Electrical issues

[orerockon]

Hello all, 2013 2500 diesel here. I have had an issue with my stereo says it's "miswired". Through trial & error I determined that if both batteries were disconnected and reconnected it would go away. However it doesn't work anymore and then more issues started popping up. So far the door locks only close from the key, but I have to use the key to open the door now. The worst is that I need to boost the battery to start it if I left it for a few days. Then it started draining overnight. I'm trying right now but I don't think it will start at all. I had the batteries checked, I had replaced the old ones 4 or 5 years ago and they said there isn't a damn thing wrong with them. Then it started but the panel started throwing up random messages after I got it started such as serv 4wd and something i didn't quite catch abuot training chip? Which went to something that said it was all good. Most times there were no messages. Now boosting both batteries to 95% (as far as my charger will read apparently) still won't start. I read about TIPM issues and I found a post here that said do the fuel pump relay bypass thing before you do anything else and that may fix it. So I did that and it doesn't change anything. Now I'm guessing I just need to replace the TIPM? I saw a video about pulling it and cleaning the underside. Is it worth the trouble to do that? Or just get a new TIPM and start over?

 

[orerockon]

FYI I got it to start by leaving one battery on boost even though it said that both batteries were at 95%. The charger says alternator LO I didn't catch that before.

 

[crash68]

Use a volt meter and check the battery voltage, you may have a bad cell in one of the batteries. Both batteries are wired in parallel so either one bad will give you problems. Need to resolve the battery/charging issues before tackling any of the other problems as low voltages can cause lots of grief

 

[orerockon]

Thanks, I had the place I bought the batteries check them and they said that nothing was wrong with them. For the second time. I'm assuming they actually tested them, they had the truck in the bay for a while.

 

[Jeepwalker]

I would drive down to Harbor Freight, Walmart, or a place which has them, and buy an inexpensive battery load tester and test them myself. It's a good tool to have on the shelf. You might not use it that often, but when you need it , it can answer battery questions real fast. I use mine a lot.

When you got the truck to run, did it seem to operate properly? Any errant lights? It could be connections & grounds too.

 

[BossHogg]

Thanks, I had the place I bought the batteries check them and they said that nothing was wrong with them. For the second time. I'm assuming they actually tested them, they had the truck in the bay for a while.

I wouldn't depend on their assessment.

Batteries are interesting devices and can be bad in ways that are difficult to detect. Ask me how I know this.

A not-so-common problem but certainly not unique is when one cell in the battery will (briefly) reverse its polarity. The result is a lowering of the battery voltage (self-discharging state) well below 8 volts. Sometimes this happens fast like several 100 milliseconds making the detection difficult. I found this issue using my Fluke DVM using the minimum/maximum recording feature of the meter. This was a few years ago and I never heard of this battery behavior before but once I looked around, I did see data on it.

One thing you could do is disconnect one battery at a time to see if the issue is related to one of the batteries. I would prove out the batteries are not the issue before firing the expensive parts cannon. BTW, 2013s no longer have a TPIM, it is now a BCM, RAM introduced a new electrical architecture in 2013 models.

 

[crash68]

2013s no longer have a TPIM, it is now a BCM, RAM introduced a new electrical architecture in 2013 models.

Technically it's the now the PDM (Power Distribution Module) which is controlled by the BCM. Much like the TPIM the PDM has unserviceable relays embedded inside.

 

[orerockon]

I learned about the unserviceable crap pretty quick. Have an appointment with a car electrical wiz next. Took it in to see why the stereo went into demo mode, they pulled it and the harness was corroded beyond repair and had essentially fried it. So there is water getting somewhere around the front window or the bay (which I doubt). The guy is going to try to find it. Pretty sure this is the root cause. Crazy that I never noticed it except for a couple times when it was raining and really humid and the windshield fogged up a bit. I chalked it up to door seals, replaced a couple that were going to go sooner or later. I don't think that was the issue anymore.