sticky power running boards

[tobyd]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum -- just purchased a 2015 Ram 1500 Limited yesterday. It's a neighbor's old vehicle and I've been in it a bunch so I know this is a new problem. A couple of days ago the passenger's side power running board started playing up -- not deploying occasionally, and once it (or the pair, I'm not sure) stuck out overnight and the truck had a dead battery next morning.

I was playing with it yesterday and the passenger-side board deployed about 1 time in 4 opening the door, and failed to retract maybe once in about 20 tries.

As I open the door and it fails to deploy, I hear a 'thunk' from the rear end of the truck. It sounds further back that the end of the running board. Is that likely related, or something like the tailgate unlocking (not that I think it was locked anyway)?

Is there anything I can look to for a fix? Just need to lube something, or is there something more electronic going on?

Thanks,
Toby.

 

[Solid State]

Where are you located? Winter weather? Snow/ice/mud/dirt/ etc in the gear mech? Assuming they are amps, only the front bracket has the motor. Check the plug @ the control motors. Also, see of there's anything they are hanging up on. I believ the 15's plug into the module under driver side dash. Check the wiring there as well?

 

[tobyd]

OK, thanks. Yes, located in the snow zone -- near Longmont CO. The boards are pretty clean but I'll go look for a poor connection at the plug. They first started playing up with they were frozen over with dirty snow, but now they're dry and still sticky.

I actually called Amp and asked if the boards are theirs and they said no. Mine are factory original.

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum -- just purchased a 2015 Ram 1500 Limited yesterday. It's a neighbor's old vehicle and I've been in it a bunch so I know this is a new problem. A couple of days ago the passenger's side power running board started playing up -- not deploying occasionally, and once it (or the pair, I'm not sure) stuck out overnight and the truck had a dead battery next morning.

I was playing with it yesterday and the passenger-side board deployed about 1 time in 4 opening the door, and failed to retract maybe once in about 20 tries.

As I open the door and it fails to deploy, I hear a 'thunk' from the rear end of the truck. It sounds further back that the end of the running board. Is that likely related, or something like the tailgate unlocking (not that I think it was locked anyway)?

Is there anything I can look to for a fix? Just need to lube something, or is there something more electronic going on?

Thanks,
Toby.

Lower your steps and clean the hinges really good. Then flush them with water. Use a water repellent grease to lube them back up and open and close the doors a few times to work it in

 

[tobyd]

Well, I just went out there to try this out....and the battery was dead. No bueno. While the battery is on the charger I'll look at doing a good clean and lube.

 

[Solid State]

Maybe a short somewhere? Do you think the boards amd battery issue are relates or coincidence? Test battery. Look for shorts on the wiring for the boards. Also, don't believe ram staryed putting the powerboards on until the 5th gens?

 

[tobyd]

After a couple of hours on the battery, the charger is still working on getting to 25%. The motor unit (I think it's the motor) on the troublesome running board is warm to the touch while the good side is dead cold. Looks like there's a problem there.

Oh, and it's definitely an Amp running board.

 

[oe542bob]

2015 didn’t come with or were offered with power running boards, so it must be Amp or Bestop most likely.
If after checking all the connections, my guess would be to replace the controller.
I’m not sure why Amp would just say they aren’t theirs, but anyway, when my boards would occasionally not retract, Amp said to replace the controller. That fixed my problem. I wasn’t having the battery issue though.
I see now that you have the AMP boards. Good Luck.

 

[tobyd]

2015 didn’t come with or were offered with power running boards, so it must be Amp or Bestop most likely.
If after checking all the connections, my guess would be to replace the controller.
I’m not sure why Amp would just say they aren’t theirs, but anyway, when my boards would occasionally not retract, Amp said to replace the controller. That fixed my problem. I wasn’t having the battery issue though.
I see now that you have the AMP boards. Good Luck.

I pulled the fuse to the boards so if they're the cause of my dead battery at least they're out of the picture for a bit. Since yesterday I've got a new battery in there, and the truck runs fine. The motor unit on the 'bad' board is cold now. I'll let things sit as they are for a week maybe, then plug it back in and see if the motor gives problems.

With the boards retracted I can't clean & lube them (at least it doesn't look like it), and swapping the motor to the other side for fault diagnosis looks real tricky with the boards up, too.

Yeah, these are aftermarket. I'd looked at so many DT Rams prior to buying this one that I was confused about which did and did not come with factory power running boards.

I'll report back in here after I try to energize them again (or if something else kills the battery in the meantime.)

Cheers,
Toby.

 

[oe542bob]

Sounds like a good plan. If you find that you have a bad drive motor, contact AMP. They don’t sell directly to you, but will give you the website to order a replacement.