OK, I'm at a loss. Get in the truck this morning, drive to work, park, click the remote twice to lock and arm, went inside to work. No worries, life is good, right?

So, eight hours later, I walk out to my truck, click the remote to unlock - expect to see the customary double-flash of the running lights...

But get nothing at all. Try again, nothing. Finally on the third try, it unlocks as I'm standing right outside the truck. No flashing of the lights.

I get in, key in ignition, turn and - nothing. VERY dim lights, crackles and buzzes - the types of things I've come to associate with dead batteries.

Sitting behind the wheel with ignition off and key removed tried remote again, still nothing. Battery connections both clean and snug. Figuring they must be dead, I closed the hood and again tried the remote to lock and arm. This time, it sounded normal. Unlocked, got flashing lights. Got in key in ignition, and with the exception of a longer than normal cranking time (about 5 seconds) it fired up as usual. Clock on radio reset to 1:00. Truck ran with no issues for the 30 mile trip home. Backed into the garage, shut it off. Cycled the ignition of and on about 6-8 times with no other problems apparent. Truck only has 42000 miles on it. WHAT GIVES? The truck is bone stock.

Appreciate any advice you guys can give. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/images/smilies/help.gif

my lights dont flash,just push remote twice to hear audible beep,but lately its been beeping twice???

Time to get it scanned for codes. Some codes don't showup until on the machine. Good luck..............SWH...

Well, got out there with the my smart charger and hooked it up to each battery to see what it would do. Battery on the passenger side charged up, but dropped off a good bit after a few minutes. Drivers side battery wanted NO PART of that charger. So, time to replace batteries. Not that Wally World would otherwise be my first choice - it was the ONLY choice at 9:30 at night in these parts. Could not believe the difference in starting after that. Alternator tested fine as well.

Hopefully that was all that was wrong and I'll be good to go for a couple of years.

you can check for a drain on the batery by turning off everything and unpluging the under hood light. keys out of ignition. disconect negative battery terminal and connect a test light to the negative battery terminal. next contact the test light to the negative cable.. if it lights up you have a drain or a draw on the battery. start pulling fuses until the light goes out. look to see what the fuse goes to.. bang you found your circuit that needs some attention... if you even have a drain.... but its possible if your batteries are draining on their own,,,,

Mine draws about 200 miliamps (0.2 amps) when it is sitting with nothing on. Just in case you have an ampmeter.

lb7up, you have a under the hood light? what year is your truck?

Could have been a short in a cell in the battery; slam a door, open and close the hood and it will work until the next bump in the road or door slam or hood closing. Had this problem in my 01 Suburban and it sounds like a similar problem.

Could have been a short in a cell in the battery; slam a door, open and close the hood and it will work until the next bump in the road or door slam or hood closing. Had this problem in my 01 Suburban and it sounds like a similar problem.


To be honest, that's exactly what I think it was, since it acted odd when attempting to charge it, and its "now it starts, now it doesn't" characteristic. In any event, life is good again. :cool:


Thanks for all the feedback, guys.

Dave

you can check for a drain on the batery by turning off everything and unpluging the under hood light. keys out of ignition. disconect negative battery terminal and connect a test light to the negative battery terminal. next contact the test light to the negative cable.. if it lights up you have a drain or a draw on the battery. start pulling fuses until the light goes out. look to see what the fuse goes to.. bang you found your circuit that needs some attention... if you even have a drain.... but its possible if your batteries are draining on their own,,,,
Careful with that. On old cars yes, that was a test that could be performed. However, now with all the computers, you have to allow time for the computers go into a sleep mode. You will generally have a 2-3 amp draw for a possible 2 min. Also with the newer trucks having the power down feature if you leave something on, its pretty rare, to have a battery killed. Unless you have an actual module that is not going to sleep for some reason. I have also had alarm systems cause this problem because it would not allow the RAP to time out.

cool, learn something new everyday on this place.... thanks for the info:cool2:



Careful with that. On old cars yes, that was a test that could be performed. However, now with all the computers, you have to allow time for the computers go into a sleep mode. You will generally have a 2-3 amp draw for a possible 2 min. Also with the newer trucks having the power down feature if you leave something on, its pretty rare, to have a battery killed. Unless you have an actual module that is not going to sleep for some reason. I have also had alarm systems cause this problem because it would not allow the RAP to time out.