Hi, I have had the same problem with pt cruiser, very frustrating I was ready to set fire to it!! After spending lots of money trying to figure out what it was I gave up and decided to sell.
The car has been sitting on the drive because no one wants to buy it. I was messing around with it the other day and on the ignition when you turn it off it clicks back twice(mine has a button to release the key), I have been turning it all the way back to remove the key. I found that I could still remove the key if I just turn it back one click. Sounds ridiculous but since I have been doing this it has started every time.

 

Mine's been fine for over 3weeks now, but it has it's annual SNCT (M.O.T.)visit in the morning so fingers crossed !

 

Passed its test with a few cautionary items to look at before next year. but overall very happy for the car and my wallet !

 

Just a mention -- to try and establish my parasitic/invisible battery drain, I pulled fuse IOD and the alarm went off. I stopped it eventually, but had to desist so as not to upset the neighbors!

Leedsman.

 

3Just curious when I switch off ignition and pull out the key, sometimes the radio stays on. Whats causing this. ? I have to manually switch it off. Second, light on dash that shows trip also stays on long after I switched off and closed the doors. Surely that cant be right

when I bought the car I remember seller saying there was a way of making sure all interior lights were off apart from visual check. Any suggestions please

 

Check the position of your key when you remove it.
When you turn your key all the way and remove it, you are on "acc position" meaning all kinds of devices keep active.
Remove the key 1 click back, when the key is in line with the little *** on the outer ring of the lock. That is the position it should be when you leave the car. The radio will stop playing as soon as you open the door or after a few seconds.

 

Hi everyone I need help with my 2007 Dakota it is draining my battery.i can leave it for a day then the next day couldn't start it...I did put new battery in it. I am getting a milliamp drain, then I took the IOD fuse out and put it back in and it rebooted itself back to normal for a short period of time....Help!!!!

 

There must be umpteen posts in the past about this very subject, so homework is needed here. There are indeed some of mine.
You can at least prevent tearing your hair out over this sometimes baffling lack of battery power on starting by fitting a "battery isolating switch" to the battery +ve post.
Simply swich off at night when finished with it, switch on before starting next day.


Since many lighting features are microprocessor controlled, and there is the constant and permanent parasitic load on the battery of I seem to remember, 32mA., this irritating problem is not confined to this make of car by any means.
Microprocessors in cars can be glitched-up by voltage spikes on the 12volt line. This loss of random bits in control data can and does make micros issue wrong instructions at inappropriate times. One way to make the micros re-initialize themselves is to disconnect the battery positive and ground the now loose connector to chassis for a few minutes. In the general wiring some manufacturers fit robust electrolytic capacitors to attempt to 'squash' voltage spikes on the +12volt line to microprocessor boards, but they don't always appear on the wiring diagrams. My Jaguar S-type had these unannounced capacitors all over the car. This is why simply disconnecting the battery for a few minutes doesn't always work. RAMs will hold onto their data even down to a volt or so -- I have tested this in the past an it is so. Electrolytic capacitors, especially big ones, can hold onto some charge for an hour or so.
Leedsman.