1500 Starts & Immediately Dies When Cold

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Sean J Blackburn

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2020
Posts
108
Reaction score
127
Location
Arizona
Ram Year
2010
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Hi all

This will be sort of long so heads up.


I have a 2012 1500 with the hemi. For the past 4 months I have been having terrible problems with stalling. Initially, it was stalling on cold startup and would immediately die as soon as the engine caught. It will catch-die catch-die etc from anywhere from 1-4 times on a cold engine, but after several attempts it always catches and stays running. Occasionally it will catch, the rpms immediately drop to around 200, and it stalls out.


I was also having a problem with random stalling while driving, usually soon after startup on a cold engine but also many times after driving from anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. When this happened it was as if the key was turned to off, engine, lights, radio, everything would immediately shut off. Sometimes I would have to pull over and restart and sometimes it would catch itself as it was dying and "restart" itself and I could continue driving.

I am also having a problem where the radio (non u connect, st base model truck) will be black and either I can still control the radio or the radio will be frozen on whatever station it's on.

I took it to 2 mechanics and also to dodge. First mechanic checked all grounds on the truck and said they are fine, couldn't help further. So I took it to dodge and they said it was not reproducible and told me to bring it back if it got worse (no help there)! So I took it to a mechanic that I trust who scanned the truck and said the PCM was throwing all sorts of improper voltages within the unit and needed to be replaced. He replaced the PCM last week and dodge then programmed the PCM.

Replacing the pcm seems to have fixed the stalling while driving problem which is great. I'm still getting the start and immediately die issue at cold start up and the radio issue which is frustrating. At this point I'm not sure what else to do and I can't get back to my mechanic for a week or so.

I know on the older 3rd Gen trucks that the mass airflow sensor and I the the idle air control valve can cause the start-immediately die problem, but I don't know about the 4th gens as I'm not as familiar with them.


The fact I'm having trouble with the radio in addition to the immediate stalling at cold startup makes me think this is still an electrical issue. Short of testing the battery (about 2-3 years old), what would you all recommend checking/testing at this point? I'm moderately handy and can do most basic car jobs like oil, breaks/rotors, shocks, change out electrical parts sensors etc. If any of you have some ideas of where I should be looking I would be very grateful!
 

1999 White C5 Coupe

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2016
Posts
256
Reaction score
295
Ram Year
2014
Engine
Hemi 5.7
A failing battery, or one with a bad cell, will cause all sorts of electrical problems. Corroded and/or loose battery terminal cable connectors will also cause various electrical problems.

The stalling issue sounds as if the inside of the throttle body is dirty. If dirty forms on the inside of the bore, and on the edges of the butterfly valve, it will not allow enough air to bypass at idle (or when driving and releasing the accelerator pedal to brake to a stop or make a turn. The lack of air at idle (or with the throttle body butterfly valve closed) will cause an engine stall.

Check the inside of the throttle body and clean it if necessary.
 
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