The battery goes dead on the2004 pacifica. The dealer checked the charging system and the battery and found no problems. Every month or so the battery goes completely dead. The dealer told me they had 3 other pacificas of the same year with the same issue. No corrections have been found that they know of. Jump start the car and it does fine for a couple weeks. Some times it goes months before the issue occurs.
There is obviously a draw from somewhere, and if your dealer doesn't have a mechanic who knows how to narrow it down to the circuit causing the problem, then I'd question there ability. With that said, when all else fails, you simply remove negative connection off battery first, then positive. Take a 12 volt test light & secure one end to the + clamp or connector, and the other end to the battery+ post. Now connect your negative back up to the battery as it was. If that test light, lights up, there is a draw. It will be brighter, the more draw there is. Your going to have some, just from your radio memory alone, but now comes the fun part. All you do is pull the fuses one at a time, if light goes out, or dim's you've found a draw. When you have a real hard one to narrow down, you make sure you know where they all go back to, whether by your map at fuse box, or your own notes, and you pull them all out, and light should go out for sure, if not, there is another circuit or panel, or relay drawing the current. If it goes out, you start putting them back in one at a time, and when the light comes back on bright, you found the circuit. Mark that one down, pull the fuse back out, light off, now do the rest that you haven't checked yet, just to see if there is more than one draw causing the problem, if there is, mark it down, pull it out & continue on until all done. Now you/they narrowed it down or isolated the circuit causing the problem.
3,972 views
Usually answered in minutes!
I am a mechanic, well a truck mechanic, but I have checked the draw with an ammeter. That is where the problem is. When you check it you have your normal 1 or so amps in the beggining that goes away when the ecm cycles and the radio. Then you can't find any other draw. The car will be fine for weeks and even months before it goes dead again. In the beggining I thought my mother was leaving a light on or whatever. So I would check everything after jumping her car. A couple of times she would just go somewhere to eat and come out and the car would be dead. The dealer while it was under warranty put a new starter and alternater on just in case that was the problem. The dealer said they had a few other pacificas doing the same thing. I was hoping that someone knew of a bullitin or something out from Chrysler about the problem.
2004 Pacifica loaded. Have been careful not to leave any accessories on. Invariably happens after the car has been idle for a day or more. Chrysler refused to acknowledge the problem because we had an aftermarket command start installed (by a chrysler dealer at their recommendation). That has since been removed and still it dies after a day being idle. Out of warranty now so Chrysler dealers will only say that the battery drain is "within acceptable factory tolerances.
I doubt Lee Iacoca would accept those tolerance in his car.
Ian, Winnipeg Canada
×