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15 Posts
2017 Colorado diesel here. Great truck so far but only gripe is the ramdom battery drain events that have occured twice; 3 months between the two battery drain events so far.
The first time this battery drain problem came to light was during a ramdom "let's check how the battery is doing with a multimeter". By the way, the truck had been parked for several days prior without having been driven. The meter read around 3.5 Volts! To be clear, I've done my battery homework so I know what to expect and their theory of operation. This wasn't the first time I checked: been doing it once a week, mostly, since father bought the truck, I do this because I'm nerdy
. Father bought a charger right away, one that could handle AGM battery type, after hearing about the battery drain issue from me. But, because volts were so low the charger would not initiate charge, so had to parallel connect charger to a good battey to trick it to charge the trucks "beyond dead" battery! Took long time to get battery to fully charge (about 7 hours at 15 A rate and got it to settle at 12.78). I wasn't even sure it would work considering the truck's battery voltage was so damn low. Anyways, for three months no problem, each weekly battery check showed on average 12.4 volts. Then last week, the battery read around 12.5 volts (keep in mind truck is not driven that much and at times sits for up to 2 weeks parked). That's a good 1 volt more than average reading (all voltage reading are taken when truck is parked and hasn't been driven for at least and hour, sometimes this can be over a week or two of being parked). Anyways, I decided to check battery again a mere two days later before going to work and it read around 4.8 volts! After work, when I could monitor progress, I charged the truck's battery, again with the parallel method. But, before I done so, the charge status was checked with the multimeter and had further dropped, now at 3.5 volts like in the previous occurance months ago! Going this low is bad for battery life, so much so that charger cannot get the AGM battery to fully charge above 12.52 volts from now on (I take battery voltage after charging has taken place and the alloted time has lapsed, 20 min, for battery voltage to settle, for accurate reading). There is also a specific way to connect charger to battery when it's hooked up in the vehicle compared to when it's sitting by itself off the vehicle. Obviously, there is a battery drain issue or a bad battery? Most likely some electrical component is drawing significant current when ignition is off and, unfortunately, the BCM is not intervening to protect the battery from draining to damaging low voltage levels when an issue like this arises
I'm trying to figure out what best course of action to advice father to take. He's just like, "I'm going to take it to the dealer when I have time".
The first time this battery drain problem came to light was during a ramdom "let's check how the battery is doing with a multimeter". By the way, the truck had been parked for several days prior without having been driven. The meter read around 3.5 Volts! To be clear, I've done my battery homework so I know what to expect and their theory of operation. This wasn't the first time I checked: been doing it once a week, mostly, since father bought the truck, I do this because I'm nerdy
. Father bought a charger right away, one that could handle AGM battery type, after hearing about the battery drain issue from me. But, because volts were so low the charger would not initiate charge, so had to parallel connect charger to a good battey to trick it to charge the trucks "beyond dead" battery! Took long time to get battery to fully charge (about 7 hours at 15 A rate and got it to settle at 12.78). I wasn't even sure it would work considering the truck's battery voltage was so damn low. Anyways, for three months no problem, each weekly battery check showed on average 12.4 volts. Then last week, the battery read around 12.5 volts (keep in mind truck is not driven that much and at times sits for up to 2 weeks parked). That's a good 1 volt more than average reading (all voltage reading are taken when truck is parked and hasn't been driven for at least and hour, sometimes this can be over a week or two of being parked). Anyways, I decided to check battery again a mere two days later before going to work and it read around 4.8 volts! After work, when I could monitor progress, I charged the truck's battery, again with the parallel method. But, before I done so, the charge status was checked with the multimeter and had further dropped, now at 3.5 volts like in the previous occurance months ago! Going this low is bad for battery life, so much so that charger cannot get the AGM battery to fully charge above 12.52 volts from now on (I take battery voltage after charging has taken place and the alloted time has lapsed, 20 min, for battery voltage to settle, for accurate reading). There is also a specific way to connect charger to battery when it's hooked up in the vehicle compared to when it's sitting by itself off the vehicle. Obviously, there is a battery drain issue or a bad battery? Most likely some electrical component is drawing significant current when ignition is off and, unfortunately, the BCM is not intervening to protect the battery from draining to damaging low voltage levels when an issue like this arises I'm trying to figure out what best course of action to advice father to take. He's just like, "I'm going to take it to the dealer when I have time".
