2018 Ram 1500 and the Crazy UConnect...

[Irishguy]

Figures... So I just paid my truck off. Went to crank it the next day and all the lights come on, but she won't crank. So I pulled the battery and it was dated May of 2017. Took it down and got a new battery, brought it back, hooked it up, everything fine, truck cranks and drives fine. It even remembered all my settings, etc...

Everything's cool, except the damn UConnect is like it's demon possessed or something. It remembered my phone and the Android Auto, but when I try to map something it keeps changing the destination and remapping everything. When I change it to climate control, it keeps randomly changing from cold to heat to defrost, to low, high, etc... Matter of fact any screen you put it on it just starts randomly changing settings. Its dangerous as all hell, because you are trying to deal with all that while you are driving.

It's a damned shame, because I really love that truck, and other than that, everything else on the truck works perfect.

I've thought about just going to an audio store and swap all the radio stuff out, but that damned UConnect controls all kinds of stuff in the truck besides just the sound system.

I've never see or heard of anything like it. Not sure what to do at this point but to take it to a dealer and get ready to get screwed.

Anybody ever had this happen? What the hell did you do?

 

[crash68]

Try cleaning the screen with isopropyl alcohol and rebooting the radio to see if the problem clears itself.
You could also try updating to the lastest software/firmware if the above doesn't work.
If all else fails just buy a new radio to put in there as that's probably what the dealership will try to sell you. There's no programming involved, just swap it in and the radio reads the configuration from the BCM.

 

[SitKneelBend]

Figures... So I just paid my truck off. Went to crank it the next day and all the lights come on, but she won't crank. So I pulled the battery and it was dated May of 2017. Took it down and got a new battery, brought it back, hooked it up, everything fine, truck cranks and drives fine. It even remembered all my settings, etc...

Everything's cool, except the damn UConnect is like it's demon possessed or something. It remembered my phone and the Android Auto, but when I try to map something it keeps changing the destination and remapping everything. When I change it to climate control, it keeps randomly changing from cold to heat to defrost, to low, high, etc... Matter of fact any screen you put it on it just starts randomly changing settings. Its dangerous as all hell, because you are trying to deal with all that while you are driving.

It's a damned shame, because I really love that truck, and other than that, everything else on the truck works perfect.

I've thought about just going to an audio store and swap all the radio stuff out, but that damned UConnect controls all kinds of stuff in the truck besides just the sound system.

I've never see or heard of anything like it. Not sure what to do at this point but to take it to a dealer and get ready to get screwed.

Anybody ever had this happen? What the hell did you do?

It's known as ghost touches and is common on 2018+ Classics. Screen prices have come back down to around $200. Swapping the screen will fix the issue, but it may happen again if you get and SL01 or SL02 part revision (fixed in SL03). If it just started, you may be able to fix it by keeping the radio cooler. You can swap the thermal pads with better thermal material (requires opening the radio) for around $20. I added active cooling fans to the back of the radio too. It has stopped ghost touches on my radio for about two years now.

 

[Irishguy]

It's known as ghost touches and is common on 2018+ Classics. Screen prices have come back down to around $200. Swapping the screen will fix the issue, but it may happen again if you get and SL01 or SL02 part revision (fixed in SL03). If it just started, you may be able to fix it by keeping the radio cooler. You can swap the thermal pads with better thermal material (requires opening the radio) for around $20. I added active cooling fans to the back of the radio too. It has stopped ghost touches on my radio for about two years now.

Thanks for the reply, but it still seems weird that it just started when I changed the battery...

This makes sense since recently the screen has started to separate and it looks like there is an air pocket in there.

 

[SitKneelBend]

Thanks for the reply, but it still seems weird that it just started when I changed the battery...

This makes sense since recently the screen has started to separate and it looks like there is an air pocket in there.

It's called delamination. Very common, known issue. It may be coincidence with the battery and likely more likely related to higher ambient temperature this time of year.

If you decide to replace it with something aftermarket your broken radio is still worth money if you want to offset the cost of replacement.