Electric Issue?

[strack]

My son-in-law has a 2017 Ram 1500 Classic (5.7L V8 Hemi). Recently, he experienced steering stiffness, his heater takes forever to come up to temp, and now he's had a transmission limp mode activation. It seems too coincidental that all these systems failed at once.

I ran a scan and it gave P0882 code which I cleared. Drove it maybe 5miles and it was normal but steering remained stiff. Battery voltage with engine off is 11.4V and about 15V when running. Fuses look okay. Any ideas? I suspect it's electrical but looking for anybody else who may have experienced same/similar?

Many thanks!

 

[markabby]

a low battery can make a lot of things go goofy. I had to replace mine with 11.5 volts, no matter how long i drove it or how long i charged it.

 

[Ken226]

Battery voltage with engine off is 11.4V

That's pretty bad.

Below around 12-12.2 volts, some modules on the network will intermittently fail to work when you key on.

Other modules will wake up, but then when you crank the engine and the starter load pulls the voltage even lower, fall off the network again.

Old battery?

 

[Daw14]

The intermediate shaft sometimes will get stiff.

 

[markabby]

That's pretty bad.

Below around 12-12.2 volts, some modules on the network will intermittently fail to work when you key on.

Other modules will wake up, but then when you crank the engine and the starter load pulls the voltage even lower, fall off the network again.

Old battery?

well, it was an OEM from 2020 when i bought thew truck. best part was the lights were bright, dash lit up normally, it was as is everything was working normally, except it would not turn over. I almost ran out to buy a new starter...lol...instead i checked the battery. I charged it over nite, then drove it non stop for about 100 miles, came home, turned it off...then no start.

it's been sitting on the trailer waiting for the junk man to grab it and it's at 11 volts now.

 

[markabby]

The intermediate shaft sometimes will get stiff.

joke?

 

[Ken226]

joke?

No, it's a real issue than commonly causes the "experienced steering stiffness" symptom described.

But, within the context of the other symptoms, the bad battery and given that the truck is equipped with electric power steering, the "steering stiffness", is more likely battery related.

But when i first saw his reply, I immediately thought to myself:

 

[Wild one]

joke?

It's a common issue on trucks with unwrapped headers.The heat cooks the rubber in the steering knuckle.