Mystery no crank no start left me stranded for a bit

Was it the GPS tracker some dealerships leave installed? I heard those GPS trackers drain batteries.


I wonder if they did a load test or just test the voltage.

 

Did you rule out parasitic draw from your aftermarket alarm?

 

This has not yet been objectively ruled out. But to my non professional opinion the likelihood is low as it has been installed since 2016/17 and the batteries haven't died til now.

Either way it's coming out soon to be sure.

Although like I wrote in the previous page...perhaps my passenger seat airbag could be a cause since I've been noticing the passenger air bag on/off amber light in the center console has been going on and off at random without anyone in the passenger seat.

But I would have thought something like that would have popped some codes on the OBD scanner

 

Then the battery would have not started the truck in the OPs first post.

 

That's exactly what I've been thinking too and why I'm so stumped

 

Does anyone know when the center console "passenger airbag off" light is supposed to be illuminated?

That light comes on and off randomly with no passenger sitting in the front seat. Is this normal?. Should it be off all the time with no front passenger?

 

it should be illuminated showing the "airbag is off" when nobody is sitting in the passenger seat

 

Alright thanks good to know. The owners manual is a little vague. Thankfully when there's a passenger the "passenger airbag on" is always illuminated

 

the way I believe it works- if the sensor senses some weight, but not heavy enough to activate the passenger side airbags. If there’s nothing on the seat at all, it should not be on. The goal is sense there’s a child in the seat, and if turned on, the airbags could cause more harm than good.

 

Under your passenger seat check that the connections aren't soft set. I believe it's the yellow connector. Good luck. Seat shouldn't forget the zero point and you can turn on the truck and push down on the passenger seat to see if the Seatbelt/AB indicators come on and then turn off when you take your weight off the seat

 

There's a lot of hair splitting and penisery in this thread arguing over the definition of what being stranded means. Wow.

OP... I handled automotive on the professional side for 20 years, and if anything got hammered into my head during my time wrenching and performing diags on I don't know how many cars, it's this:

- Any no start condition immediately warrants a battery test both via static voltage check and a load test (if it is internally defective and intermittently going bad sometimes SEVERAL load tests) before any further inspections are performed. It's actually more or less a silent industry standard when a vehicle rolls or gets towed into any shop with competent techs.

- Aftermarket alarms these days really suck. The last time I remember them having relevancy in the industry is in the 90's where I feel like they peaked out as far as capability is concerned. Often, they cause more harm than good on these newer vehicles and can actually interfere with normal/ reliable operations.
TLDR: RIP THAT CRAP OUT.

If you feel that the truck is still questionable as far as reliability goes I would keep the truck limited to duties around town and only that until you are fully confident that the issues are resolved.

I saw a mention of a scan gauge somewhere in the thread. Always an excellent tool and a great suggestion. Data access and readouts on the fly are very important in a vehicle, no matter what they are used for.

 

Bad battery won't necessarily crank if it doesn't have adequate charge especially if you started the vehicle, then drove it while your charging system wasn't recharging the battery properly and every electrical system drew amperage off the battery as you drove it to the fishing hole.

Today's aftermarket batteries are hot garbage. As someone that ran a side business doing customer order battery direct from battery manufacturers to my customer, I have a better understanding of batteries than most.

If it ain't Interstate....you're rolling the dice with what you bought. Auto Zone (dura last) are complete garbage right off the shelf. Advance Autos pre-Die Hard batteries were unreliable after about 6-9 months.

If you recently bought one of those batteries and want to swap to an interstate battery, call the store you bought it from. Explain when you bought the battery and explain that you've already had to buy a replacement because you were left stranded and were stuck buying another brand. Most parts store folks will pro-rate the refund of the purchase. If they give you pushback, read the fine print regarding the battery replacement, if it doesn't exclusively state battery replacement, pro-rated refund with purchase of replacement battery, you've got the upper hand.

Good luck

 

This is why I only touch AGM or lithium at this point. Northstar, X2Power, or Odyssey. In no particular order. I don't trust any of those lead acid batteries at this point, because I agree, they do suck.

If I'm looking for cheap power to burn on something outside of vehicles I'll go pick up a Neverstart over from Walmart but to date I haven't done that yet.

 

I was under the impression that the 3rd gen 2.7 with stock tune couldn't properly run an AGM battery?

 

Correct it just wont charge it enough with the stock tune, you can trickle charge it at home once a month but honestly you should have a tune anyway. Being able to run an agm is a plus but there is a lot more benefits than just that. I run a costco agm stock size with a tune

 

But the jumper cable clamps or battery tester clamps usually upset the bad battery terminal enough to make it work again…sort of…for the time being

 

Fucking VWs. Don't even get me started...

 

I believe you are right. I don't own a 3rd gen though so I don't know the deep intricate details of that.

 

That should not be happening. It needs to sense a certain weight (I want to say 50 pounds but don't quote me) to turn the light off and activate the bag for deployment if needed.

 

Check this thread but I've never heard of any reason as to why AGM cannot be used to replace conventional lead acid. NASCAR and several other competitive vehicle organizations have adopted AGM for its durability and better performance for 30+ years.

The technology behind the AGM battery in terms of charging is similar to lead acid in that it does not require any type of "regulator" or monitor for each cell within the battery the way lithium ion does. That said, as long as the AGM replacement battery you buy is listed as the same battery production family number, the cranking amps/cold cranking amps and voltage should be the same.

Clarification here is important...
Oftentimes folks will opt to buy an AGM battery that is an *upgrade* from their stock OEM battery.

Example
Stock OE 12V battery has 600 amps
New AGM upgrade 12V battery has 1100 amps

The stock alternator charging output likely would not be sufficient to keep the new AGM charged(by their theory).

Consider this though...
The only thing you have changed is the battery. That said your starting circuit/system still draws the same cranking amps and the charging system still produces the same output cranking amps to charge the battery. Thats a net zero change to the entire starting/charging/battery storage system if you follow the pluses/minuses.