'19 PW - Axle Unlock Light Blinking

[ttusomeone]

Just bought a 2019 Power Wagon last Friday. The yellow light on the axle unlock button blinks sporadically though. It's solid yellow the majority of the time, but occasionally while driving I will notice it blinking - it only blinks for a few seconds then goes solid again. I don't notice it every time I drive. I have (while in a field) put it in 4L and locked the front and rear lockers, then unlocked them again and it didn't solve the problem.

I have a service appointment for Tuesday to have the dealer check it out, but wanted to see if anyone else has had the problem and had info I could pass along to the dealer to save them some troubleshooting time.

 

[Trailmaker]

I locked the rear almost every weekend this deer season and 2-3 by mistake when reaching to put it into gear. The accidental times is when I was bothered by the distance I had to drive to disengage it. It wasn’t just pull up or back up a few feet, it was 50-80 yards down my driveway and it will blink the whole time till it disengaged. Your issue sounds more incidental than accidental though.

 

[RamCares]

Just bought a 2019 Power Wagon last Friday. The yellow light on the axle unlock button blinks sporadically though. It's solid yellow the majority of the time, but occasionally while driving I will notice it blinking - it only blinks for a few seconds then goes solid again. I don't notice it every time I drive. I have (while in a field) put it in 4L and locked the front and rear lockers, then unlocked them again and it didn't solve the problem.

I have a service appointment for Tuesday to have the dealer check it out, but wanted to see if anyone else has had the problem and had info I could pass along to the dealer to save them some troubleshooting time.

Hi ttusomeone,

I certainly understand why this would be concerning! If you are in need of any additional support as you address this with your dealer, our team is just a private message away.

Mark
RamCares

 

[ttusomeone]

Hi ttusomeone,

I certainly understand why this would be concerning! If you are in need of any additional support as you address this with your dealer, our team is just a private message away.

Mark
RamCares

Thank you! Do you have any insight I can pass along to the dealer? Is it supposed to occasionally blink, or is it likely a bad switch or sensor?

 

[RamCares]

Thank you! Do you have any insight I can pass along to the dealer? Is it supposed to occasionally blink, or is it likely a bad switch or sensor?

Hi ttusomeone,

As our team here on the forum is not mechanically trained, we are unfortunately unable to speculate regarding this inquiry. I do apologize!

Mark
RamCares

 

[ttusomeone]

Hi ttusomeone,

As our team here on the forum is not mechanically trained, we are unfortunately unable to speculate regarding this inquiry. I do apologize!

Mark
RamCares

So I went to the dealership today to get the blinking light checked out, and they said it's normal for it to blink. Call my skeptical, but in my experience a blinking light blinks for a reason - to call your attention to something that isn't normal operation - especially since it's solid the vast majority of the time.

Do you have a contact at Ram that can definitively say whether it's normal for that light to blink, or if it should remain solid and blinking means something is wrong? I'd think if it's normal to blink, it should be noted as such in some type of operational manual and something someone at Ram could find and verify pretty easily. Otherwise I'm going to have to talk to another dealership, which I'd prefer to do as a last resort.

 

[Breaker Alex]

Hey ttusomeone,
My 2019 Powerwagon does the same thing.
Like you said, it will come on randomly. I locked the axles about 10 times and locked the rear by mistake a couple of times too.

I did not go to the dealer, bad service and NO knowledge.

Let us know if you figure out something and don't hesitate to ask ma anything.

Cheers

 

[ttusomeone]

Hey ttusomeone,
My 2019 Powerwagon does the same thing.
Like you said, it will come on randomly. I locked the axles about 10 times and locked the rear by mistake a couple of times too.

I did not go to the dealer, bad service and NO knowledge.

Let us know if you figure out something and don't hesitate to ask ma anything.

Cheers

My dealer said it was normal operation. I talked to three other dealers and they hadn't had any one come in with a similar issue, but they all agreed that it didn't sound normal. The fact that yours does it makes me think that maybe it is normal. I'm not sure what year model they changed from the dial to the buttons for the diff lock, but maybe it is normal. I've noticed that if mine does it, it seems to be within the first 5-10 mins of my drive. Is that your experience also?

I'm still debating on whether to take it to another dealer and leave it for a while to see if they can troubleshoot it. I'm assuming someone at Ram can say definitively if it's normal or not, but I haven't been able to get that answer.

 

[Trailmaker]

Mine has never done this and I’m at 11k on my 2019. Like I said in my first post.
Does it mean you can not engage the lockers at all?
If it was always lock it would make turns on concrete difficult and make the tire hop.

 

[ttusomeone]

Mine has never done this and I’m at 11k on my 2019. Like I said in my first post.
Does it mean you can not engage the lockers at all?
If it was always lock it would make turns on concrete difficult and make the tire hop.

I've only tried to engage them once in a field, but it seemed to work and I didn't get any errors. The locked light was solid. Then it unlocked without issue (as indicted by the solid unlock light). My issue is occasionally, usually within the first 5-10 mins of the drive, it will go from solid to blinking for a few seconds, then back to solid. This is without me touching any of the locking buttons.

 

[Trailmaker]

Well my truck turns on the satellite on a baseball channel about once a week. I turn off the radio and it still plays. I turn on the radio or CD player and it talks over it. I have to press the sat function for it to change to that channel then I can change it to whatever afterwards. Not worth bringing it in yet.

 

[ttusomeone]

Well my truck turns on the satellite on a baseball channel about once a week. I turn off the radio and it still plays. I turn on the radio or CD player and it talks over it. I have to press the sat function for it to change to that channel then I can change it to whatever afterwards. Not worth bringing it in yet.

I'm kinda in the same boat with the light. I had them check it once and have the documentation that says "it's normal". When i feel like being without it for a few days, or have something else that needs to get checked out too, I'll bring it in.

 

[Breaker Alex]

Mine shifted to park 2 times while reversing a trailer, wheels full lock. Doors where closed and seat belt buckled.
Never happened again.
Dealer said I greatly modified the truck because of the 37'' and it is because of the tires but it happened with stock tires.

So I'm sitting on it for now since it never happened again. Maybe its a sensor/learning thing.

 

[Trailmaker]

Mine shifted to park 2 times while reversing a trailer, wheels full lock. Doors where closed and seat belt buckled.
Never happened again.
Dealer said I greatly modified the truck because of the 37'' and it is because of the tires but it happened with stock tires.

So I'm sitting on it for now since it never happened again. Maybe its a sensor/learning thing.

Wow “greatly modified “ sounds like a cop-out.
Yeah I could do without the safety switches in the seatbelt and doors.
What it I want to “Jeep it” and drive without the doors? Forces the seat belts.
You know State Farm charges me $15 more per month then my old truck. I should be receiving the “truck is in made in California” discount!!

 

[Breaker Alex]

Wow “greatly modified “ sounds like a cop-out.
Yeah I could do without the safety switches in the seatbelt and doors.
What it I want to “Jeep it” and drive without the doors? Forces the seat belts.
You know State Farm charges me $15 more per month then my old truck. I should be receiving the “truck is in made in California” discount!!

Imagine you're 100 miles in the wood, it's -40 and BAM
You hit a deer and the hood or door sensor won't let you shift in drive.

It's for your own security to die from cold than driving with a open door

 

[Joe Momma]

IMO, it is completely ridiculous that RAM has that auto-park feature. It frustrates the heck out of me; and I've only owned my truck for a month....

I think if they could, RAM would wrap the world in bubble wrap to make sure none of us fall and get a boo boo on our knees.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[ttusomeone]

Hey ttusomeone,
My 2019 Powerwagon does the same thing.
Like you said, it will come on randomly. I locked the axles about 10 times and locked the rear by mistake a couple of times too.

I did not go to the dealer, bad service and NO knowledge.

Let us know if you figure out something and don't hesitate to ask ma anything.

Cheers

I made an appointment with another dealer for next Friday (hopefully it being Friday the 13th isn't a bad sign) to see if they can figure out why it blinks. It only does it every few times I drive. I'm going to try and get a video of it the next time so the dealer knows I'm not crazy.

Is yours still doing it and have you taken it in yet?

 

[olyelr]

IMO, it is completely ridiculous that RAM has that auto-park feature. It frustrates the heck out of me; and I've only owned my truck for a month....

I think if they could, RAM would wrap the world in bubble wrap to make sure none of us fall and get a boo boo on our knees.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

They simply dont have a choice. Im sure they would rather not **** with it either.

 

[Grand Mesa]

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[ttusomeone]

To hopefully (fingers crossed) close the book on this, my axle unlock light hasn't blinked in a couple weeks. While I was installing a cat-back exhaust a couple weeks ago, I checked the electronic connections to the diff and they seemed tight. Maybe one wasn't and that was what was causing the light to blink. The dealer agrees that it shouldn't blink, but until it doesn't it consistently enough to troubleshoot there's nothing they can do (obviously).