Electronic issue

[Wheelez]

I have a 2016 ram sport 8 speed. Dealing with electrical issues. Dash lit up, all indicator lights flashed then went away. Soon after fuel pump sensor error message came on, tank went to empty then returned to normal, this happens often. Puddle light blinkers blink fast and the back rear tail light (led) works fully sometimes and other it doesn’t, it gets dim or tracks like “kit” from night rider when you hit the brake. The blinker warning message comes on telling me blinkers are out, all 4 work. Unplugging the negative cable from battery resets everything temporarily. No performance issues are being experienced. Dealership doesn’t know what’s going on.... anybody heard of this? Thanks in advance.

 

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

I’d bet you have a defective battery (perhaps a defective cell).

Are the battery terminal connectors clean and in good shape? Are the battery terminal posts clean?

Any aftermarket electronic add-on devices? Have standard OEM bulbs been switched to LED bulbs?

 

[Wheelez]

Thanks for the response. The battery is fairly new, no corrosion and no aftermarket parts. Wondering if it could be the body control module that controls all the electronics

 

[16Ram4x4]

One thought it that you may have some corrosion on one or two different grounding points for those particular circuits.
Or the other could be a loose multi connector with lots of wires.
It may be something as simple as a grounding issue or a loose connector that is not fully seated or plugged together.
Also, even though your battery is fairly new have it tested anyways to rule out a defective / faulty cell

 

[Wheelez]

To be more clear about my issues, I’ve been tracking them, see below.

While driving the Air bag sensor turned on for a brief time then went away
Check engine came on and went off by its self
Fuel sensor error on screen came on and fule gauge stopped working while trick was running - brief moment
Hyper flash at mirrors and inside truck
Right and left blinker out message when starting- both work
Rear drivers tail light, lights up funny
Check engine came on but wouldn’t link to system for a day on two different readers, then it worked reading the following codes
codes P0463 and P018C- this one 3 times.

Reset system by pulling negative from battery, obd reader wouldn’t reset it. Upon reconnecting the battery everything worked as it should,hyperflash is gone.
Check engine came back on same codes then fuel sensor failure message- tank dropped to empty for a short period of time then returned to normal.
1/7 - fule pressure failure, gauges went to empty and computer read no fuel
1/13- rear camera half worked once, very dark screen, could see lights only.
The oil reset process on steering wheel doesn’t work, need to use the gas pedal. It’s wild.... Thanks.

 

[Wheelez]

One thought it that you may have some corrosion on one or two different grounding points for those particular circuits.
Or the other could be a loose multi connector with lots of wires.
It may be something as simple as a grounding issue or a loose connector that is not fully seated or plugged together.
Also, even though your battery is fairly new have it tested anyways to rule out a defective / faulty cell

 

[Wheelez]

I’ll double check those items. Thank you. I would think Ram would’ve checked on that when the truck was with them also, they didn’t see anything and wanted to chase codes. The truck is clean and was with ram for a day with no luck understanding what the problem is.

 

[ibike]

Clockspring

 

[Wheelez]

I just learned something new. I’ll look into that, thanks.

 

[Dean2]

Have you checked the fuse box and made sure all the fuses are seated by gently pushing down on each one. Did you look up and chase the error codes it did set?

 

[ibike]

The reason I suggest clockspring is coming from the Jeep tj community the clockspring does cause some erratic problems since it is tied into the canbus. Some folks have chased tps problems only to find the clockspring is the culprit. Just stabbing a guess at it.

 

[Justthebutler]

One thing that has worked well for me in the past with different vehicles is touching the cables together to do a 'hard reboot'

Remove/Disconnect the +(pos) and -(neg) cables. Isolate the battery with a piece of cardboard so the cables don't contact it,

Then touch and hold the battery cables together or use one color of some jumper cables to connect the battery cables together.

IE: Red jumper to +(pos) battery cable and other end of red jumper to -(neg) battery cable. Black jumpers are left unused.

Leave them touching/attached for 5 or ten minutes then hook everything back up as normal. This will reboot the different computers and clear all of the codes, including the stored ones.

 

[Dean2]

One thing that has worked well for me in the past with different vehicles is touching the cables together to do a 'hard reboot'

Remove/Disconnect the +(pos) and -(neg) cables. Isolate the battery with a piece of cardboard so the cables don't contact it,

Then touch and hold the battery cables together or use one color of some jumper cables to connect the battery cables together.

IE: Red jumper to +(pos) battery cable and other end of red jumper to -(neg) battery cable. Black jumpers are left unused.

Leave them touching/attached for 5 or ten minutes then hook everything back up as normal. This will reboot the different computers and clear all of the codes, including the stored ones.

Have to ask, how does connecting the two battery cables do that when there is no power to either cable. I have heard of disconnecting the battery for an hour or over night, and that does clear codes and reset most everything, but I don't get the cable connection part.Thanks.

 

[Justthebutler]

@Dean2

It completes a loop and drains the capacitors, which resets the codes to '0'

This allows everything to boot up fresh, and sort itself out.

 

[Daw14]

Load test the battery.

 

[RamDiver]

Load test the battery.

Load test the battery with a toaster-style tester.



.

 

[turkeybird56]

Check internal connectors, above brake pedal, to the right of E brake, located on firewall. Depending upon year, etc, there are 1-3 white wire connection points. Make sure they are all connected properly. There was an issue with the ED's on these connectors for a while.

 

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

Thanks for the response. The battery is fairly new, no corrosion and no aftermarket parts. Wondering if it could be the body control module that controls all the electronics

A fairly new battery does not mean it is not defective.

 

[Wheelez]

I looked into the clockspring. The only item that doesn’t work on the steering wheel is the oil reset function, everything button works as it should

 

[Wheelez]

Posting this again to make sure folks see it. I tracked all small issues that I experienced over 4 months, see below.

While driving the Air bag sensor turned on for a brief time then went away



Check engine came on and went off by its self



Fuel sensor error on screen came on and file gauge stopped working while trick was running - brief moment



Hyper flash at mirrors and inside truck



Right and left blinker out message when starting- both work



Rear drivers tail light, lights up funny all led bulbs work

Check engine came on but wouldn’t link to One system for a day on two different readers, then it worked reading the following codes



codes P0463 and P018C- this one 3 times.



All of this in the past 4 months save for hyper flash, that’s an ongoing issue



Reset system by pulling negative from battery, obd reader wouldn’t reset it. Upon rebooking battery everything worked as it should,hyperflash is gone.



Check engine came back on same codes then fuel sensor failure message- tank dropped to empty for a short period of time then returned to normal.



1/7 - fule pressure failure, gauges went to empty and computer read no fuel then returned to normal



1/13- rear camera half worked once, very dark screen, could see lights only. ( not at night)



The oil reset process on steering wheel doesn’t work, need to use the gas pedal.

Now parking light drivers side rear acting funny- half lit even with battery disconnect reset.

Thanks In advance.