I've been having issues with a battery drain and after two years... Finally, I found this.
Pretty sure this ground strap is attached from the engine to body and then a wire attached to that runs to the battery on the other side...
Removing multiple fuses helped reduce drain, but i'm wondering if this can actually cause a drain. I mean the alternator is on the battery after all, no?
The battery does actually drain, and it isn't simply a charging issue. There could be a charging issue because of this, but the battery when fully charged still dies after a while. (10 Amp plug in charger or long drive... doesn't start after a few hours).
Additional info. Battery booster pack reads 13.8 V once car starts up, but rarely starts when its not boosted or charged with a 10 Amp or higher charger. 2 Amp battery maintainer is too weak to hold the charge.
Also wondering what the other ground next to it is? The wire that broke off attaches to body then goes straight to battery. the other wire... didn't get a chance to check if it runs to the alternator or not...
No it wouldn't drain the battery, but it would prevent it from charging.
... and a battery that doesn't get charged properly will suffer and could experience self discharge. Get the battery tested and replace if necessary. The body ground strap is for all your accessories. (lights, etc). So that will affect the performance of the electronics. Replace.
@mountainmanjoe
Thanks for the quick response. Time for a new car.
if that's the only problem with the car, then you can easily fix it yourself with around $120 in parts
@mountainmanjoe
Ordered a new ground strap and a deep socket set to get the battery stuff out the way ($80 CAD total). Dodge Journeys are horrible... And not fun to work on. The battery does charge up to 100% on the 10 Amp charger, and holds enough amps to get the car started up again a few seconds to a few minutes after it turning it off. Dead if I leave it for over an hour though. If this problem doesn't fix it, I am getting a RAV4. I'll update if this fixes the problem. Thanks again!
a battery can charge up, and start the vehicle, but still be damaged. The electrodes inside flake off and cause internal shorts which drain it. Or so I hear.
@mountainmanjoe
How much of an issue would it be if I just removed the old ground strap and plugged in the new one without disconnecting anything from the actual battery (in terms of getting shocked and such)? If it's a must, I'll go through all the steps... but it is a lot of work with the tools i have. If disconnecting the battery is a must... Any idea if just disconnecting the ground on the booster connector pack area would be sufficient? I've never actually taken the battery out on this car yet and haven't looked at the entire wiring.
as long as you don't ever touch positive to negative then you'll be fine.
Dodge journey is the bane of my existence. I would recommend a new car but thats for other reasons. The alternator and electrical failures are common on these. I'd say put a new battery and alternator in it and sell it.
@cjbman
Alternator is perfectly fine. Battery... probably not so great anymore. Transmission went out a while back, wiper motors seized up... sanded the back one, replaced the front... interior dimmer relay went out... Getting a new one (definitely not a journey) in December I think. I'll see if a new ground strap fixes it before getting rid of it though.