Mark.M.E60 Posted October 24, 2021 Report Share Posted October 24, 2021 Hey all, currently trying to sort out my dads dodge. specs; 2017 Dodge Journey V6 issues; - battery drains when not in use. - alternator was burnt out. (Replaced) - drawing high voltage 14.7(ish) Volts when idling. - Car will die mid drive (happened twice so far) seems to be a major power drain somewhere. But it doesn’t explain why it’s pulling high voltage. we’ve had the the car checked over at a mechanic. They thought the issue was the alternator. Had it refurbished (parts had shown high wear) still the issue persists. Next step is to buy a new battery (old battery was only 8 months old.) would I be correct to assume that the voltage regulator has gone bad? Do these cars even have a voltage regulator?? any help would be highly appreciated!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John/Horace Posted October 24, 2021 Report Share Posted October 24, 2021 Welcome to the site. The voltage regulator is integrated into the alternator. So the new/rebuilt alternator would have changed it probably. How much voltage was old alternator putting out? Battery can take over charging for a short time, I wouldn’t change it yet unless it’s not holding a charge. A bad alternator can cause a battery to go flat by itself. But more likely there is something drawing power over night. You could remove one fuse at a time and see if amperage draw can be isolated to one circuit only. Top of fuse has two small points to measure power on circuit as well. Meter needs to be set to milli amp setting, internal meter fuse usually 10 amps and easy to zap. If you remove battery post and carefully measure amp draw for whole system it should be approx 100 mill amps after 15 mins sitting. jkeaton 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yyz Posted October 25, 2021 Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 If you read 14.7 v at the battery when the vehicle is at idle , that is charging the battery.Normal. Define what drains battery when not in use.Days? Overnight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John/Horace Posted October 25, 2021 Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 Blue tooth module bad (staying on) is most common over night drain. Pull that fuse first, search there are post's on site about that. I think 14.7 slightly high, but cheap hand held multi meters are not always super accurate. Find parasitic drain issue first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark.M.E60 Posted October 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 - John thanks for that! I’ll have a look this afternoon. I cannot remember the old alternators measurements unfortunately. But after inspecting the parts that were referb’d. I noticed there were some warn bits and abit if burn marks. in terms of the voltage reading. 14.7V is the average as it fluctuates between 14.2V and sometimes 14.9V current/draw readings come directly from the OBDII port via a HUD were currently looking at getting the battery replaced. As we fell the old alternator had killed it. I’ll get into doing a drain test. Thanks for the advice. also had herd about the Bluetooth causing it to drain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark.M.E60 Posted October 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 - YYZ I was told 14.7 is a little high. it drains over the space of 2 - 8 hours. we believed the alternator was fried. Not charging. Since replacing that we now this that the bad alternator fried the battery ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John/Horace Posted October 25, 2021 Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) Fuse 131 in panel. Edited October 25, 2021 by John/Horace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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