‘08 4.7 6spd lightning bolt/coolant temp/voltage and no gas pedal

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3pedals

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Location
Central Valley
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
Truck is a 2008 ram 1500 4.7 4wd 6spd manual with 410k miles…

Was driving home from work on the usual bumpy country roads, and soon after passing a truck, the following occurred:

-flashing lightning bolt (electronic throttle?)
-flashing check engine light
-coolant temp gauge pegged at full cold
-voltage gauge dropped to just above lower line
-no gas pedal
-bumpy idle

Coasted to a stop on side of the road to check but didn’t notice any loose or broken connectors. Truck started back up but still same symptoms and was able to limp along for a few miles at idle to a spot with some shade (was 96 degrees out and gas pedal didn’t work at all) which was 20mph in 5th gear at 800rpm.

After checking tightness of throttle body and tipm connectors and letting the truck sit for five minutes, fired truck back up and everything was back to normal. No rough idle, normal acceleration, coolant temp & voltage gauges were back to normal, and lightning bolt light disappeared. Drove about 15 miles home with no issue, and then another couple miles later at night again with no issue.

In over 400k miles, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the lightning bolt on the gauge cluster. Haven’t yet had a chance to see if there are any stored codes, but based on the very specific (and likely related) symptoms I’m hoping one of you have come across something similar before.

Any ideas on what to look for before I start throwing parts at this thing? Any help is much appreciated…
 
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3pedals

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2008
Engine
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Bump…anyone come across similar symptoms before?

I went ahead and order a mopar coolant temp sensor and connector harness since they are all original, as I read on a forum that no signal from temp sensor can cause a limp mode of sorts. Parts won’t get here for a week and not even certain that they will resolve the issue.
 
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3pedals

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2008
Engine
4.7
Figured it out after truck cut out again on same bumpy road…second (middle) plug into ECU on firewall would come out ever-so-slightly to throw truck into limp mode with above symptoms. Pushing back in solves problem temporarily.

Now just have to figure out how to keep plug seated. For some reason, the top two plugs can be pulled rather easily, while third is securely connected
 

Daw14

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Zip-ties and or super glue the zip to housing so it can still be disconnected.
 
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3pedals

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Location
Central Valley
Ram Year
2008
Engine
4.7
Retaining clips were seized in “unlocked” position on upper two plugs, and my mechanic didn’t notice. He was able to loosen them up to become functional again and now all is well
 

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