I have to disconnect the battery to keep it from dying while sitting

Asked by randscaping Jan 01, 2018 at 10:34 PM about the 2004 Dodge Durango Limited 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I noticed one day after parking my 'rango that it started chiming when I
opened the door as if the key was still in the ignition. Of course the key was
out so I checked the dashboard, expecting all to be dark. Everything was
dark except the odometer and the shift indicator. My trim is the Limited
version so my headlights can be kept on automatic. I did some research and
narrowed the issue down to either the ignition cylinder or the ignition switch
(left side of the steering column beneath the combination directional arm).
With the battery still connected, I removed both of these and it is still
chiming. Same 2 things showing on the dash. Other than this the truck
operates perfectly normal including startup and shutdown. Any ideas?

2 Answers

I suspect that the ignition switch may still be the culprit if the chiming is due to a circuit being left or held open. so removing entirely the switch from the wiring harness would still leave the circuit open, right?

Ok here’s an update: I replaced the ignition switch component and am still getting the same issue. I removed the steel knee plate beneath the steering column and noticed that there was an aftermarket wire screwed to the steel bracket where the knee plate installs. Upon removing that wire, I noticed a desirable improvement: the radio clock now shuts off with vehicle shutdown(it previously stayed illuminated with the 2 indicators on the dash from the original post) and I no longer get a chime when I open the door. With all that being said, I left my truck sitting to see if maybe the ECM going to sleep would take care of shutting everything else off and not drain my battery, but no luck. The battery was drained enough to prevent starting within 3 hours. Any suggestions? I would really like to be able to fix this without having to route the negative battery cable into my cab to put a switch on it.

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