Dontbesojumpy

Oh wow, thank you for this--this was really helpful. I followed ya'll's advice, pulled the battery and took it to someone with no stakes in selling me a new battery. She showed me how it held a charge but wasn't healthy enough for what the car demanded (sounds familiar huh??) and send me down the right path. The only issue: Their literature showed that my vehicle took a Group 26 Battery, not a Group 86 as was replaced. Everything except for the physical size of the battery was the exact same as the battery being replaced--a total 1:1--Cold Cranking Amps, Voltage, term. post location/orientation and fitment were all A-OK, too--the compartment space limitations was a consideration... I will be overjoyed if a simple battery swap resolves all the issues--I could use the win.

Sorry--I didn't mention any of that because it's certainly not the original battery. I have no idea what # lifespan battery it is, if that matters. We can safely mark "it's a 9 year old battery" off the possibilities--it's certainly been replaced before dad died (I inherited this).

Bear with me, because I've already dug in pretty deep-- 2015 Dodge Journey Crossroads with less than 50k miles-- Potentially unrelated, but I installed some stand-alone LED low beam bulbs that had an integrated fan system--so they were "plug and play." They failed IMMEDIATELY, and when I tried to seek the manufacturer for troubleshooting, I found they had been kicked off Amazon and the product/page has entirely been scrubbed from existence--it appears the headlights were massively defective to the point they just nuked the entire product. I cannot get a response from the company. So, the bulbs failed and before I could even change my headlights back to the old bulbs, my battery started dying. I have a 12v charger, so I've been able to recharge the battery, but I still have the same problems. Here are my findings: 1A: When I can get the Check Engine Light on, the code is p0562 "low voltage supply for an interval of time." This is largely meaningless and will come and go off and on (it doesn't seem to mean anything other than the battery was only 10 volts due to the drain)...UNLESS YOU KNOW SOMETHING I DON'T. 1B. The battery will charge up to 12 volts with a charger. 2A. When I disconnect the negative terminal wire from the post under the hood, thus "isolating the battery from the car," it will hold the 12v charge for days. 2B. When connected, the battery drains down to 10v and stays around there. 2C. I had hoped unplugging the negative post under the hood (again, the battery is not accessible so all one can do is remove the under-hood connections)--my hope was this would reset the electrical system totally, resetting any bugs or malfunctions, but the radio never seems to reset. I even removed both the positive and negative posts from the underhood terminals, left for a long while, but the radio presets still never reset...? 3. The car doesn't want to start even when the battery is at 12 volts. It will behave as if there's not enough power to start, but sometimes if I keep trying, it will start up. Check Mark in the "bad battery" section??? 4. The alternator is putting out 14v when the car is running--so that seems to be eliminated. 5. Parasitic Draw testing: I'm not a professional, but the only significant reading I can get was a small spike of voltage that dissipated, which seems to indicate regular "start-up" behavior. 6. I got real excited that I might have the same Bluetooth/Radio fuse power drain that many other Dodge Journey owners complain about. I removed the under-the-glove-box Radio Fuse, got the car started, and for the first time since this power issue started, I could rev over 3000 again. I fully expected to have a driveable vehicle today, even if the radio was AWOL, but-- The battery held the 12v charge even tho it was connected to the car overnight. (Victory? Not quite) The car still didn't want to start, and took several attempts--one of the things that helps when it doesn't want to start is taking my foot off the brake and cycling the start button from OFF to ACC to RUN, THEN pressing the pedal, and sometimes THEN it will start up (literally like "I don't want to" but I talk it into it). So, more marks in the bad battery column... **Even tho the radio fuse is removed, it's back to not revving over 3k. 7. The auto parts store test swear it's a bad battery. I do not on face value believe them, simply because I left a dome light on once and before I realized that was the problem, this same store did the same thing, swearing it was a bad battery, and wanted the $250 to replace it (they won't "replace it," I would have to find a mechanic or do that myself, the price was just the battery plus core charge). Now--while I don't believe their machine--it says "bad battery" every time the battery isn't at full charge--I am starting to wonder if my next step should be to pull the battery out and charge it up and have JUST THE BATTERY tested at a different store with an-house tester (not the cable/machine for under the hood). Doing this would give me a chance to inspect all the connections, the jumpers that run from the actual battery to the terminals under the hood-- I guess that's the next step? Pull the battery out?? Simply "replacing" the "bad battery" is a $$ ordeal, as you know--it's located under the wheel-well and no one, and I mean NO ONE locally is willing to deal with it outside of the dealership or an actual mechanic's shop. So it's more labor for me-- The battery O'Reilly's wants me to buy is $220 plus $22 core charge. I have read so many forum posts where people have had battery drains like mine, and kept throwing new batteries at the car without any real fix--I'm trying to benefit from their previous hardships and use that wisdom to find real solutions. I really hope someone has some advice, I'm stymied--