2014 Ram 1500 - Electronics Bugs

[mickstuder]

Bought a new 2014 Ram 1500 in October of 2013 - at about 350 miles started having electronics issues - entire gauge cluster flashing on and off with audible alarms chiming - unable to move shift lever out of Park - sometimes when I turn the key on the gauges start flashing and the ignition is dead - truck won't start - truck now has 19k miles and problems still re-occur intermittently - yesterday driving at low speed the transmission dropped into first gear - I clicked it back up through all the gears and into Drive and the gauges started flashing and the alarm was ringing - the problem is - I head to the Dealer every time it happens and before I get there it resolves and all that's left is the engine check light on and 100's of codes no one can decipher - major code - loss of buss communication and the dealer can never duplicate the problem while it's at the shop - sometimes months go by and it seems everything is okay and then it happens again

Anyone else heard of a similar issue - don't know what to do - thanks

 

[PostalTwo]

As a journeyman mechanic it sounds like there's a problem in the backbone of the communication system. There is a 120 ohm resistor on either end of the backbone. What u need to do is measure the can hi and low with an ohm meter you should see 60 ohms across hi an low. You can do this at the diagnostic plug under the dash. That's only gonna show the problem tho u still need to find it unfortunately. These kind of intermittent problems are the hardest ones to find for mechanics

 

[ExpressRules]

Even if the dealer can't get the issues to appear while in their possession, there are still the many error codes you say show up. Could be so many things, starting from something as simple as a bad ground somewhere causing the computer to freak out. You really need to get the dealer to escalate this problem up the ladder to get RAM corporate involved. It's obvious that the dealer is totally lost as to what to do.

 

[PostalTwo]

I agree. Maybe you could leave it with them for a few days to give them a chance to re create the issue. Because if it isn't broken when there looking at it its near impossible to find the issue.

 

[WaterBoy1]

It sounds like you have been extremely patient with this! I have to agree with the others though and say the dealer is obliged to get to the bottom of it if you're having these problems.

 

[darthdzl]

Get it to screw up when you're not actually in the middle of driving and take video with your phone. Or, if it starts doing it while you're driving, pull over immediately and take video. If you have a passenger who can take video of it occurring while you're driving (without getting in your way, of course), do that too.

Then hand them all the evidence and watch them try to pooh-pooh it then.

 

[NYCruiser]

I had an issue where my dash went black and my radio wouldn't work when I first bought my truck. Happened twice. Dealer did some computer upgrades and its been fine since. I hope they can straighten this out for you.

 

[clh1220]

The it to the dealer if you don't like that dealer find another one. Don't bother to try to work on it yourself, that's bad advice and a waist of time. The only thing I would try is just push all the fuses in. Make sure there in all the way.

 

[DERJ]

Definitely sounds like something is wrong - I've got 10K miles on my 2014 and have never had any of those weird issues.

As darthdzl mentioned, make a phone video when it happens again. You could also try contacting (Chrysler RAM) Customer Assistance Center if the dealership isn't taking you seriously...

 

[DougM55]

I had a similar problem with a 2012 Jeep Wrangler. Dealer replaced several items. Turned out to be a bad battery. Check you ground cable.


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[mickstuder]

Hey Folks - thanks for all your responses - the dealer has kept my truck multiple times for several days and I even left them my phone in case it was a Uconnect issue - they say it's been escalated to corporate and they say they have removed all related grounds - cleaned them up and reconnected and done all software upgrades. I've talked to the dealership owner and he says be patient - it's been over a year -I love this truck but my patience is gone and I am going to make a video next time this happens and every subsequent time -thanks again

 

[plarkinjr]

I'd hate to imagine that problem happening at night, in traffic. Somebody could get seriously injured! Does the dealership realize that?

 

[troutspinner]

I would contact corporate yourself and open your own case and let the chain of command come from corporate. I don't care if your brother owns the dealership and no offense to anyone here who works for a dealer but dealers care about one thing, money! And your problem is eating into their time and money. Without corporate sending an engineer to figure it out, they will never get it fixed.

I don't know if there is a corporate rep on this forum, I know the Ford forum I belong to has one. It is impressive how guys post issues and then the Rep chimes in saying please PM me your info. Next thing you know, problem solved!

 

[plarkinjr]

I would contact corporate yourself and open your own case and let the chain of command come from corporate. I don't care if your brother owns the dealership and no offense to anyone here who works for a dealer but dealers care about one thing, money! And your problem is eating into their time and money. Without corporate sending an engineer to figure it out, they will never get it fixed.

I don't know if there is a corporate rep on this forum, I know the Ford forum I belong to has one. It is impressive how guys post issues and then the Rep chimes in saying please PM me your info. Next thing you know, problem solved!

That would be freaking-awesome! (having their Engineers participate in open forum).

And yes, troutspinner is right about involving corporate. They're not going to browbeat the dealership. If anything, corp will compensate the dealer for the time it takes them to make it right for you.

 

[mickstuder]

I'd hate to imagine that problem happening at night, in traffic. Somebody could get seriously injured! Does the dealership realize that?

One of my biggest fears is that I'm flying down I95 and something gets corrupted in the air bags circuit and they deploy - one of the first times this kind of thing started happening I had a appointment to have a Roll N Lock installed - it was cold out when I drove up to the Cap World so I left my wife in the truck with it running and I went in to tell them I was there - the installer told me to drive it over to door #2 - I got in and the shifter wouldn;t come out of Park - just a FYI - I learned that time that there is a hole on the underside of the steering column and if you stick a screw driver up in there it will release the shifter so the vehicle can at least be towed

 

[loner5777j]

I have the exact same problem on a 2012 I just bought in November , dealer tried to blame hid headlights I installed and a new aftermarket radio.

 

[mickstuder]

I have the exact same problem on a 2012 I just bought in November , dealer tried to blame hid headlights I installed and a new aftermarket radio.

Hey - thanks for your post - now that we've hooked up - we both might be able to get somewhere - I knew that out of 100,000 trucks I couldn;t have been the only one with this issue - my dealership claims that when they put this trouble into their computer system there is nothing similar that has ever been reported - the day before New Years everything on the dash started blinking and the tranny dropped from Drive into first all by itself - the dealership cleared the codes and I went home - 2 hours later I went to go out and the same thing happened with the instrument cluster and this time the ignition was dead - I let it sit overnight and the next day it started with only the check engine light on and the ECO wasn't working - I drove it around and after a hour the check engine light cleared on it's own and the ECO started working - I'm now carrying a video camera in the truck and now I can;t wait for this to happen again

 

[loner5777j]

I don't know really where to go with this, but I think dodge has to take care of it

 

[CoHillbilly]

My gauge lights on my '14 quad cab started flickering the other day. I found another forum where someone had the same issue and they found the fuses were not seated all the way. I pressed on my fuses and every single one popped down into place. So far no more flickering...


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