PT Cruiser

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I own a used 2001 Cruiser. From day one, the battery, which is fairly new, appears to have a drain on it that requires either use or charging every 4 days or so. There are blogs on the internet confirming similar issues from others, so i dont belive this is an isolated case. Could it just be the size of the battery itself…which is only half the size of a normal car battery?

2

Put a inline amp meter and then start pulling fuses to narrow it down.

3

Here is a good article on battery drain. It has picture. It has words, too. http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm

4

The turn signal switch, AKA multi function switch seem to go bad a lot on the PT. And when it does it can cause the fog lights to stay on, and possible other electrical drains after the car has been turned off. That would be the highest suspect thing to check first.

5

My girlfriend has owned a 2001 PT cruiser since day 1, and it still has the original size battery, so no, it’s not the size of the battery that is causing your issue.

BC.

6

I Noticed That There Is A Technical Service Bulletin #08-008-02 …
… for 2001 PT Cruisers, pertaining to “Excessive Ignition Off Draw Voltage”.

Does Your car have a Mopar Sub-Woofer? If so, read on.

This is for situations whereby the car won’t start (won’t crank) because of low battery voltage. It involves installing a jumper (part # 05093966AA) between the Mopar Sub-Woofer and the wiring harness, located by removing the upper left rear quarter trim panel, taking screws out of the lower trim panel, pulling it out a bit, unplugging the woofer’s harness and plugging in the jumper harness, and putting the trim back on.

There is also a procedure for properly diagnosing this problem before going through this, if that is desirable. This fix sounds like it’s not very expensive and pretty easy (.4 hours labor).

I hope this helps You! Good Luck!

7

Bladecutter, Do You Know If It Has A Mopar Sub-Woofer?

8

Did You Check It Out? Do You Have That Sub-Woofer?

9

Thank you so much for this info, I have been pulling my hair out trying to find that power drain. My cruiser has the sub-woofer in it and when I pulled out the power relay, the high current drain immediately stopped and dropped down to a more acceptable level. I was pulling over 180 milliamps before and now it is down to 40 milliamps. I did disconnect the yellow wire that was attached to the relay for now until I can get the parts I need to fix this. Thanks again.