AC Remote Start Weirdness

[MacAttack_14]

You're most welcome.

In Ontario, coincidentally where most of the Canuck manufacturers reside, they fill the streets all winter with salt and chemicals.

If you don't use Krown or something similar every year, your vehicle will quickly disintegrate.

I believe most of the Western and some Eastern Provinces use sand. It's dirty but doesn't eat through all the ferrous metals.

AFAIK, the big problem with importing from Canada to the USA, and vice versa, is with FCA warranty coverage.

There is an official FCA process to transfer a valid warranty after importation, but I have read countless posts where the process failed and the warranty was denied.

Maybe the entire lot of them screwed up and didn't follow the required protocol, but I doubt that to be the case.

The proper procedure I've read about is the entire warranty transfer registration with FCA must be completed before the purchase agreement has been signed.

AFAIK, this process is only valid for new vehicles.
I don't believe I've ever heard of any successful warranty transfers with used trucks, other than with aftermarket warranties.

Importing anything expensive in either direction would not be prudent in recent times anyway.

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Recent times...sigh. I'm tired of the new normal.

According to the CarFax, my tuck lived in St. Johns, Newfoundland, which if memory serves, is right on the ocean. But whoever owned it must have kept it treated with a non-hardening undercoating because, although there was surface rust on the undercarriage, it was in pretty decent shape. Just before last winter I doused it with fluid film and am getting ready to do it again this weekend, but I think this time I'll try FF black, just for kicks. I'm thinking it might be easier to see where it has worn off.

I'm excited today because I get to test removing the dash pad (a carpet-like thing I bought on eBay) and see if that cures my AC remote start woes. Wish me luck!

 

[RamDiver]

Recent times...sigh. I'm tired of the new normal.

According to the CarFax, my tuck lived in St. Johns, Newfoundland, which if memory serves, is right on the ocean. But whoever owned it must have kept it treated with a non-hardening undercoating because, although there was surface rust on the undercarriage, it was in pretty decent shape. Just before last winter I doused it with fluid film and am getting ready to do it again this weekend, but I think this time I'll try FF black, just for kicks. I'm thinking it might be easier to see where it has worn off.

I'm excited today because I get to test removing the dash pad (a carpet-like thing I bought on eBay) and see if that cures my AC remote start woes. Wish me luck!

Yup, in the North Atlantic Ocean at the easternmost point of North America (other than Greenland).
Searches suggest they use salt primarily, with a bit of sand in some areas.





Newfoundland is a very cool place to visit if you have a couple of weeks to make the 600-mile journey from Port aux Basques to St. John's. I lived in St. John's for a couple of years as a toddler, and I've visited different areas a few times since.

I'm looking forward to your next update after removing the dash pad.

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[MacAttack_14]

OK, I got kind of an answer to the battery types.

For a 2016 Ram 1500 being upgraded to an H7 (Group 94R) AGM battery, you are keeping the factory physical size but completely changing the battery chemistry.
Your truck almost certainly came from the factory configured for a conventional Flooded H7 battery. To prevent the alternator from overcharging and frying your new AGM plates, you need to change two settings under the Body Computer configuration using your diagnostic software:

1. Battery Type (The Numerical ID)
To map an H7 AGM (~80 Amp-Hours / 800–850 CCA), set your Battery Type parameter to:

• ID-7 (or ID-6 depending on your specific BCM software flash version)

Why this choice? Your truck’s stock factory setting was likely ID-4 (H7 Standard Flooded). Shifting the index to ID-7 preserves the ~80Ah capacity framework but signals to the BCM that the internal resistance tracking needs to shift to an AGM profile.

2. Battery Chemistry (The Safety Toggle)
As with any 4th Generation Ram, changing the numeric ID profile isn't enough on its own. You must explicitly look for the Battery Chemistry configuration option and change it:

• Change from: Flooded
• Change to: AGM

Crucial Post-Programming Step
After you change the Battery Type and Battery Chemistry values in the software, you must run a Proxi Alignment.

1. Run the Proxi Alignment procedure via your software tool to push the new configuration matrix from the BCM to the instrument cluster and the PCM.
2. Once the Proxi is complete, turn the truck completely off, lock the doors, and let it sit undisturbed for at least 4 to 8 hours. This allows the Intelligent Battery Sensor (IBS) on the negative terminal to go to sleep, wake up, and accurately sample the new AGM battery's resting voltage.

I will certainly look into these settings. Although my truck came with an H7 AGM, that doesn't mean the settings were changed. And since that battery was only 1.5 years old (on a 4 year) and it was toast, this might explain why.
I missed this post so I'm glad I went back through.
How would one get confirmation of the correct settings? Call a dealer? The Ram CEO?

 

[RamDiver]

I'm excited today because I get to test removing the dash pad (a carpet-like thing I bought on eBay) and see if that cures my AC remote start woes. Wish me luck!

The Auto/dual control AC is, like most Ram features, incredibly more complex than necessary.

I'm no expert in this area, but after reading and poking around a 2013 Ram 1500 Service Manual, there are at least 3 different sensors that might impact the Auto mode.

The Sun Sensor on the dashboard.
The Humidity Sensor, to the immediate right of the rearview mirror.
And the 'In-car temperature Sensor' behind the kick panel below the steering wheel.

Looking at the panel, there's a tiny grill/vent. This is an intake to a tiny motor/sensor assembly used to measure the 'in-car' temperature. Please note the "in-car" reference.
This term separates this temperature reference in the service manual from literally 100s of others. LOL


I've added attachments for the last two sensors, because I believe these are more likely to be the source of your grief. If the sun sensor were failing, I would expect more problems with light sensing and switching between daylight/night time.

I would still start this project by closely inspecting the dash pad near the sun sensor, especially if everything was working properly before the dash pad installation.

The entire 2013 Service Manual is available here.
Sorry, that's the closest I have to 2017.

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[RamDiver]

How would one get confirmation of the correct settings? Call a dealer? The Ram CEO?

The creator of AlfaOBD had no idea of the different 'battery type' options the last time I or 04fxdwgi inquired.





With the continued expansion into AI used by most search engines, we're now seeing some definitive results. I'm still using extreme caution and not yet prepared to take the plunge of using this new info, and potentially toasting a new battery.

My Google AI search suggested battery type ID 1 for AGM, but I wasn't satisfied with the evidence.
04fxdwgi's deeper search with Google AI suggests ID 6 or ID 7. This sounds more plausible, but I'm still hesitant to jump in.

Another member posted all the battery parameters that changed when selecting a battery ID other than the standard OE 4. I'd want to study up on all these individual parameters before proceeding.

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[danielmid]

I switched to AGM several years ago and never changed anything and it works fine.

 

[MacAttack_14]

Yes, unfortunately the sun sensor is working fine and the dash cover was nowhere near covering it up. So removing the pad didn't make a difference. Thank you for the service documents, Driver. They will come in useful, although I don't know if I want to tackle the humidity sensor and end up replacing the windshield
I'll change my battery back to ID4 this weekend.