2019 Ram 1500 Crew Rear Door Issues

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55Trucker

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Hi all. I bought my 2019 Ram 1500 Limited used last September, with 18K miles on it. We have pretty cold days up here in Maine, and pretty much from the time the daily temps went below freezing I have not been able to reliably open my rear doors from the outside. Basically, pull the outside door handle and it doesn't budge.

When this first started happening I tugged the left rear door handle a bit too hard, and apparently snapped a cable in the door. (I have been waiting since the end of November for the part, dealer says it's backordered and unavailable?).

When the right rear door handle didn't budge budge I was a bit gentler with it, and opened the door from the inside, only to find that when I shut the door it wouldn't latch. For grins I pushed in and pulled out the lock button manually on that door, and found that the door latched, but then found that the door could no longer be opened from the inside, either.

Great, now I have two rear doors that are unusable. I brought the truck back to the dealer last week for the right rear door issue. They told me that this that and the other thing were misaligned and that they fixed it and it works perfectly now. So I picked the truck up, and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. The right rear door in fact opened just fine, but when I shut it it wouldn't latch again. I immediately called the dealer, and of course he said, gee, we've never ever seen this kind of issue with these trucks. Note that I have never had an issue with the front door handles.

Again, these rear door issues seem to happen only when the temperature is below 30, suggesting that water is trapped somewhere in the handle/lock/latch mechanism and frozen. It's hard for me to believe that I am the only one encountering this, on both rear doors. Has anyone else had this issue?
 

tron67j

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Having a bilateral problem, and only in the rear, is interesting. While water could exacerbate it, I think the cold is possibly more of a clue that there is something else going on since both sides have problems. Did the doors seem hard to open in the warm weather, like having to really mean it when you were shutting doors?
 
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55Trucker

55Trucker

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No, the handles move and the doors open very easily when the temp is above freezing. Without actually being able to look in there, it's almost like there's a place where water can pool, freeze, and keep things from moving.
 
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55Trucker

55Trucker

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Today the right rear outside handle stopped working (moves freely without unlatching the door). I just left a flame for the FCA customer satisfaction survey I just took. I also opened a case with FCA, and am supposed to have a case manager assigned. We'll see.

I guess I'd feel better if a lot of others were experiencing this - I'm starting to feel like a) I have a one off problem that FCA won't be able to fix, and b) I'll be stuck with an issue that really affects the usefulness of this truck (no rear seat access).
 

LugsLeadOut84

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Keep at the dealer. I have a 2019 Crew Cab and don't experience any of that. It's been teens and 20's the past week or two here and we've gotten snow, freezing rain and I've had no abnormal issues. I've had the truck since new. I have a child and have been taking him to school every day and opening the doors.
 

KeithP

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Low mileage used vehicles scare me more than a high miler. There’s usually a reason somebody doesn’t want a vehicle after only putting 18k on it. I get some folks just trade often but, those are the exceptions not the rule. Low milers merit more in depth research before buying.

Wishing you good luck. Hope it’s just a bad seal that lets water in where it doesn’t belong or a plugged drain hole that doesn’t let it out.
 
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55Trucker

55Trucker

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I bought it from a Ford dealer in MA. The salesman was a young kid, who told me that the truck belonged to his older brother, who traded it in there for a 2021 Ford Raptor. The previous owner last name and town on the title checked out with what the salesman told me. But you're right, and my wife reminds me every time she get get at the rear seat, are you sure someone didn't get rid of it because of this problem??

I'm still trying to come to grips with how FCA has a shortage of these cables. Not exactly high tech. But then again, I went into Home Depot yesterday and found they had almost none of the blue plastic electric wiring outlet/switch boxes. And the nail section was pretty depleted too.
 

blinded77

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I am experiencing the same issue with my driver side rear door only. they have replaced all the seals in the door already and still froze. It is in again now for this issue as it is a major safety issue. I bought the truck special order. One thing they did find the first time is that the shielding inside the door was shattered which is probably from water getting in and freezing. I think the handle itself is allowing water in somehow.
 

Gort

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I had a 2019 1500 Laramie Crew Cab that I bought new in Dec 2018. Pennsylvania winters don't get as cold as Maine winters, but we do spend a lot of time below freezing and occasionally dip below zero in Late January and February. We also tend to get a lot of freezing rain. Even with all that, I never experienced your problem with the rear doors.

My doors (and windows) would freeze shut now and then, but it was always because door seals would freeze to the body or the window seal would freeze to the window. A little silicone spray fixed the freezing door seals. I've had the window freezing issue on all my Rams and most of my other vehicles -- the only vehicle I have that has never had a frozen window is my Wrangler.

FWIW, regarding the low-mileage trade -- I traded that 2019 1500 on my current 2020 2500 and it only had about 7800 miles on it. I didn't trade it because of any problems, though -- I actually really liked my 2019 for the most part. I just wanted a 2500 and I found a new one and made a good deal on it. I also made a decent little profit on the trade because of the timing. The only reason it had such low mileage is because I normally worked at home most of the time, and then the COVID shutdowns have me working at home full-time -- so basically I don't drive a lot. My longest "commute" is from the kitchen coffee pot to my home office.
 

jeff208863

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i have a 2020 1500 Eco Diesel with 62k miles bought new. just went out to open truck at 5 am in freezing temps and the back door was sticky. it opened but then would not shut. This forum is all new to me so what is my next move? ive just been hunting similar issues online so far. did you figure this one out?
 
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