. And I've owned several. Dont think I will ever buy another again. Said that last time, but think I need to stick with FORD from now on! ARG!

:banghead:

:mad:

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No need to post the exact same message in 2 different threads.

Chrysler appears to have fixed the dead battery issue for the 2011. Be sure you get the TSB applied, as per this thread. Yeah, it is inconvenient when it happens but a simple software upgrade fixes the problem.

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:rant2: Well 1600 miles and 2 months and the battery is DEAD AS A DOORNAIL ! No lights nothing! You have got to be kidding me! Had to use my 20 yr old Jeep to jump it.

I have read everyones post and was taking it into the dealer this morning to FINALLY get the hitch wiring harness installed (had to settle for the 4 pin harness since not sure if I would ever see the 7 pin--different thread, sorry)

He said not a problem, well my wife didn't see it that way! She wants to trade it already. I'd lose my shirt on that deal. And trade for what? Another Chrysler product?!?!? Doubtful! Tired of defending them! My father built them on the line for 28 years. And I've owned several. Dont think I will ever buy another again. Said that last time, but think I need to stick with FORD from now on! ARG!

:banghead:

:mad:

It has been a month now since they flashed the BCM and no dead battery. Looks like this is a fix.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Unpleasant surprise this morning...hopped in the R/T to go to work this morning and...DEAD BATTERY!

Somebody else here experienced the same thing, also on a new '11. As I recall they figured it was due to the "auto" function for the headlamps.

I've noticed once or twice now that I'll go to my car (park inside a parkade at work) and see that the instrument cluster lights are on (but no other lights on). I've tried changing the power-off time delay settings...not sure at this point if that prevents the problem.

There must be quite a short or drain when this happens, because just having the instrument lights on is not going to kill a battery in 8-10 hrs.

Whoever this happened to...can you chime in please? Was their a fix?

Thanks.

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  • Official Dodge Support

Roy,

Sorry to hear the problem you are having with your Journey. Please see posts #42 and #47 on this thread for possible causes on the dead battery issue. Chrysler has issued two TSB's that may be the culprit and may perhaps be related to the issue you are experiencing. I have posted them above.

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  • 1 month later...

I've had this happen to me once... It was a few weeks ago. Got into it one morning, and it wouldn't start... Everything else seemed to work so the battery wasn't completely dead, but was dead enough that the motor wouldn't turn over... It hasn't happened since then.... Was the strangest thing. It never occurred to me that it was the battery (since nothing was left on, and the gauges/radio/accessories all still worked, so I assumed something happened with the starter or something). THe tow truck driver came out and checked a few things, and decided to jump it as a last resort before towing it, and it worked.

Hi there ....

we bought a 2011 Dodge Journey crew in febuary and we have had it in the shop 4 times and we still get a dead battery .Two days after the shop had it i now have the service awd and my panel flashed .I fill like they are saying they fixed the proublem but to date see no results.They havent ever replaced my battery they just charge it and send me on my way.I have read many people who have had the same troubles i am having and i believe this should be concidered a recall .I am worried about my journey going dead while i,m driving it ...i just hope this doesnt happen or kill someone befor dodge decides its a real proublem.DODGE STAND BEHIND YOUR VEHICLES .....

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I've had this happen to me once... It was a few weeks ago. Got into it one morning, and it wouldn't start... Everything else seemed to work so the battery wasn't completely dead, but was dead enough that the motor wouldn't turn over... It hasn't happened since then.... Was the strangest thing. It never occurred to me that it was the battery (since nothing was left on, and the gauges/radio/accessories all still worked, so I assumed something happened with the starter or something). THe tow truck driver came out and checked a few things, and decided to jump it as a last resort before towing it, and it worked.

Hi there ....

we bought a 2011 Dodge Journey crew in febuary and we have had it in the shop 4 times and we still get a dead battery .Two days after the shop had it i now have the service awd and my panel flashed .I fill like they are saying they fixed the proublem but to date see no results.They havent ever replaced my battery they just charge it and send me on my way.I have read many people who have had the same troubles i am having and i believe this should be concidered a recall .I am worried about my journey going dead while i,m driving it ...i just hope this doesnt happen or kill someone befor dodge decides its a real proublem.DODGE STAND BEHIND YOUR VEHICLES .....

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  • Official Dodge Support

Hi there ....

we bought a 2011 Dodge Journey crew in febuary and we have had it in the shop 4 times and we still get a dead battery .Two days after the shop had it i now have the service awd and my panel flashed .I fill like they are saying they fixed the proublem but to date see no results.They havent ever replaced my battery they just charge it and send me on my way.I have read many people who have had the same troubles i am having and i believe this should be concidered a recall .I am worried about my journey going dead while i,m driving it ...i just hope this doesnt happen or kill someone befor dodge decides its a real proublem.DODGE STAND BEHIND YOUR VEHICLES .....

Army,

Please see posts #42 and #47 in this thread. If the dealer is not fixing your problem then I would suggest calling the Customer Assistance Center at

800-992-1997 (US)

800-465-2001 (Canada)

They will help get your problem resolved.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Unpleasant surprise this morning...hopped in the R/T to go to work this morning and...DEAD BATTERY!

Somebody else here experienced the same thing, also on a new '11. As I recall they figured it was due to the "auto" function for the headlamps.

I've noticed once or twice now that I'll go to my car (park inside a parkade at work) and see that the instrument cluster lights are on (but no other lights on). I've tried changing the power-off time delay settings...not sure at this point if that prevents the problem.

There must be quite a short or drain when this happens, because just having the instrument lights on is not going to kill a battery in 8-10 hrs.

Whoever this happened to...can you chime in please? Was their a fix?

Thanks.

same thing one week after i got it .nothing left on, completely dead. dealer never ound out why.santa 2011 crew

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When we got the 2011 the battery went dead four time the first couple of months. We also heard that it might be due to the auto function. Turned it off but still had a dead battery. Heard we might be leaving the key fob too close to the car in the garage and that could do it. Move the fob away from the car, still dead battery. Took it to the dealer and they flashed the Body Control Module (BCM) and have not had a problem in 6 months. They said it had something to do with the system going into sleep mode but not turning completely off. There is information about that flash on this site. Check all dead battery posts and you will find it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just posted about my battery issue in another thread but just noticed this thread, which seems to have more information. Symptoms seem to be the same, completely dead battery two nights in a row now and on top of that my bluetooth and voice controls have stopped working completely.

I will take it to the dealership tomorrow or the day after and hopefully have them flash the BCM and Hands Free control updates mentioned in this thread. Problem is that I bought my 2011 Journey used from the U.S. (I live in Canada) so I have a third party warranty to go through first (and it carries a deductible). I'm hoping that if I bring this in for regular maintenance they can do the updates for free or for a small labour charge. I'm assuming that it's a relatively quick job?

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  • 3 weeks later...

So just an update on this. I brought it into the dealership and they did the updates, told me everything was fixed and said to come pick it up. I get there and find that the bluetooth still isn't working. The next day they tell me that the module itself has to be replaced so they order the part and fix it, then tell me to come pick it up again.

This time I get there and the navigation is no longer working! I point this out to them and they tell me to bring it back another day as they just have to reflash the software (it was late in the day so they didn't have time). So I just get around to bringing it back today and now they tell me that the navigation unit has to be replaced! On top of this they want to charge me for this (or at least my third party warranty) even though it was working just fine when I brought it into them, which I'm sure the warranty people won't be happy about. They insist that they didn't touch the navigations unit so they couldn't have broken it.

Anyway I have to talk the manager to argue about this but this definitely hasn't been a good experience so far!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had this problem several times. (I too bought my Journey in Feb 2011) Dealer kept telling me "no problem found" because I was able to jump it and drive it over. Last time it happened, I had them tow the car over and leave it there dead. Amazingly, they found there was a software update that was needed because some module kept waking itself up and eventually drained the battery. I hope and pray they have finally fixed this.

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So I skimmed through every comment in this thread and it seems everyone with this problem has the 3.6L engine. Is this a rule of thumb, or does it apply to the Express/2.4L as well?

FWIW I have an Express/2.4L coming close to 6,000 miles and haven't had a problem yet.

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  • 10 months later...

I'm having similar problems with my 2012 Journey. Battery is going dead in just over a week. The car is currently at the Chrysler dealer, who just informed me that they have completed their diagnostic tests and have found nothing. The battery is charging and holding a charge (at least for the duration of their test). Their suggestion is to hook the Journey up to a trickle charger, which is difficult to do at Detroit Metro Airport. I can read my tire pressures and many other functions, but there is NO provision for battery voltage. Second suggestion is to keep the key fobs at least 30 feet from the vehicle, since any closer than that, the passive electronics are activated and seeking various modules while drawing battery current. Interesting suggestion, but not very practical and not entirely accurate, since we have always kept the keys near the garage door and this battery issue was not present in June, when we picked up the vehicle. Third suggestion was to use the "shipping disconnect" which is present on my 2010 Caliber, but removed in 2012 for a "dealer activated shipping key", which is not available to the public. Fifth suggestion is to go to an auto parts store and buy a manual battery disconnect switch. Additional info: the ECU toasted itself last month and had to be replaced.

Just read about all the similar battery problems and the possibility of the passive entry button drawing in moisture. We have had a lot of freezing and thawing the last few weeks and moisture collecting on the windows and under body metal is obvious. Anything more current on this button issue and, by the way, how can you turn the passive entry system off?

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Final post:

Picked up Journey with following recommendations:

1) Keep on charger

2) Keep keys away from vehicle

3) Turn off passive entry feature

"All modules were updated" according to the service report. Only up side is this is a lease vehicle, which will be returned at end of lease. We will also be going back to GM cars, or maybe try a Ford hybrid this time. Dodge may have one the battle, but once again they have lost another customer!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the help and recommendations, too bad Dodge doesn't read these.

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Dude. Really. Find a dealer that is worth a .....

This is just a computer update.

What moron would suggest you keep a new car on a battery charger, not keep the keys near it and turn off an expensive feature of the car?!?

Take it somewhere where they know what they r doing and you will once again enjoy they car

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  • Official Dodge Support

SeXT,

Thanks for the plug!

dkplatner,

Send a PM to Chris (DodgeCares), he's my US counterpart - he posted to Army_Mother up above.

Very knowledgeable and will be happy to help look in to any lingering issues or if you want, you can call US Customer Care at 1-800-992-1997.

Hope everything works out for you.

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