Lots of troubles!

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Zep40boy

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2012
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Hey Guys, my Battery on my 12 ram has been ******** the last few months, jumped it last week.. it was in the teens and I'm sure the battery was a little froze but I needed to move it... after LOTS of boosting.. it. started up... but now no throttle (drive by wire)

Changed out battery, checked all under hood fuses... tried putting a throttle body on but that didnt do anything.
At this point I had tried every throttle relearn procedure I could find online... I see the CEL flash which I think that means it was successful.

Reading the data stream it looks like theres a couple dead spots in the throttle pedal. I've never had an issue before this but I'm wondering if I fried something when I jumped it

Theres like 2 pedal position sensors on the pedal, and the same sensor drops out around 25% and 37% consistently.. but it will do a complete % sweep starting at 0%

So tried putting the new pedal in and it didnt work. But I tried 4 different ways of doing the relearn, and the values are stuck at 49%. No sweeping, just constant 49% on both sensors.

Between yesterday and today I have a **** ton more codes too. I'm wondering if i fried the pcm. Everything I've read, when the ETC light comes on in these, top replacement is the throttle body, then the pedal, then pcm. Well, I've ruled out T.B. and the pedal (sort of) I may try and find someone with a scan tool to stop out and do the relearn on the scan tool. For some reason it's not working with the steps I've found... so before I do the pcm (which I think it may be anyway because it keeps getting random ass codes) I have to get the relearn for sure done correctly.

You'll see throughout the pictures of the codes, there gets to be more and more added. The last ones are from today.

I'm thinking alot of the original hard codes are from when I was trying to start it with low battery voltage.

Every evening I disconnect the battery cable hoping it will somehow reset itself but nothing yet.

The truck sits alot so I inspected the wire harness and found nothing bad.
When I start the truck, it always runs great, even with the new throttle pedal, idles good and smooth.. just no throttle
Why isnt my truck doing the relearn? Why do I have all these random codes?
 

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huntergreen

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Was the new battery fully charged when installed ? Funky things happen when it’s not .
 

James OBrien

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Sure looks and feels like a bad ground. Check your major grounds, the most important one being the one attached to the truck right by where your PCM/ECM harness connectors are.
 
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Zep40boy

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Was the new battery fully charged when installed ? Funky things happen when it’s not .
It was off the shelf so probably not "fully" as I didnt charge it at all
Sure looks and feels like a bad ground. Check your major grounds, the most important one being the one attached to the truck right by where your PCM/ECM harness connectors are.
Where is the pcm on these things anyway? Right side firewall where the big connections are?
 

seabrook

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seabrook
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It was off the shelf so probably not "fully" as I didnt charge it at all

Where is the pcm on these things anyway? Right side firewall where the big connections are?
yessir
 
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Zep40boy

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Checked out the grounds tonight, battery and pcm. Tried relearn... still no dice
 

James OBrien

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Well, you may at this point want to find a used PCM and try swapping. Got any buddies with the same year truck :)
 

AK-red

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Not on a RAM but my '15 Durango had a bad ground. I thought it would be real bad. None of the lights worked, windshield wipers came on, limp mode, traction control went haywire... all while driving mid-winter down a 100 mile stretch of Alaskan highway. No shop could get me in so I went for it and made it home. After a couple hours I came to the Integrated Power Module main chassis ground. On the Durango it is on the passenger side frame rail. There was just a tiny little stud and a nut grounding the entire vehicle electronics! Worse IT WAS PAINTED. The only ground connection it had for the first 40k was though whatever paint the nut stripped off the stud. Really horrible. The fix was simple, just wire brushed to bare metal, put a toothed washer on between the nut and ground, and then sprayed it with terminal protector. I clean it every other oil change or so and zero issues since. I have notice the same style connection on RAM trucks too and later built Durangos. Worth a look whenever you get all the codes... I think I got lucky no damage was done. If you did have a bad ground I think there is a chance it could cause damage to the ECM/IPM etc.
 
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Zep40boy

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Well, you may at this point want to find a used PCM and try swapping. Got any buddies with the same year truck :)
That's what I was thinking. So far I'm not into it for any $ since i was able to return the parts. Scrap yard has one for $100 but not open til Monday... see next comment
Not on a RAM but my '15 Durango had a bad ground. I thought it would be real bad. None of the lights worked, windshield wipers came on, limp mode, traction control went haywire... all while driving mid-winter down a 100 mile stretch of Alaskan highway. No shop could get me in so I went for it and made it home. After a couple hours I came to the Integrated Power Module main chassis ground. On the Durango it is on the passenger side frame rail. There was just a tiny little stud and a nut grounding the entire vehicle electronics! Worse IT WAS PAINTED. The only ground connection it had for the first 40k was though whatever paint the nut stripped off the stud. Really horrible. The fix was simple, just wire brushed to bare metal, put a toothed washer on between the nut and ground, and then sprayed it with terminal protector. I clean it every other oil change or so and zero issues since. I have notice the same style connection on RAM trucks too and later built Durangos. Worth a look whenever you get all the codes... I think I got lucky no damage was done. If you did have a bad ground I think there is a chance it could cause damage to the ECM/IPM etc.
I'll definitely take a look. I'll be honest I didnt pull the ground apart because it looked clean as hell so I thought "bah, that cant be it" but I'll be cleaning that tomorrow before I try doing a pcm.

I forgot to mention, about a month ago, I started the truck up after sitting (battery wasnt dead) and I kept hearing this clicking noise like a turn signal. I couldnt find where it was coming from and finally it stopped.
2 miles later I stopped at the quik trip, shut truck off, got out and saw my daytime running lights were blinking like friggen hazards. I could NOT figure it out and it hasnt happened since. Just thought it was a fluke.

I'll definitely be pulling the ground apart. Thanks guys
 
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Zep40boy

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Hey guys, been a while since I was able to even work on the truck.

Finally got out to the truck to try some things, over the past couple weeks I've tried
New throttle body
New pedal (both were returnable thankfully)
Cleaned 3 fender mounted grounds

The latest bit Is I bit the bullet with the pcm. I got one for $80 at the scrap yard.

Put her in the truck and she fired right up... for about 5 seconds. This happened 4 or 5 times and just thought it was in the learning process. I soon came to realize the immobilizer was shutting it down and now I am unable to crank it.

When I put my old pcm in, it fires right up. When I pull the codes for the new pcm I'm getting an immobilizer code obviously... but every single process of resetting the key has not worked.

Lock doors, walk away for 15 mins, come back, cycle key 3 times... nothing

Get in, lock all doors and then unlock drivers door and cycle key... nothing

Hold panic button for 5 seconds 10 feet away before hitting lock 2x and unlock 2x... nothing.

I dont have the same codes as I did before and I definitely dont have the red lightening bolt of death. Any other options to reset the anti theft? Have it sitting overnight with the battery disconnected ‍♂️
 
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Zep40boy

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Wondering if maybe I have to do something with my viper electric start??
 
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