FurryWooki
Junior Member
New guy here. I have a 2004 Ram 1500 4.7 4X4 automatic that has had a history of intermittent starting. Thankfully I've resolved the no start issue, story below. Next on the list is why my odometer screen isn't lit. The gear selector screen is fine and always has been. The odometer screen has been intermittent the past year or so. During driving it would dim and sometimes come back on. Now it's not displaying anything. Which was very aggravating when I needed dash diagnostic codes from the no-start problem. I've looked at the wiring underneath the dash and nothing seems damaged. How should I proceed?
Mainly posting this for anyone who may have a similar case.
Over the winter, my wife was stranded an hour away from me due to an aging battery. It had trouble keeping charge. Replaced the battery on the spot and the truck has been good until now. A couple weeks ago, I jump in and turn the key. Truck dings and no crank. The gas and battery gauges don't move. Outside temp is reading 130*. Lights, windows, keyless entry, signals, radio and horn work. I initiate a dash cluster diagnostic then all the gauges start ticking, looks fine. If a code were present, it would have displayed on my odometer screen that hasn't been working lately. I tried to read codes via OBD2 port, no data/error reading. I started checking around and noticed my battery terminals were in very bad condition. The ground terminal was missing part of its bottom half. I replaced both battery terminals but that didn't fix the issue. I checked and cleaned all the body grounds under the hood, no change. I then ran across someone with a similar issue. His video led me to the solid red wire that goes from the fuse box to the PCM/computer which provides power to the computer. I unwrapped the harness to check for breaks, it looked good. I challenged myself to get better with my multimeter and checked the wire for resistance. It was complete and no issues. I started checking voltage on that wire and noticed no power was being delivered when the key was turned on. Or at least not enough power...it would register 2V then slowly leak voltage down to <1V. I checked at the PCM and both sides of the intermediate connector, no power. I then went to the fuse box, it had power up top at the fuse but it wasn't passing it underneath to the wire. I took the fuse box inside and disassembled. I'll post a pic of what I found. A chunk of the PCB had blown off and corroded. I cleaned the corrosion so you can see how much was effected. Convinced this was the culprit, I scrounged on eBay and got a replacement fuse box for $75. Plugged my BCM into it and she runs! I'm not the only one that's had this issue. It's just hard to track down if you're not used to working on electrical issues with vehicles...and when your odometer screen can't display helpful codes. Many people in my situation had resorted to replacing parts like crank sensor, starter, ignition switch, etc. instead of actually troubleshooting the problem. Hope this helps someone in the future.
Mainly posting this for anyone who may have a similar case.
Over the winter, my wife was stranded an hour away from me due to an aging battery. It had trouble keeping charge. Replaced the battery on the spot and the truck has been good until now. A couple weeks ago, I jump in and turn the key. Truck dings and no crank. The gas and battery gauges don't move. Outside temp is reading 130*. Lights, windows, keyless entry, signals, radio and horn work. I initiate a dash cluster diagnostic then all the gauges start ticking, looks fine. If a code were present, it would have displayed on my odometer screen that hasn't been working lately. I tried to read codes via OBD2 port, no data/error reading. I started checking around and noticed my battery terminals were in very bad condition. The ground terminal was missing part of its bottom half. I replaced both battery terminals but that didn't fix the issue. I checked and cleaned all the body grounds under the hood, no change. I then ran across someone with a similar issue. His video led me to the solid red wire that goes from the fuse box to the PCM/computer which provides power to the computer. I unwrapped the harness to check for breaks, it looked good. I challenged myself to get better with my multimeter and checked the wire for resistance. It was complete and no issues. I started checking voltage on that wire and noticed no power was being delivered when the key was turned on. Or at least not enough power...it would register 2V then slowly leak voltage down to <1V. I checked at the PCM and both sides of the intermediate connector, no power. I then went to the fuse box, it had power up top at the fuse but it wasn't passing it underneath to the wire. I took the fuse box inside and disassembled. I'll post a pic of what I found. A chunk of the PCB had blown off and corroded. I cleaned the corrosion so you can see how much was effected. Convinced this was the culprit, I scrounged on eBay and got a replacement fuse box for $75. Plugged my BCM into it and she runs! I'm not the only one that's had this issue. It's just hard to track down if you're not used to working on electrical issues with vehicles...and when your odometer screen can't display helpful codes. Many people in my situation had resorted to replacing parts like crank sensor, starter, ignition switch, etc. instead of actually troubleshooting the problem. Hope this helps someone in the future.
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