5v ground wire! Please read this will hopefully save you some time.

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Buckfat

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Alright well I have a little black cloud that follows me every where I go! This kind of stuff only happens to me but hope to help someone else out! One of my trucks is a 2016 Ram 2500 Outdoorsman 4x4 6.4 Hemi. I have it leveled with 35x12.5/20 with 7100 miles on it. What happened to me might apply to everyone though.

I had just got back from a two week hunting trip and the following week my GF called me to say my truck went into Limp Mode! She shut it off ,started it back up and all was well. No problems for 4 days then it did it again. I pulled the codes both times with different codes showing at both times. I have a friend who is a tech at the Ram dealer where I bought my truck. So I brought it in and he suggested replacing the PCM ,had something to do with 5v ground wire. So he did and thought all was well , 2 days later my truck went into Limp Mode again with me driving it this time. A lightning bolt emblem came up on the 7 in. Cluster and threw more different codes. So I took it back to the dealer again. My friend kept it for 2 days and was texting me updates. He thought it was the Map sensor so he replaced it then would drive some and still would go into Limp Mode. He replaced every sensor that the computer kept telling him was the problem. He replaced every sensor on the truck,seriously. It was still going into Limp Mode!

Until finally he happened to notice while he was replacing the last sensor before we thought we were going to pursue Lemon Law! He saw that a heater hose clamp was positioned just a certain way so that it was cutting into my wiring harness. He said it was a billion to one that he saw it and that the clamp was wearing into the harness and was eating into the 5v ground wire. Seriously guys this kind of #*~< happens to me all the time. He mentioned the harness looked like it was to tight and was pressed up against the clamp. He had to open up the harness to see that the wire was bare and that it was the 5v ground. He isolated the wire and wrapped the harness also turning the clamp down away from the harness. He also repositioned the harness to have more slack. I am including pics but each pic might be a different post. I will also post this in the other forum for everyone to see.
 

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Buckfat

Buckfat

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Buckfat

Buckfat

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Buckfat

Buckfat

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zeddy

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Did that fix the issue?

I gotta check mine too then.
 
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Buckfat

Buckfat

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Got it back last night and have been running it all day today. So far so good. It was getting so bad it was doing it everyday. The clamp must have been cutting into it more everyday. It would happen when we hit bumps mostly. Assuming the clamp would touch the bare wire.

It is amazing that one tiny wire could disable a 50 thousand dollar truck. Thank the lord it happened after my trip and I am about to go back for another weeks hunting trip. Having my GF run it all week to make sure it's good now.
 

zeddy

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Thank you for posting that. It's a wealth of information.

You're lucky it was a friend that worked on ur truck. Otherwise, you would of gone through hell and back. I still haven't but looked. But if my truck acts up like yours, I know where to look.
 

NewBlackDak

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I would petition for a new harness.


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Am3gross

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that is for sure on the new harness, only a matter of time before the repair starts causing issues.. but for now i am glad you are taken care of, now go get a new harness!
 

Hootbro

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He replaced every sensor that the computer kept telling him was the problem. He replaced every sensor on the truck,seriously.


I will probably catch some grief on this, but that statement right there tells the difference between a technician and a mechanic.

Computers does not necessarily tell you what part is bad but what system is having a fault. It takes a trained technician to trouble shoot and not just shotgun part after part and then throw their hands up when they run out of parts to change.

I work on aircraft avionics systems and have dealt with like issues of chaffed harnesses giving problems that have you chasing your tail. At best, I get one or two calls to shot gun a part if the initial troubleshooting indicates it but once that does not fix the issue, it is deep dive time. I get the automotive guys and their "flat rate" system do not give them that luxury but after throwing an expensive PCM in the mix, they could have saved themselves some trouble with a decent tech looking at this properly rather than sends part after part until they ran out.
 

loveracing1988

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I will probably catch some grief on this, but that statement right there tells the difference between a technician and a mechanic.

Computers does not necessarily tell you what part is bad but what system is having a fault. It takes a trained technician to trouble shoot and not just shotgun part after part and then throw their hands up when they run out of parts to change.

I work on aircraft avionics systems and have dealt with like issues of chaffed harnesses giving problems that have you chasing your tail. At best, I get one or two calls to shot gun a part if the initial troubleshooting indicates it but once that does not fix the issue, it is deep dive time. I get the automotive guys and their "flat rate" system do not give them that luxury but after throwing an expensive PCM in the mix, they could have saved themselves some trouble with a decent tech looking at this properly rather than sends part after part until they ran out.
This. The tech should have known something else was wrong when after replacing almost every sensor it didn't fix it. A couple things going wrong at once sure, but everything at once means there is a common denominator somewhere.
 

jwheeler

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that is for sure on the new harness, only a matter of time before the repair starts causing issues.. but for now i am glad you are taken care of, now go get a new harness!


Not sure you understand what in involved in replacing a complete engine harness. You don't want that if it is not needed. A quality wire repair will be just fine.


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jwheeler

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I will probably catch some grief on this, but that statement right there tells the difference between a technician and a mechanic.

Computers does not necessarily tell you what part is bad but what system is having a fault. It takes a trained technician to trouble shoot and not just shotgun part after part and then throw their hands up when they run out of parts to change.

I work on aircraft avionics systems and have dealt with like issues of chaffed harnesses giving problems that have you chasing your tail. At best, I get one or two calls to shot gun a part if the initial troubleshooting indicates it but once that does not fix the issue, it is deep dive time. I get the automotive guys and their "flat rate" system do not give them that luxury but after throwing an expensive PCM in the mix, they could have saved themselves some trouble with a decent tech looking at this properly rather than sends part after part until they ran out.


I didn't want to say it because it is his buddy but you are spot on. Sounds like a lot of time was spent chasing his tail.


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Buckfat

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Update! Truck is doing great. No more problems. Frankly do not care how he figured it out as long as it was sorted out. Put truck threw a workout right after the repair. Had my truck on and off-road for a week in rainy,wet , and muddy conditions. Put my GF in one of my favorite hunting spots.
 

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