Insight Needed, Dealership is no help on my 2019 Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi

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Coltonhagenn

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My pickup has this Service Shifter notice like it will kick into 7th while driving any speed and won’t shift into any other. It happens randomly. At first I thought it was a heat thing, but last night I was on a 6 hour road trip and my entire dash restarted on me, but still had full control of the vehicle. When I’ve taken it in to have it looked at, there are just a bunch of stored codes for miscommunication errors to the brain. Along with the service shifter, there is a plethora of other codes that get thrown: Service Air Bag, Service Electronic Stability, Park sense unavailable, Cruise unavailable and service, traction control service, check engine light, you get the idea. I’m at a loss. Love the pickup more than anything, but it’s getting ridiculous w/o dealership help.634BD79D-D49F-4649-9E5A-0E4209C0F4E5.jpeg
 

Roy the Fixer

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As PoMansRam said, it sounds like a basic problem with a connection that is going open. If you can get your hands on the wiring diagrams, you can do some research and likely find the cause. You will need to trace the components and connections for each of those codes and look for a common wire, plug or ground that they all share. That is likely your culprit. Sadly, no-code diagnosis is very rarely done anymore! I had an intermittent no crank problem on a 2012 Ram 1500 Big Horn and the dealer opened a "star case" with the factory staff, but they decided they had no fix for it because it never set any codes. As a final note, I would start at the battery connections and visible grounds, then start moving toward any locations where wires are connected together, such a ground posts. Good Luck!
 
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Coltonhagenn

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Most likely those are all symptoms of the root cause.

My guess would be a bad power or ground connection somewhere.

Any aftermarket electronics on the vehicle or signs of rodents anywhere?
I was thinking it was ground as well but haven’t had a lot of time to dive into it.

No aftermarket electronics, and I haven’t seen any signs of rodents or birds, but if there was I figure the dealership would’ve seen it if there were any!
 

PoMansRam

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...I haven’t seen any signs of rodents or birds, but if there was I figure the dealership would’ve seen it if there were any!
I wouldn't bank on the dealer spotting that. Sometimes the little buggers can get into areas you'd never see w/out disassembling things.

Have you had critters in other vehicles by chance?

If you live in an area that gets lots of snow, corrosion can always be a problem, even in as little as 3yrs.
 

zogg

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My son-in-law had similar issues a few weeks ago. I told him to disconnect the battery over night and it cleared the issue for a few days. I told him to replace the battery but he said it was a one year old Walmart battery that tested good at autozone. I said to replace it anyway and I’ll pay for it if it doesn’t help. He bought an AMG battery from Napa and everything works perfectly. The one year old Walmart battery apparently had a weak cell….that’s all it takes with all of the electronic stuff. Good luck
 

RamDiver

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If I were investigating this issue, I would locate a digital multimeter and measure the battery voltage. Next, and regardless of the test results, obtain a battery post & lug cleaner such as the one shown below.

Clean the posts & lugs and then coat with dielectric grease. Re-assemble & test voltage level again. I try to clean mine at least once or twice per year, up here.

The Fargo I found with Google maps looks like you're not much further South than I am. You may want to adopt a new SOP of regularly cleaning your battery posts. They may look somewhat OK but have been known to create grief with poor starting or bizarro digital failures like what you're describing.


battery post cleaner.jpg


.
 
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Coltonhagenn

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I wouldn't bank on the dealer spotting that. Sometimes the little buggers can get into areas you'd never see w/out disassembling things.

Have you had critters in other vehicles by chance?

If you live in an area that gets lots of snow, corrosion can always be a problem, even in as little as 3yrs.
I do live in a high snow area. Never worried about critters beforehand, but agreed. They do really get into the smallest places though.
 
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Coltonhagenn

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My son-in-law had similar issues a few weeks ago. I told him to disconnect the battery over night and it cleared the issue for a few days. I told him to replace the battery but he said it was a one year old Walmart battery that tested good at autozone. I said to replace it anyway and I’ll pay for it if it doesn’t help. He bought an AMG battery from Napa and everything works perfectly. The one year old Walmart battery apparently had a weak cell….that’s all it takes with all of the electronic stuff. Good luck
A new battery is what I’m going to try next from what the rest of these comments are kind of suggesting. I’ll see what I can figure out! Fingers crossed for a fix. I did the same with the disconnect and it helped for 3 days, and now with it being 80 degrees again it is acting up again. Damn electrical. Thank you!
 

turkeybird56

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It might be time to disconnect the battery for a bit and let the electronics reset. Or maybe a bad ground from battery to frame.
^^^ DITTO ^^^
 

turkeybird56

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I would replace your battery, with all of those messages you have low voltage, do check all your grounds and battery connections, a load test may check good, these OEM battery's are crap.
^^^ DITTO ^^^
 

turkeybird56

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A new battery is what I’m going to try next from what the rest of these comments are kind of suggesting. I’ll see what I can figure out! Fingers crossed for a fix. I did the same with the disconnect and it helped for 3 days, and now with it being 80 degrees again it is acting up again. Damn electrical. Thank you!
DO not go cheap on the battery, get a decent one, consider getting an AGM Battery, H-7 should be stock size, verify that. MY 19 truck, built 4/2018 has a battery starting to go and looks like a trip to like AutoZone for me soon.
 

Jeff Strader

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Your truck is acting like one of the MAIN GROUNDS is either loose or has come off or rotted into.
 

GlennRH

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Sigh. Another one where the OP does not have the courtesy to update his solution. How hard is it?
 

Dean2

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Lots of good advice so far. Beyond checking grounds and connections, doisconnecting and replacing the battery I will add one thing, open the fuse box, press down gently on all fuses to make sure they are properly seated. Fixed a few intermitent Gremlins on my wife's Jeep.
 

RamDiver

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After reading Dean's first report about the fuses not being completely seated, I found many of my '21 Ram were the same, not fully seated. Thanks, Dean!

Only time will tell if this cured my occasional mystery gremlin feature. :cool:
.
 

Jeff Strader

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You have a Main Cable Connector issue. Your getting multiple errors, that's to much of a coincidence. I have a 2019 5th Gen RAM 1500 4x4 and I am getting the "Park Sense Unavailable & Service Shifter". A gentleman in another RAM forum, said he had the same issues and he found out it was a multi-pin connector under the drivers side on the frame. He said it had become corroded and was causing these issues. He said he cleaned it, put Dielectric Grease on the pins, 6 months has passed, with no messages reappearing.
 
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