Battery/no start question

[Ram25002021]

Hi everyone,

I have a question and curious if anyone has advice on the best direction.

2021 2500 6.7 with 16k miles

Truck is garage kept and always has a Noco 5 amp trickle charger connected.

Used it today and drove a total of about 25 miles with 3-4 startups running errands. Went to leave the last location and truck would click once and then no start. Gauges would light up but that was it. I was able to use a jump start pack and the truck started. The voltage on the screen then showed 14.3.

Once I got it home, I plugged the trickle charger back in and it showed green color or “full” after about 10-15 minutes. I unplugged the trickle charger and checked the voltage of each battery. The driver side showed 13.2 volts and the passenger side showed 13.19 volts. I checked again about 6 hours later and each showed 13.05 volts.

Any ideas on what is going on? Is there any other troubleshooting before just swapping the batteries? I am no electrical whiz but it seems weird it would be so dead it only clicked once. Then show fully charged after a short drive and trickle top off.

Thank you for any help!

 

[jetlag]

those batteries are 4-5 years old. You are lucky they lasted this long. My '21 Laramie 3500 did the same thing after running 2-3 errands, it died at Lowes. This was last year and around 50K miles.

 

[securityguy]

Hi everyone,

I have a question and curious if anyone has advice on the best direction.

2021 2500 6.7 with 16k miles

Truck is garage kept and always has a Noco 5 amp trickle charger connected.

Used it today and drove a total of about 25 miles with 3-4 startups running errands. Went to leave the last location and truck would click once and then no start. Gauges would light up but that was it. I was able to use a jump start pack and the truck started. The voltage on the screen then showed 14.3.

Once I got it home, I plugged the trickle charger back in and it showed green color or “full” after about 10-15 minutes. I unplugged the trickle charger and checked the voltage of each battery. The driver side showed 13.2 volts and the passenger side showed 13.19 volts. I checked again about 6 hours later and each showed 13.05 volts.

Any ideas on what is going on? Is there any other troubleshooting before just swapping the batteries? I am no electrical whiz but it seems weird it would be so dead it only clicked once. Then show fully charged after a short drive and trickle top off.

Thank you for any help!

13.19 versus 13.05 is negligible and there will always be a little parasitic draw from something in the truck. A loss of 0.14V is not something I'd be overly concerned about. However, as @jetlag stated above, if these batteries are the originals, I would definitely replace them as are outside of your comfort level with a ~5 year old battery. Personally, I like the X2 Power from Batteries Plus. They are pricey but they are also the best battery many can buy for your truck and they always have on-line coupons. COSTCO and Walmart also have good batteries for far cheaper if you're on a budget.

 

[CdnHO]

The computer prevents the starter from engaging below a certain voltage. Not like trucks of old where the starter turned over slow or the relay buzzed. Three years is about it for the OEM batteries.

 

[Trash Panda]

Time for a pair of Walmart everstart AGM’s, I wager. Those OEM batteries are notoriously bad.

Best combo of price, warranty, and longevity in the game. Don’t waste your coin on overpriced boutique batteries unless you really just like looking at expensive bricks of plastic under the hood. Costco/interstate options are also solid.

 

[Ram25002021]

Thanks all. I will just go with new batteries then. I suppose even if voltage shows ok, CCA could not be sufficient to start. I think my biggest question was if there was something more occurring but sounds like and hopefully it’s just a battery replacement.

 

[Trash Panda]

If you’re not convinced, you can always load test them, but that seems more effort than it’s worth to me on 5 year old batteries with no warranty.

Static voltage doesn’t tell the whole story.