Battery frequently dies on 2014 GMC 2500 pickup???

[beau159]

Has anyone had troubles with their battery dying repeatedly?

We have a 2014 GMC 2500 pickup (gas engine) with about 20,000 miles on it. It’s primarily used as the “extra” vehicle and as my vehicle to tow my horse trailer.

I hopped in it this morning because I was going to take it to work today. We haven’t driven it in about 2 weeks. Tried to turn it over and nothing. Battery is dead.

This exact same thing happened a few months ago. It is still under warranty so we took it to the dealership and they put a new battery in it. It had sat for a couple weeks and the battery died.

We have an appointment set up for Friday at the dealership but it sounds like they are already dismissing it. They claim there are so many computer programs/systems that run in the newer vehicles, that if we don’t use the pickup every day, it’s going to drain the battery and this is going to happen.

I don’t believe it. There has to be something going wrong that is drawing too much power and causing the battery to drain. (Quite a few years ago, the battery died on my brand new Ford Fusion. Turned out the radio unit was shorting out and that is what caused the battery to die.) There has to be something that is causing it. It’s ridiculous that I can’t let the pickup sit for 2 weeks without driving it.

Has anyone had this happen to them?

Any ideas or what the problem was in your situation?

[clanter]

might be corrosion inside the battery cables where they are connecting to the battery … that was the problem with my MG

[Ready_To_Riot]

If it were sitting for months at a time, then they would be right, but two weeks is fine to sit and it should start. I’d tell them if that is truly the case, then you would like research from the manufacturer given to you to prove such. Until that is given, keep sending it back. Something is broken. I don’t know enough about cars to tell you what it is, but it’s definitely something

[IPEsq]

Do you have any aftermarket electronic things installed? Trailer brake controller? Alarm system? Something is using too much power when “off”

[gumtree]

Assuming the Dealer performed a pretty simple diagnostic and checked for excess voltage drain, checked with a volt meter to see if the sitting power demand meets factory specs. If so I have to side with what they told you.

People want a lot of bells and whistles these days. These things require constant power. Cars/trucks are designed for the average driver and average use. The majority don’t sit unused for for weeks.

You can install a trickle charger which is a simple DIY but that would require it to be parked where it can be plugged in. Or buy a solar trickle charger. Or install a battery disconnect. But I would check with the Dealer to see if this would affect the things.

[beau159]

IPEsq We are the second owners of the truck. We purchased it from a dealership in South Dakota (we live in North Dakota). I don’t believe anything after market was installed on it (by first owner); I believe everything is factory installed. We did not install anything.

Seems absolutely crazy to me that engineers can’t design a vehicle that doesn’t DIE after sitting for 2 weeks. (Probably the same way they can’t design a car that gets 50+ mpg and isn’t a hybrid. :eek: )

And I say that with love … as my brother is a mechanical engineer. :lol: And yes, he agrees with me my truck should NOT be dead after 2 weeks. Too bad he’s not here to check it himself.

[BUSY]

Friend experienced this - finally it was discovered that it was due to an interior light not turning off - check all switches - probably not the case for you - but is what happened to one if my friends … three new batteries installed . It was a light on the side of ceiling …near where you hang a coat .

[fanfayre]

You do have a block heater and you do keep it plugged in? Since you are in N. Dakota and temps do tend to be hard on batteries…

[vineyridge]

If I lived in ND and wasn’t going to be using my truck for two weeks in the dead of winter, I’d attach a trickle charger for the time that I wasn’t going to be using the truck.

I’d also say that my experience with my diesel F250 is that the batteries wear out really quickly; I’m lucky to get a couple of years out of a set of very heavy duty batteries.

Can you plug your truck into 120v AC power for the block heater?

[gumtree]

“It was a light on the side of ceiling …near where you hang a coat”

What year make and model? I’ve had several since 2001 all of them have timers/sensors that turn off interior lights if left on. They come back on when the car/truck is started. This is a pretty standard feature in most cars/trucks for many years. Maybe very base models don’t have it.

“You do have a block heater and you do keep it plugged in?”

Block heaters will do nothing for the battery. Other than making the car/truck start easier which put less strain on the battery. When I lived in the frigid Colorado mountains we used battery electric blankets and block heaters.

“Seems absolutely crazy to me that engineers can’t design a vehicle that doesn’t DIE after sitting for 2 weeks”

Anything is possible if people are willing to pay the price. Manufactures cater/design to the norm not the exception. They way you use this truck is the exception not the norm. As I tried to explain. Batteries do not perform well in subfreezing temps. Even less so in extreme cold. Especially when left sitting without an occasional charging. Ask your brother to explain. It’s basic Electrochemistry. Kind of the principle of Absolute Zero, Quantum mechanics

Dismiss my comment suggestions makes no difference to me. If you know someone with a voltmeter and knows how to use it. Disconnect the positive cable clamp the voltmeter in between the battery and the cable and see what it reads. Should be able to find the factory specs on the internet and see if it is drawing more power than it should.

Could be a stuck open sensor, solenoid, bad ground etc. Which can be a PITA to figure out. But if you can prove to the dealer there is excess power draining the battery and it is under warranty they have to figure it out.

[kcmel]

This happened to me recently and I did some internet research. If you do find too much current drain with your voltmeter you can pull out each fuse individually to find out where it’s coming from. For me though it turned out to be a bad alternator lol (the obvious first place to look!).

[Hilary]

To quote our dear departed Willem: dis, it be wrong. My 2013 GMC 2500 often sits for a week or two or three at a time and it never has any battery problems, even then I leave my phone charger or something in it. The only time I had a battery problem with my previous truck (2009 Chevy 2500) was when I left the lights on.

Wonder if the first owners of the truck turned it in for a reason.

[walkers]

I had a nearly new BMW that had the same problem. After much work with the dealer it was found that the radio was draining the battery even when turned off. Go to a truck forum and search you may find the answer there like we did. The dealer replaced the radio for free as many cars had the same issue.

[snowrider]

Does it have a remote start? Those are notorious for screwing up electricals, even the dealer installed ones.

I’d also second the “was it plugged in” question? If you never plug it in and don’t drive it much it’s pretty hard on the battery to cold start the truck plus you’re not fully recharging it and they will die sooner. You are lucky to get two winters out of an average battery if you’re cold starting it below 10 degrees and not driving much (ask me how I know). You can either plug it in to warm up a few hours before you drive it and make sure you drive it a good long ways or you can buy a huge expensive battery to improve the odds of it starting any given time. If it’ll fit in the engine compartment.

[eponacelt]

No advice for you, but we had this problem for years with our 2007 GMC 2500 that we just traded in this year. If it sat for more than a week, the battery would be dead. For a while, we thought it was the rechargeable flashlight we’d installed, but even with brand new batteries and that flashlight removed, we still had the problem. It died twice on us with batteries that were less than a year old while we were on a cross country trip (thankfully with our Airstream, and not with horses) this summer. My very mechanically talented husband could never figure out why this happened, and ultimately we just got rid of it for this problem and a few other issues we thought would be looming on the horizon.

All this is a very long way of saying that I’ve known this problem in older GMCs, was pissed off by the problem, and agree with the posters who tell you to take it to the dealership and demand they give you an answer. “Computer things” is a piss poor excuse.

[Hilary]

What if next time it sits you unhook the battery? Then when you hook it up after a couple of weeks and find the battery drained, you’ll know the battery itself is no longer any good.

If you find the battery is just fine if it’s been disconnected you can either just unhook it every time, or hunt down what’s draining it.

[allons-y]

I had the same sort of issue with my Dodge. It only took 3 days. I took the easy way (hard way) the first go-round. Get to work, pop hood, disconnect battery so I could get home that night. GRRRRR 2nd go round:start pulling fuses til it doesnt happen anymore. Not good for any vehicle. 3rd go round: (Shop never could figure it out BTW) Google search on truck forum. Turns out it’s very common for this model, something in the horn shorts and kills your battery. So I just disconnected the horn, restored all other fuses, now all is well. Other than no horn…

So, do a serch on your truck forum, I almost guarantee you’ll find the answer.

[allons-y]

I had the same sort of issue with my Dodge. It only took 3 days. I took the easy way (hard way) the first go-round. Get to work, pop hood, disconnect battery so I could get home that night. GRRRRR 2nd go round:start pulling fuses til it doesnt happen anymore. Not good for any vehicle. 3rd go round: (Shop never could figure it out BTW) Google search on truck forum. Turns out it’s very common for this model, something in the horn shorts and kills your battery. So I just disconnected the horn, restored all other fuses, now all is well. Other than no horn…

So, do a serch on your truck forum, I almost guarantee you’ll find the answer.

[hokiekat]

Two weeks is a bit quick to have a battery drain on its own. Vehicles are designed to have a minimum time - typically 30-45 days (the time they’d be on a boat to ship overseas) before the battery dies. I say this from experience, as I worked as an automotive engineer at a major OEM.

That being said and as others have mentioned, vehicles these days do have a TON of accessories that draw power continuously. (OnStar, XM radio, Wifi, alarm systems, etc etc). Sounds like a light could be left on, a phone charger plugged in, something shorting out, or alternator not working at full capacity. Perhaps you aren’t driving the truck long enough for the battery to recharge after it sits for two weeks?

Whatever it is, your dealer SHOULD work for you. I don’t go to dealers because if I can’t do it myself I’ve found much more honest, reliable help other places.

I’d drive it on a LONG trip first, recharge the battery. Get the battery checked at an auto parts store (usually they will do it for free). Search all the automotive forums you can find. They really are a huge resource!

Best of luck!

[jdobbs64]

Park it, turn off the radio and the HVAC, unplug any auxillary stuff like phone chargers and GPS units, and wait two weeks.

I bet it’s the radio or the AC. Turn it all off and see what you get.