Truck stuck in park, Red lightning bolt, abs light, 4wd service light. Help!

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Ram23

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A little back story as I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or my fault. I installed Bilstein 6112's on my truck this past Saturday. I torqued my UCAs and struts with the truck still on jack stands. Last night (4 days after level) I decided to loosen and retorque the struts and ucas with the weight of the truck on the suspension per recommendation. After loosening both sides of the truck, my girlfriend comes out and asks me to move my truck so that she can get out of the garage. I get in my truck, with the loosened suspension, start it and my dash Christmas trees and the truck will not shift out of park. The red lightning bolt, service abs and service 4wd lights are now on and my gear shifter knob is locked up. Can anyone point me in the right direction on getting this corrected?
 

Shawn Burns

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It sounds like something became uplugged during the process of re-torquing the suspension?
 

62Blazer

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I don't know of any reason why the actual bolts being loose would cause that, but my first guess is you knocked loose some wiring, a connector, or even hit a control module in the act of loosening them up. Go back and start visually inspecting for any of these components that are in the vicinity of the bolts you were loosening and could have gotten hit by a wrench or socket. Knowing the exact codes being set could help narrow down the location some. Make sure to check any grounds that are bolted to the frame or body....if it's the ground to something like the ABS module or even the overall ECM I could see this happening. I would guess it's not a single wire for something like a wheel speed sensor, but rather something that affects an entire module like a ground or power wire.
 
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Ram23

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I thought that may be the case too, but everything seems to be in place.
 

Jeepwalker

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IDK. Hard to say. Almost sounds like the 'dead battery syndrome' ..but then the vehicle started up. How do your battery connections look?

If it were my truck, I would do the "Unhook the battery terminals" trick for a half an hour or so. Maybe an hour (I would do mine overnight). In that time hook up a battery chargers and check the charge. Maybe take the battery to a parts store and have them do a load test on it. Make sure it's charged up before re-installing, and clean terminal connections. See what happens. If it happens again, pull codes. You can't always go by codes when you get a bunch of lights. Some codes might be valid, but others like (Invalid Computer) are often just bogus codes that happen with bad battery connections.

There is a major ground behind a panel on the drivers side front inner plastic fender well. Top towards the front bumper. At least on other 4th gens. Unless somehow it got bumped (hard) in the process of doing the work. But I doubt that is the case. Just trying to think out loud here...
 
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Ram23

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Ive tried unplugging my battery overnight to no avail. My truck will start without issue, just will not shift out of park. I have no way to scan the codes as I can not move it to go to an auto store. Luckily it’s under warranty so the tow to the dealer is free, as well as the fix (hopefully). I was hoping to avoid going through that hassle, plus they can’t get me in until next week. I’ll look at the ground panel to see if anything came loose, but I can’t imagine I hit it or if I did, hit it hard enough to knock anything loose. I appreciate all the ideas and brainstorming though.
 

62Blazer

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Keep in mind that even if everything "looks" good you still could have a bad connection. I've seen battery and ground connections that still felt tight but had corrosion under them and a little bit of disturbance would cost it to lose electrical connection.

For the transmission not shifting the first thing I would look at is the brake signal, since you have to have the brake pushed for it to shift. If the entire ABS/brake module is dead than possible it is not sending the brake pedal signal to the ECM and allowing a shift. I would also look around the TIPM (fuse box)....not familiar with a 1500 but would think this is in range of the upper mounting bolt of the strut and something could have gotten hit/shorted/etc... Check all the fuses (specifically try to find any that are main powers to the brakes) to make sure you didn't accidentally hit one and short it out so the fuse or breaker tripped (again, I could see a complete loss of power to a module and something like this could explain it). Some people would take the TIPM loose from the mounts just so they peak underneath it and look for any signs of corrosion or a loose wire. Also Google TIPM soft and hard resets.

As another comment.....if you try resetting anything by disconnecting the battery you don't need to leave it unhooked for anywhere close to 24 hours. I would say in most cases unhooking it for 30 seconds would be enough, and maybe 10-15 minutes at the most charge to let any capacitors discharge (stored electrical energy).....but I doubt 1 hour or 24 hours makes any difference......
 

Spree

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Maybe you shorted out a wire, check all the big fuses. Mine won't shift with the door open.
 

Jeepwalker

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If you're sure no other wires got boogered in the suspension process, Batt connections are good, I wonder if by some odd chance, the brake switch started to go flaky? Strange things sometimes do happen. That would cause what you're experiencing. Turn ignition on and push brake several times ..watch taillights. Might remove it & test the switch with an multi-meter. The older brake switchs are a somewhat common failure (they're real cheap), IDK about the newer ones. But it's a possibility.

If you happened to know a guy with a scanner with a new enough software who could come over and retrieve the codes, that would be helpful. Narrow the possibilities down.
 
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Ram23

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I turned the key to the on position and pressed the brake pedal and my tail lights don’t come on. Any chance this would cause all of these lights to light up and completely stop my truck from being drive able?
 

turkeybird56

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Sounds like Brake Switch relay: Check and insure plugged in. Also, on floorboard area, far left of brake pedal, there are (3) white junction boxes/wiring connections: Check them and make sure they are all plugged-connected properly. On MY 19, I have 3, on my 2015 ED, I had 1 big connector: so check.

CHECK THIS: There is a very simple way to find out if it is the switch or the fuse. Turn on the 4-way flashers. If they do not work, it is the fuse. If the 4-way flashers do work, it is not the fuse. This being the case, the most likely thing is the switch. Brake light switches are normally fairly inexpensive and normally not difficult to change.

ADDED: Also check your ECU, and make sure cables are seated properly, clipped in.

Just a few things to check, Internet Guessnosis at it's Best.

ADDED: But with every warning light coming on, really makes me think BATTERY issue somewhere. After check all above, check battery and charge to full charge and check all grounds and cables also.
 
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Ram23

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Checked all the above and have not been able to find the problem. Truck was towed to the dealership this morning, so I will provide an update once they have resolved the issue.
 
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Ram23

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An abs sensor got disconnected which threw all the codes. I feel like an idiot for missing this and to add insult to injury the dealer is charging my $180 to reconnect them.
 

ARacftmx

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A little back story as I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or my fault. I installed Bilstein 6112's on my truck this past Saturday. I torqued my UCAs and struts with the truck still on jack stands. Last night (4 days after level) I decided to loosen and retorque the struts and ucas with the weight of the truck on the suspension per recommendation. After loosening both sides of the truck, my girlfriend comes out and asks me to move my truck so that she can get out of the garage. I get in my truck, with the loosened suspension, start it and my dash Christmas trees and the truck will not shift out of park. The red lightning bolt, service abs and service 4wd lights are now on and my gear shifter knob is locked up. Can anyone point me in the right direction on getting this corrected?
Check fuse panel below steering wheel
insure all fuses are seated properly
 

Travelin Ram

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An abs sensor got disconnected which threw all the codes. I feel like an idiot for missing this and to add insult to injury the dealer is charging my $180 to reconnect them.
Thank you for sharing the solution. My .02 this an example of poor engineering by RAM. Break a wheel speed sensor wire on your 4x4 out in the woods and the truck becomes inoperable? W. T. F.

Who thought that was a good idea? The truck should still be operational and show the ABS warning like other vehicles do.
 

RamDiver

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An abs sensor got disconnected which threw all the codes. I feel like an idiot for missing this and to add insult to injury the dealer is charging my $180 to reconnect them.

Thanks for the update and likely assisting others searching for answers.

Did they show you where this abs sensor was disconnected and was it anywhere in proximity to where you were working?

.
 
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Ram23

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Thanks for the update and likely assisting others searching for answers.

Did they show you where this abs sensor was disconnected and was it anywhere in proximity to where you were working?

.
Sorry for the late reply, just now saw this.
But no they did not. I can only assume it was near the uca, as that’s the only thing I replaced immediately before noticing the issue.
 
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