[13DartGT84]

Hate to rehash this old thread, but this literally just happened to me yesterday. 2013 Dart GT. Go to start the car and all my gauges flashed and cycled through all notification symbols, windshield wipers cycled, needles danced and I just heard the clicking sound. Just as others had said, swapped it out with a new one and all is good now. I had AutoZone run a voltage test because mine couldn't even read it, and it keep coming up for them as "Unstable battery. Do not use." I'm really surprised my OEM battery lasted nearly 7 years with no issues.

 

[JonsGT]

Problem sounds like a battery with almost a 100 amps left. Our batteries need to be around 700ish. I replaced mine at Auto Zone with their best and all has been well for 4 months.

 

[lPyramid]

I know this is an old thread, but I found this forum when my 2014 Dart SXT started showing symptoms as described by everyone here.

Then after days of turmoil, new batteries that worked periodically, etc. I decided to just open the hood and look and it turned out ny negative cable to my battery was loose. Fixed that an no problems since.

That explained the needles jumping and every other symptom (in my case). Maybe some of you will find that you had the same issue. Wanted to share because this forum considering I read everything here trying to help and othrrs sharing their problem. Good luck!

 

[lPyramid]

Well, I tightened and fixed the cable and it ran fine for a week. Then I noticed jumping needles on startup recently. Today I went to start my car to make an appointment and kmit wouldn't start.

The only difference is that this time, the car has sat for 2-3 days withouf being started as opposed to everyday driving like the past week after I fixed the negative terminal to my battery. Not sure what to do from here, guess I am going to buy a higher voltage battery and just hope for the best. I am so stressed out with this issue. I regret paying so much money for this car. I loved it at first but this is outrageous

 

[alpinegreenneon]

If your 2014 has the original battery, then be happy it's lasted this long. The battery size is H5 47 and all automotive batteries are 12 volt but you can get more cranking amps.

 

[Mass_Paul]

I have a 2014 GT and replaced my battery a few months ago. It helped solve an issue where if I let the RPMs get too low/near stall (I have a manual) the display would power cycle and it would act as if the negative terminal had been disconnected. I went with the battery pictured below. Has been great so far.

Sent from my Nokia 7.1 using Tapatalk

 

[christigeorge]

We have a 2015 Dodge Dart that was experiencing the jumping indicators/clicking gauges like others on this thread. We purchased this car 18 months ago rebuilt with a salvaged title. Our mechanic inspected the car and everything was good to go. About a month ago, we started experiencing some weird issues. Engine light came on. We went to the local parts store so they could put the machine on it to let us know what codes were being thrown out. Different codes each time we went. When the vehicle wouldn't start (intermittently) I searched online for the clicking gauge issue. We came along this thread. Everything seemed to point to the battery (as others had posted). We checked that battery. Lo and behold it was a MOPAR battery. Immediately replaced it. Two weeks now and no issues. No codes. No check engine light. Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences. Your posts helped save us hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.

 

[Cntrollerfanboy]

We have a 2015 Dodge Dart that was experiencing the jumping indicators/clicking gauges like others on this thread. We purchased this car 18 months ago rebuilt with a salvaged title. Our mechanic inspected the car and everything was good to go. About a month ago, we started experiencing some weird issues. Engine light came on. We went to the local parts store so they could put the machine on it to let us know what codes were being thrown out. Different codes each time we went. When the vehicle wouldn't start (intermittently) I searched online for the clicking gauge issue. We came along this thread. Everything seemed to point to the battery (as others had posted). We checked that battery. Lo and behold it was a MOPAR battery. Immediately replaced it. Two weeks now and no issues. No codes. No check engine light. Thanks to everyone sharing their experiences. Your posts helped save us hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.

Glad it helped. Yes, the batteries are very well known to fail. They are a typical cheap wear item in new cars. They give you something that will last a few years and then dies so you have to replace it on your own money. It's all just cheap parts that they know they can cheap out on and get away with to make more money. Tires, and battery are the two big things that come to my mind. Probably same with oil and on a new car. It might be what the engine requires, but it might not be the penzoil platinum that costs a good amount of money. They know people are gonna have to change it out in a few thousand miles, so why put good stuff in? Who knows.

 

[Bobbybabynboo]

I am having this problem as well.. my 13 dart has been clicking with jumping gauges for a couple weeks now. Did you ever find out what the problem was?

 

[alpinegreenneon]

If you are still on the original battery, replace it because the clicking gauges are telling you the battery is weak.

 

[Cntrollerfanboy]

I am having this problem as well.. my 13 dart has been clicking with jumping gauges for a couple weeks now. Did you ever find out what the problem was?

Yes just replace the battery. Don't go and get it checked. It will more than likely come back as okay. If original, those batteries go out early. I have heard that it even eats replacement batteries, so just replace it. I don't think one person has ever had this issue and it not be due to a bad battery.

 

[Javelin3o4]

Yep, I bought my 2013 Dart used in 2014 w/ 16K miles. It already had a NAPA brand battery in it. I've now put in like 3 maybe 4 batteries now..could be 5 I lost count. Right now I bought a Champion AGM battery since it was on sale when I bought it, figured I'd see how a AGM would do as far as longevity. Seemed like I was replacing the battey like every 1-1.5 years.

 

[Rachel202]

My 2015 Dodge has been having this same problem since we bought it in 2017. The first year it happened once. Then the following year happened one time again and by the third year 2019 it started happening every week or so. I moved away states and didnt take the car until I picked it up from my friend in June 2020 while I was there for a week. The clicking and not starting happened one time. Then I got my car shipped to my current state where when it was delivered. The trucker had to jump start it so get it off their trailer. Then it was good and gravy for a couple of weeks until I took a 7 hr road trip and then as soon as i pull into the parking lot, it shuts down completely and doesn't want to start.. so my brother in law replaced some sensors, (idk which ones) and replaced the battery and then my car drove fine for over a month until 2 weeks ago, it started again and now doing it every other day. I made an appointment with the dealer. When I mention to my husband about its issues, he told me that I have to turn the key very slowly when starting it. And what do you know, it actually works every time now 😐🤨 . Hopefully the dealer will find the real issue

 

[bridobony]

Hi all,
Have not had the time to take car in for the uconnect issues in previous posts but now I have another issue. When I start the engine, all the gauges start clicking back and forth for a few seconds until engine does start. This is not only visual, but you also do here the clicking sound from the needles until it starts.
Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks

Have you found a fix for this? Once in a while this happens on my 2013 Dart.

 

[blinkoutatime]

Sorry to post on an old thread but I just wanted to share my experience. I bought my 2016 SXT California about 3 months ago. The car pretty much runs like new and has only 50k miles on it which is good considering how old it is. Today my key fab wouldn’t unlock the doors so I had to use the key, the gauges went nuts when trying to start and nothing else came on, my immediate thought was dead battery and confirmed the symptoms on this forum. However, not only do the gauges go nuts, but I hear a very strange loud clicking noise which sounds like it’s coming from the fan near the radiator, the headlights and tail lights are also flickering non stop really fast, I did replace the fab battery and accidentally pressed the panic button so maybe it’s trying to alarm but the battery is dead? The car gets no response from the fab so I’m not sure if the panic button actually worked. Maybe it’s the HID lights making the noise? There was no alarm sound but when I looked at the dash screen it looked like the lcd had lines and weird images on it that were random. I feel like the car itself has an electrical issue since a dead battery shouldn’t cause the lights to constantly flicker by themselves. The car started fine yesterday but I did notice low idle rpm so I though oh that is strange. Today not even a crank over and no power to anything. So what is this strange noise coming from the battery area? Is it the horn trying to go off from the panic button? It is the original Mopar battery so I know it needs to go, but is this dying battery issue actually causing electrical issues with the computers? I feel like this is not good electrical safety standards for a car, with the amount of computerized electronics in the car im afraid a dead battery will actually wipe it and fry something if I leave it connected, so I removed both term wires to at least not look like an idiot with my car parked on the road overnight, every light on the car was flickering dim and only noticed when it started getting dark outside. This is honestly the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen as far as a battery going dead, this shouldn’t happen because a low voltage. If anything nothing should work at all, not go nuts and flicker like im at a night club lol. I’ll try to replace the crap battery tomorrow and see if it didn’t mess up the electronics

 

[John G]

My key fob was doing some funky stuff… signals would flash quickly… trunk popped open while walking away… it turned out to be a bad fob. Hopefully your problem is as simple.