Is my battery shot?

The other night I forgot to close the driver door completely when I parked in my garage so the headlights never turned off. Of course the battery was dead the next morning.

Yesterday, while working on my truck I had the doors open for a couple of hours on and off, but never started it up. When I went to park it back in the garage the battery was dead again.

Did I hose my battery? The truck is 26 months old.

 

If it keep dying don’t tell the dealer what you did and have it replaced. A lot of the batteries in these trucks have to get replaced.

I didn’t do anything like you did and my battery died at 16k miles.

 

Get it tested. Most local auto parts stores will do it for free.

 

My battery was dead after 18 months

 

OP - do you live in a cold region? Probably the combination of the cold snap most of us has experienced plus the events you describe has collectively drained the battery. I wouldn't assume the battery is automatically defective.

Also, I thought our trucks were programmed to shut off electrical activity after a few minutes with the engine turned off?

Sometimes a cell within the battery goes bad as well. It would still be useable but it can affect starting on cold days.

I would get it tested for sure. They'll be able to tell you if it needs replaced. I'd go to AutoZone, Advanced Auto, Pep Boys, etc...

Firestone will test it as well.

 

Nope. Socal. Thanks. I'll get it tested.

 

Sometime really hot weather can affect it as well. Let us know what it turns out to be.

 

Heat is harder on car batteries than cold.

 

My battery didn't die completely but it was only holding <10v and while it didn't strand me it was taking longer and longer for the engine to spark. Rather than wait for it to die, or mess w/ warranty for another Johnson Controls battery, I bit the bullet and replaced with a X2Power/Northstar AGM and will not be concerned about leaving my doors open that long

 

Get it tested and see if its covered under warranty if it needs to be replaced.

 

This is correct.
I was at dealership today getting tailgate key made. Sign on desk showed "expected battery life" in regions of USA. The southern more heat regions had less life expectancy than the north. I honestly thought the cold was tougher on batteries.

Last weekend, I put my truck in the garage after a car wash. I left all four doors open to dry (after wiping down rubber seals and door jams). The center display on dash did go out on its own. I manually shut overhead lights off.

 

Did you check the water levels of your Battery?

 

Did it get properly charged after the full discharge? It may just need to be recharged on trickle charger. But if others are saying they have a bad batch of batteries it could be that also.

 

As suggested, get it tested and some places like Autozone will actually try to charge it for you.

Could save you a day at the dealer.