2004 Dodge Stratus, Battery Problems

by Claudia E.Lopez
(Corpus Christi, Texas)

I own a 04' Dodge status and about a month or two ago I was on the express way and the car began to slow down. I exited the express way quickly and it just stopped,overheated and had no juice to the battery at all. We bought a new battery in march because old one made the check engine light turn on. It never turned off after buying new one. It was needing jumped to get started before the new battery as well. I have brand new thermostat, so I really don't know what it would be. I really need your help and expert advice please.



Steve Says,


Hi, Claudia, thanks for using my website!

I'll address what I think is causing the battery problem you are having first. It sounds like you might have a problem with your alternator. This is the part that keeps your battery charged. If it went bad then it would not be charging your battery while you are driving and therefore your battery would just keep going dead. After you changed the battery it probably worked fine for a while because there was enough power in the new battery, but as that power was drained out (by all the electrical parts on your car) your car eventually died because there was no power left to keep it running. The first thing I would do if I were you is get your whole starting system analyzed. Have your battery and alternator load tested. This will tell you if your alternator is bad or not. I'm guessing that it is.

While you are having this all checked (you could also just do this now) you should check to be sure that your battery cables are clean and that they are connected tightly to the battery posts. If they are dirty or if they have loose connections it could cause all of the problems that you are having.

As far as your overheating problem goes, it is really hard to tell what might be causing that with the information that you have given. It could be that the cooling system fans stopped working because there was not enough power to run them. If this is the case then when you fix the alternator problem then the overheating problem should go away. You might just be low on coolant. This is something that is easy to check. Just look in your coolant reservoir (your owners manual will show you where it is) and see if the coolant is up to the level it should be (there should be a line on the reservoir). If it is not then you need to fill it, then try to find out where it is leaking.

I hope this has helped. Feel free to leave me a comment if you need more help and let me know when you find out the fix to this problem.