Brother's girlfriend's battery dead

[The motor guy]

She goes to the store to get her nails done, then the truck didn't start, so they called me to go give her a jump. So here I am in this tiny parking lot blocking in in like three cars and wouldn't you know it one of the people I block in has to leave lol. I figured it was the alternator since she made it to the store first thing in the morning, then didn't start after that. Didn't have a multimeter on hand to see if it was actually charging and these newer vehicles control their own headlights, so I couldn't see if the headlights got dimmer after shutting the truck off. Apparently the auto parts store isn't capable of testing a battery correctly, which isn't surprising because they said it passed with flying colors. A few days later they tell me they put a new battery an alternator in. She's getting a noco 5 battery charger for Christmas now. That battery was dead as a door nail though because it still barely started even on the jumper cables. Either that or my last ground connection wasn't good enough. I usually ground it to the lifting eye on my cummins, but I don't think it was making good contact this time.

 

[Danno]

Year, make and model of car always useful info.
Did the alternator test bad?
If a battery goes dead, alternators will not charge it back to full.
Alternators are more of a maintainer.
I have cars on the lot that will not stay running when they have a dead battery unless a battery booster is left on the battery while you drive it.
The 2025 Rams are "fun".
They have the stop/start battery next to the main battery. The Stop/start is next to the firewall.
Quite often they have zero battery power - as in nothing. The way the start them is you boost the stop/start battery. All good at that point.
If they have sat on the lot for a bit, like 30 days, i have to double pack them to move them, one Noco for the main battery and one Noco for the stop/start battery.

 

[The motor guy]

Year, make and model of car always useful info.
Did the alternator test bad?
If a battery goes dead, alternators will not charge it back to full.
Alternators are more of a maintainer.
I have cars on the lot that will not stay running when they have a dead battery unless a battery booster is left on the battery while you drive it.
The 2025 Rams are "fun".
They have the stop/start battery next to the main battery. The Stop/start is next to the firewall.
Quite often they have zero battery power - as in nothing. The way the start them is you boost the stop/start battery. All good at that point.
If they have sat on the lot for a bit, like 30 days, i have to double pack them to move them, one Noco for the main battery and one Noco for the stop/start battery.

It's a 2014 dodge ram 1500 5.7 hemi, I don't think it has the stop start feature thank god. I haven't heard any more complaints, so I think it's fixed. I have a feeling they put a new battery in just to be safe and it probably wasn't needed.

 

[Danno]

At that age, not surprised if it needed an alternator and battery.
What are the miles on it?

 

[The motor guy]

At that age, not surprised if it needed an alternator and battery.
What are the miles on it?

150,000 miles the battery was 3 years old, so I think it still probably had another year, but it could have been pooched if the alternator was hit or miss for a while. I think it had 3900hrs on the engine too.

 

[The motor guy]

It taps like a type writer for the first few minutes when first started. Not sure if that's bad or not with these hemis. I've heard it's normal and others have said it's the beginning of the end. They make so many junk engines nowadays.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I'd probably have that tapping checked. I have couple friends with same truck/motor.

1 had the extended warranty and thought he had the hemi "tick" so brought it in. The replaced his exhaust manifolds and now it's quiet.

The other with no extended warranty thought he had an exhaust leak as it got quieter when warmed up. He's now spending I think $7k he said for a new motor as the bad lifter trashed his camshaft and metal stuff all through the motor.

 

[Donald]

Or it needed only a battery or an alternator, not both. But sold them both anyway.

 

[The motor guy]

Or it needed only a battery or an alternator, not both. But sold them both anyway.

Probably just the alternator. The battery was only 3 years old, so I think it probably had another year

 

[The motor guy]

I'd probably have that tapping checked. I have couple friends with same truck/motor.

1 had the extended warranty and thought he had the hemi "tick" so brought it in. The replaced his exhaust manifolds and now it's quiet.

The other with no extended warranty thought he had an exhaust leak as it got quieter when warmed up. He's now spending I think $7k he said for a new motor as the bad lifter trashed his camshaft and metal stuff all through the motor.

Yeah. Well they're grown adults. Sometimes it's best to not be the bearer of bad news all the time