Brand new RAM died in the middle of the road!

I was driving my five day old 2023 RAM Laramie home from getting the windows tinted yesterday when all kinds of warning lights started going off. I think the first one was "Electric Stability Control Off". It was still driving OK, so I tried to get it home. A few miles later I started getting a bunch more lights, and all of the gauges quit working. It was in limp mode and I had about a mile to go to get home, so I kept driving. Would have made it, I think, but a guy in front of me stopped, so I had to, and once I quit moving the truck died completely. No lights, nothing. I tried pulling the orange rope behind the panel under the parking brake so I could move the car to the side, but that didn't work either! Called a tow truck. The tow driver couldn't get anything to work either, and we were trying to figure out how he was going to move the truck onto his tower. He hit the run button for about the 20th time, and some of the lights came on! He as able to get it into neutral long enough to get it loaded. Got it to the dealer, and everything was still dead. Waiting to see what they find. Has anybody else heard of anything like this??

Forgot to mention, while I was driving along with all of fault lights on, the windshield wipers were going and I couldn't shut them off.....

Just a guess, but most likely your tint installer got water down inside the dashboard and shorted everything out. Did you have the windshield tinted?

I did actually. Hope that's not what happened, but it sure sounds possible.....

Finding competent, sober window tint guys is always a challenge.

I've heard of this happening. Usually everything comes back to normal after it dries out. Hopefully that's the case with yours because your warranty isn't going to cover this if it was caused by the window tint shop.

Yeah, that's just what I was thinking. I had no idea they used that much water when tinting a window. The place I went to is the top rated place in town. Guess all I can do is see how it turns out.

Keep us posted - I am definitely interested in hearing how this turns out.

I'm definitely interested to hear as well. If that is in fact what happened, I would definitely go back to the tint shop with an FYI for them. I know you do need a good bit of liquid for tint so I doubt it was them being excessive or sloppy, it may just be that Rams have electronics in a bad spot.

I'll definitely go back to the tint shop and let them know if that turns out to be the issue. I'm just hoping the issue gets fixed and I can get the new truck back on the road. The dealer said it would be a couple of days before they could get to it.

I just had mine tinted also, just the front driver and passenger windows...not the front windshield. I was thinking of going back and having it ceramic tinted since the AC's suck in these things, but I might rethink that if the water from tinting did this!!

There are (3) white boxes on the firewall, inside, to the right of E brake, left of brake pedal. Make sure they are all connected properly also.

ADDED: Does sound like water. If U have E Torque make sure U keep an eye on back window/headliner above rear seat due to all the electronics and 48V battery back there also.

When I was getting tint on Windshield and front doors, before the shop started. They warn me, that could happen.
Said 95% of the time, it dries and isn't an issue, but sometimes it can cause major issues.
I had them do it anyway. Didn't have any problems.

I had my last truck done the same way (front driver and passenger windows and the windshield) by the same place five years ago and didn't have any problems. The windshield is barely tinted, but it keeps out a lot of UV rays. If it is the issue I'd think it was pretty rare - these guys do a LOT of windshields.

Thanks for the tip on watching the headliner. I do have the eTorque. I also thought it was strange that the orange pull rope behind the panel below the electronic parking brake didn't work. I thought that was suppose to allow you to move the truck even when everything else quit working.

You may not know that you can not just pull on the Orange Strap,
You have to push the release FIRST


another video reads that if you have a Ram with an ELECTRIC Shifter, there is no Release, just pull the strap

the shop I had do my tint was charging a lot more than previously and claimed they installed some sort of super duper de-ionizing water system or something like that. Claimed it was safer for electronics when the firewall gets soaked. They said lots of cars have that issue these days.

in the mean time, maybe you could submerge the truck in rice like a toileted cell phone?

I hope your truck dries out and starts working again. If moisture on the dash is an issue, why dont these tint shops put down a water barrier like a towel, or something?

I'll have to take a look at the orange pull cord when I get my truck back. I don't know if the truck has an "electric shifter" or not. I was able to pull the cord out with no issue - it just didn't do anything.

EcoDieselDog said:

I'll have to take a look at the orange pull cord when I get my truck back. I don't know if the truck has an "electric shifter" or not. I was able to pull the cord out with no issue - it just didn't do anything.

Click to expand...

You do have an electronic shifter on a 2023, all the rotary dial ones are electric. Did you watch the videos? This one posted above by @GTyankee is pretty clear.

GTyankee said:

You may not know that you can not just pull on the Orange Strap,
You have to push the release FIRST

How to put Dodge Ram in neutral when battery is dead / electronic shifter bypass

www.youtube.com

another video reads that if you have a Ram with an ELECTRIC Shifter, there is no Release, just pull the strap

Click to expand...

@GTyankee glad you posted that, I had no idea it was even a thing!