Massive electrical problem and unresponsive dealer. Any ideas? 2017 Ram 1500.

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Dusty

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A little background information; I own a 2017 Ram 1500 CC 2WD 5.7 with approximately 67,000 miles. I have owned this truck for three years and purchased it as a CPO with 22,000 miles and prior to this I have never had an electrical issue. It has had a UAS swap for the last two and a half years and has been problem free.

I currently have an electrical issue with my truck that the dealer cannot seem to figure out. On December 18th I drove my truck about 50 miles in the rain from my house in Metro Atlanta, arrived at the destination, shut the truck off and stepped away for about 10 minutes. Came back to the truck and started it up to leave and it ran for about two seconds and then shut off like you hit the key. The cluster proceeded to read out: right front turn signal out, service power steering, service airbag system, service electronic braking system, right headlight out and has warning lights for traction control, anti-theft light flashing, check engine, airbag, etc. The back windows don't roll up, the lights will randomly turn on (besides the right headlight), and it does not crank or spin over. I can roll up the front windows, the cluster turns on, I can use the radio (which is asking for the anti-theft code), change the blower speed, and use some other interior functions. This resulted in the truck having to be towed to a dealer in Cartersville, GA and it has only become a bigger nightmare since.

The dealer initially thought the BCM was the issue after some diagnostics were run and they supposedly traced it back to the BCM (1/12/22). They ordered a BCM that was supposedly a reman from a dealer in Arizona, and installed it with no luck even after they told me they opened a STAR case in an attempt to program it (1/22/22). They claimed this was because it was bad, and honestly with the current parts situation a bad reman wasn't totally abnormal in my mind. They supposedly "had Chrysler warranty" this one, and the second one didn't work either (2/2/22). I was reassured the BCM was 100% the issue, so they swapped this for a brand new one that was also handled by "warranty". The new one was installed on 2/12/22 and on 2/14/22 I received a text that the BCM was showing more codes than either the original or the two remans, included in this text were pictures of the codes and the topology of the CAN system which I have attached. These codes were present in the old BCM when I pulled the logs off it on 12/25/21 using AlfaOBD (including B162E and B2103), and the new one has not changed how the truck behaves.

At this point I called Ram Cares (2/15/22) as I had been without the truck for two months and I would not hear from the dealer without initiating contact constantly. This is when I was informed the dealer had not contacted STAR for the first BCM as I was led to believe, but the response from Ram Cares was to tell the dealer to contact STAR. I explained that they needed to contact the dealer as I would rarely hear back unless I called the service advisor and texted him, and they told me they would look into it. During this time I received no updates from the dealer, so I called them on 2/21/22 and was told the advisor had gone home for the day. He texted me that evening he would call me as soon as he can, but that call never came. I texted the advisor again on 2/24/22 asking what they had found, and said they had found cut wires by the BCM (keep in mind it was running fine 10 minutes prior and it has not been tampered with) and asked me what they went to. I explained I didn't know so he agreed to send me a picture after lunch. I never received another text even after asking the same question that evening. I had also not heard back from Ram Cares, so I contacted them again on 2/22/22 and I am currently in contact with Level 2 support. The only wire loose to my knowledge is the yellow one you do not use when installing the dealer addon backup cam as this truck did not have it from factory, it is ziptied to the harness.

Since I have written an entire thesis, I'll keep this short. I am hoping someone has seen this issue or experienced it so I can at least get a reference or a possible solution. The dealer has not provided a single solution and will not keep in contact with me. They acted as if the new BCM had provided more codes when in fact it changed nothing, and I have not gotten a straight answer outside "it doesn't work" in two months.

Errors shown on cluster
You know, sometimes it's just better to get out of the vehicle, stop depending on the scan tool to answer all your questions, and get the test light out. I would start with why the engine won't crank.

Best of luck.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 065595 miles.
 

AKBear

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A little background information; I own a 2017 Ram 1500 CC 2WD 5.7 with approximately 67,000 miles. I have owned this truck for three years and purchased it as a CPO with 22,000 miles and prior to this I have never had an electrical issue. It has had a UAS swap for the last two and a half years and has been problem free.

I currently have an electrical issue with my truck that the dealer cannot seem to figure out. On December 18th I drove my truck about 50 miles in the rain from my house in Metro Atlanta, arrived at the destination, shut the truck off and stepped away for about 10 minutes. Came back to the truck and started it up to leave and it ran for about two seconds and then shut off like you hit the key. The cluster proceeded to read out: right front turn signal out, service power steering, service airbag system, service electronic braking system, right headlight out and has warning lights for traction control, anti-theft light flashing, check engine, airbag, etc. The back windows don't roll up, the lights will randomly turn on (besides the right headlight), and it does not crank or spin over. I can roll up the front windows, the cluster turns on, I can use the radio (which is asking for the anti-theft code), change the blower speed, and use some other interior functions. This resulted in the truck having to be towed to a dealer in Cartersville, GA and it has only become a bigger nightmare since.

The dealer initially thought the BCM was the issue after some diagnostics were run and they supposedly traced it back to the BCM (1/12/22). They ordered a BCM that was supposedly a reman from a dealer in Arizona, and installed it with no luck even after they told me they opened a STAR case in an attempt to program it (1/22/22). They claimed this was because it was bad, and honestly with the current parts situation a bad reman wasn't totally abnormal in my mind. They supposedly "had Chrysler warranty" this one, and the second one didn't work either (2/2/22). I was reassured the BCM was 100% the issue, so they swapped this for a brand new one that was also handled by "warranty". The new one was installed on 2/12/22 and on 2/14/22 I received a text that the BCM was showing more codes than either the original or the two remans, included in this text were pictures of the codes and the topology of the CAN system which I have attached. These codes were present in the old BCM when I pulled the logs off it on 12/25/21 using AlfaOBD (including B162E and B2103), and the new one has not changed how the truck behaves.

At this point I called Ram Cares (2/15/22) as I had been without the truck for two months and I would not hear from the dealer without initiating contact constantly. This is when I was informed the dealer had not contacted STAR for the first BCM as I was led to believe, but the response from Ram Cares was to tell the dealer to contact STAR. I explained that they needed to contact the dealer as I would rarely hear back unless I called the service advisor and texted him, and they told me they would look into it. During this time I received no updates from the dealer, so I called them on 2/21/22 and was told the advisor had gone home for the day. He texted me that evening he would call me as soon as he can, but that call never came. I texted the advisor again on 2/24/22 asking what they had found, and said they had found cut wires by the BCM (keep in mind it was running fine 10 minutes prior and it has not been tampered with) and asked me what they went to. I explained I didn't know so he agreed to send me a picture after lunch. I never received another text even after asking the same question that evening. I had also not heard back from Ram Cares, so I contacted them again on 2/22/22 and I am currently in contact with Level 2 support. The only wire loose to my knowledge is the yellow one you do not use when installing the dealer addon backup cam as this truck did not have it from factory, it is ziptied to the harness.

Since I have written an entire thesis, I'll keep this short. I am hoping someone has seen this issue or experienced it so I can at least get a reference or a possible solution. The dealer has not provided a single solution and will not keep in contact with me. They acted as if the new BCM had provided more codes when in fact it changed nothing, and I have not gotten a straight answer outside "it doesn't work" in two months.

Errors shown on cluster
Get an attorney, for I have a 2018 RAM 2500 Cummins Diesel (still under warranty) that has electrical issues as well. I have had it into (2) RAM dealerships & Chrysler RAM has also been involved. The dealerships won't touch it & Chrysler will no longer respond. So, I am in the beginning stages of legal representation. Best wishes & good luck with everything!
 

62Blazer

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The tech at the dealer obviously doesn't know what they are doing.......I mean, you can only replace the exact same part so many times before you have stop and realize it's not the problem. My first suspect would be as mentioned above and it's either shared grounds or power feeds going into the BCM. Whenever you have a sudden onset of multiple unrelated codes under those conditions the first thing I do is check out a wiring diagram and verify what circuits all the faults share, then look for the shared power and ground sources. A large percentage of the time it is a shorted out power wire, loose or corroded ground wire, or loose and/or corroded connector. A lot of times simple visual inspection will find the problem. After that just get out the test light and multimeter and start checking wiring. As said above I would highly suspect you are not getting power or ground to the BCM. Yes, it could be the battery just that should be pretty easy check versus randomly throwing a new battery at it.
 

chopperman1

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Wait, so the OP used an aftermarket programer and now the computer is showing settings that don't belong on the truck. The ECU is now pooched and needs to be reflashed by the dealer but that is somehow RAMs or a dealer tech's fault for not knowing what to do? Perhaps if the OP told them he reflashed the computer they would know to start there rather than downstream somewhere.

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with ******** with truck and adding features. I do it myself, I have both Alfa and Tazer. I accepted the risk when I did that knowing I may have no warranty. I personally would have restored my ECU's config from my backup before going to the dealer to see if that resolved the issue.
 

Mister Luck

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As far as I know they have no idea. The whole snow plow thing is bizarre as I never touched that, nothing like plowing with your 2WD truck in a place that doesn't get snow!
 

Mister Luck

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Wait, so the OP used an aftermarket programer and now the computer is showing settings that don't belong on the truck. The ECU is now pooched and needs to be reflashed by the dealer but that is somehow RAMs or a dealer tech's fault for not knowing what to do? Perhaps if the OP told them he reflashed the computer they would know to start there rather than downstream somewhere.

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with ******** with truck and adding features. I do it myself, I have both Alfa and Tazer. I accepted the risk when I did that knowing I may have no warranty. I personally would have restored my ECU's config from my backup before going to the dealer to see if that resolved the issue.
I don’t believe the OP is aware of the possibility
 

Moinky

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This will come across as too stupid to be right, but I've seen it dozens of times be this issue.

Under the drivers side dash, near the foot rest on the left hand side (left of the brake pedal) is a large harness and clip. Should be white. That connects through to the BCM and will cause all sorts of faults. People don't do it intentionally, but sometimes you will kick that harness and back it of just slightly.

I've had customers come in, complaining of electrical issues that resolved and returned when hitting bumps. That harness is in a precarious spot. Unclip, remove the plugin - inspect for debris or corrosion, and plug it back in securely. Lock the clip back in, and I've started zip tying the harness as an added security.


Always the chance I'm totally wrong about it, but if someone repairs their headaches with this solution - then I'm happy to share it
 

kayjo

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Replace your battery and alternator. Dont rely on tests for either. Its first rule in all electrical.
 

Bmags

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I’d take the truck somewhere else, or work to lemon law it
 

njjeff201

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No joke. My dealer couldn’t fix a tight tailgate on my 1500, I had to fix it my self. Now I have a dead battery but it was towed to another dealer hoping to find some human intelligence… shoulda bought used Tesla
 

KoboldTaco

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I’m going to contribute to this thread in a weird way. Lets start the weirdness…

I‘ve enjoyed watching Rainman Ray’s Repairs on YouTube for a few different reasons.

1) I’m not a mechanic by trade but I enjoy turning the wrench. I can follow procedures, rebuilt a motor or two in my life and enjoy the process. It gives me a good reason to add to the tool collection which has grown a lot over the years.

2) He’s simple in his approach. He follows the data and common sense approach to all repairs. I’ve learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do.

3) He won’t focus on just the OBD codes - many times they are secondary like many people have pointed out here; low voltage causes the trucks to go crazy.

If I were the OP, I would seek Ray out and bring my truck to him. He often deals with many issues dealer techs are stumped on.
 

fireflymedic

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Weird electoral issues a lot of times turn out to be ground problems. I would run new ground strap from battery to frame and from to body. Even if just temporarily to see if it helps.
 

PoMansRam

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I’m going to contribute to this thread in a weird way. Lets start the weirdness…

I‘ve enjoyed watching Rainman Ray’s Repairs on YouTube for a few different reasons.

For sure on that. I so enjoy watching how Rainman Ray, South Main Auto or Watch Wes Work approach and solve a problem. These guys are amazing.
 

Wulf

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I’m going to contribute to this thread in a weird way. Lets start the weirdness…

I‘ve enjoyed watching Rainman Ray’s Repairs on YouTube for a few different reasons.

1) I’m not a mechanic by trade but I enjoy turning the wrench. I can follow procedures, rebuilt a motor or two in my life and enjoy the process. It gives me a good reason to add to the tool collection which has grown a lot over the years.

2) He’s simple in his approach. He follows the data and common sense approach to all repairs. I’ve learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do.

3) He won’t focus on just the OBD codes - many times they are secondary like many people have pointed out here; low voltage causes the trucks to go crazy.

If I were the OP, I would seek Ray out and bring my truck to him. He often deals with many issues dealer techs are stumped on.
Usually the codes just identify the symptoms, not always the root cause, as you said in #3. Bringing the vehicle to Ray might not be possible, depending on where in the country/world OP is compared to Ray.

As far as people's advice to "bring it to the dealer", sometimes you can luck out and get a good technician/mechanic and that can rectify the issue in short order. As often as not, that specific individual, who you would reasonably expect to have a better than shade tree mechanic level of skill, either through training or experience or both, with those vehicles, are flailing around in the dark, and have no clue how to solve the problem, and instead, just keep throwing parts at it until they "fix" the problem.
 

Nicholas Cove

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Man as a tech I want to hide under a bench looking at that read out of codes XD

That being said it's probably as simple as a bad ground somewhere or a can bus that intermittently shorting or something.

I'd try a different dealer or even find a shop that specializes in diag.
 
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