Engine dying in cold weather

[backinthesaddle]

I have a 2012 1500 5.7 that will randomly die when it gets really cold out (below 20 degrees). It most commonly occurs when shifting from any gear to drive. As soon as put in drive it dies. There is no rhyme or reason either, it is not like it happens every day or every time I drive the truck.

Have any of you had any issue like this occur?

Last year I had a similar issue with the dash cluster failing in similar weather conditions. The cluster would not come on with the truck and the windshield wipers would run until the truck got warm enough for the cluster to come on. Replaced the cluster, issue disappeared.

The only issues I have with my Ram are in below freezing weather.

 

[HammerHead]

Try shifting to Reverse then Neutral then to Drive. Let each gear including neutral engage fully before shifting to the next gear. This might help, could be a sign of tranny issues.

 

[backinthesaddle]

Thanks HammerHead. The only concern is the infrequent amount of times it dies. I could shift into each gear but that would be a pain to do every time and not know if it was going to die or not.

I was wondering if there may be another computer component that may cause this since I was also having issues with the cluster when it got cold too. The temperature seems to be the only thing impacting these inconsistent issues.

 

[corneileous]

Any check engine lights? Whether or not there is, not sure if the key dance code retrieval trick works on that 12 but you could try that to see if you have any stored codes. Or you could just take it to your local parts house for a free diagnostic check if you don’t have a code reader of your own.

It could be a bad idle air control valve too.


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[backinthesaddle]

No lights or codes. I have a OBD scanner but it does not indicate anything wrong.

I cleaned the throttle body last year when it first started occurring but there wasn't any change in behavior, I haven't tried the idle air control valve though.