No power, key stuck in ignition, wont shift out of park, truck is locked down... help!

[Roxy Helfrick]

check your battery voltage if they are below 10.5 volts it will shutdown the truck and lock the transmisson and the key fob the easiest way to check is to try and charge the batteries and see if that works when the alternator went bad in my 3500 it did the same thing

 

[TomB 1269]

Most of the aftermarket remote starts have a switch they install under the edge of the drivers side dash to shut of system. Find it and try flipping it off and see if it clears the issue then turn back on.
I had an issue were mine would not do anything, but I have a key start not push button. Because the dash was lighting up I realized it was not a dead battery issue and flipped the switch off and on and it cleared the problem.

These aftermarkets systems are "plugged" in using a OBDII "Y" cable at the back of the OBDII port, and they sometimes have issue talking with the truck. Mine is supposed to turn on parking lights when remote started...sometimes it does but most of the time it does not. Its also supposed to have the ability for my to exit use the remote start feature and re-enter with out having to start the truck, but it usually does not like to. Again it is communicating with the factory ECM and it can cause it to get confused and go in to a lock down state.

 

[OnSale]

I havnt had a chance to look at anything yet, tomorrow morning will be my first chance to try to jump the battery. I read a few posts on that other Ram “z” forum that said when the battery is low or dead in the 4th gens it will lock the trans, lock the key fob into the ignition and nothing will work. So I am praying it’s that.


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[bruce219]

If you have tonneau cover with bed lights and left them on it drains that battery of all power,I've done it 3 times already.

 

[Klaus756]

I know this is going to sound stupid. Normally, when you shut down after driving, you step on the brake, put it in park then turn the key off. If you don't push the brake you usually can't get it into park. If it's not in park you can't remove the key. My guess would be that somehow you got it out of the procedure, and now the battery is dead. Try using a jumper to the battery, then push the brake, hard and hold it. Try to move the lever into park. If that works turn the key. You may also have blown a fuse on the system that goes into the key switch.

 

[GTyankee]

Hopefully he will solve the issue & let us know what he did to it

 

[OnSale]

If you have tonneau cover with bed lights and left them on it drains that battery of all power,I've done it 3 times already.

Nope. No Tonneau cover.

I know this is going to sound stupid. Normally, when you shut down after driving, you step on the brake, put it in park then turn the key off. If you don't push the brake you usually can't get it into park. If it's not in park you can't remove the key. My guess would be that somehow you got it out of the procedure, and now the battery is dead. Try using a jumper to the battery, then push the brake, hard and hold it. Try to move the lever into park. If that works turn the key. You may also have blown a fuse on the system that goes into the key switch.

I tried moving the shifter ALOT. Didn’t help. Also this wouldn’t be the issue as the key wouldn’t have come out originally when I first parked if it wasn’t fully in park and even if it somehow did, that wouldn’t cause the lights and all power to be cut off.

Hopefully he will solve the issue & let us know what he did to it

Tomorrow morning I am going to take a better look and try a few things. Haven’t had time this week. Luckily I have a second car.


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[NJMOPAR]

Amazingly, this morning I hit remote start on my 2010, beeped twice and shut down completely.
Just like the OP, tried starting & fob locked into switch.
Popped the hood, lo and behold!
Positive terminal had come loose, jiggled it & power came back, removed fob.
Tightened it down (ground was tight) and all is back to normal.
So my identical symptoms were directly related to the battery connection.

 

[turkeybird56]

Amazingly, this morning I hit remote start on my 2010, beeped twice and shut down completely.
Just like the OP, tried starting & fob locked into switch.
Popped the hood, lo and behold!
Positive terminal had come loose, jiggled it & power came back, removed fob.
Tightened it down (ground was tight) and all is back to normal.
So my identical symptoms were directly related to the battery connection.

Good Job there NJ, LOL (Sic). Yeah, OP has a Power/Battery issue, all have told him, and hopefully he can get resolved with no more problems.

 

[PlainPractical]

Why not just cut to the chase and do the easy thing - try attaching a jump starter (one of those small battery ones) and see if everything works. No voltmeter, no pondering. If jump start pack does zero to help, then can move on to the "facier" stuff. If you don't alrady have a jump start pack, run to Costco, buy one, charge it for the day, and then give it a shot. If you have jumper cables, wheel over another car.

EDIT: I just noticed the post is 3 days old. I would assume either it is still sitting in the driveway dead with the fob stuck in it OR some simple problem has turned out to be the cause. Either way, would be nice to know.

 

[JimZo]

Had this happen on a 2013 Camaro.
It Was the battery!!

 

[TOMMYGUNNZZ]

Gonna be that battery or maybe even power distribution box (TIPM).

 

[njjeff201]

If you have nothing working there’s a power issue. I’d first check battery with a test light. Or a voltmeter. Everyone & I mean EVERYONE should have a test light in your vehicle or tool box. As an X mechanic that’s one of the first tools you own. Cheapy meters are at Harbor Freight... sometimes free or used to be. Any auto parts store sells test lights

 

[njjeff201]

Amazon has built in meters but test light is easier to use instead of your having to look at the display

 

[Rlnsfrd]

Went to remote start my truck, no noise or any feedback (2-way remote). So i walk outside to manually start it, no lights flashing when i hit unlock... door wont unlock. I manually unlock it with the key inside the fob, and when i look at the guages, the small red "security?" light is on. I think its the security light, small red led diode looking bulb, bottom right of gauges.


Ok let me break down the key points real quick.

- 2012 Ram 5.7L Hemi
- Battery is 3-4 months old and is a premium battery (forget the brand but it was $270 before my coupon)
- Last drove it 4 days ago
- Remote start installed at Best Buy in December, not a single issue after install... not sure if its related
- Tried to remote start, nothing
- Had to manually open door with key
- No headlight flash or any door chime
- Gauges has small red light lit up for 1/2 a second when i opened door
- Tried to start truck, wouldnt start, key stuck in ignition. Wont turn to off position
- I can not shift the truck out of park into neutral or any gear. Stuck in park.
- I unhooked my Pedal Commander, no fix.
- I unhooked the battery (+ and -) for 10 minutes, did nothing at all

So now im stumped. Key still stuck in my truck, cant shift into any gear. No lights, no radio, no chimes, nothing. Its like the truck is in hibernation mode, or lock down mode. Not sure what to do.

I had an aftermarket remote installed in December. The remote start is the Compustar 4905S kit with 2-way remote (expensive kit). Like i said, ive had zero issues with the remote start since its install.

I have no clue what to even try to do next. I think im going to have to have it towed to a dealer because i am uncomfortable letting my truck sit out front with a key stuck inside. If i cant figure it out in the next couple hours im going to have to have it towed, i am not going to let it sit overnight with a key in it.

Does anyone know what happened or have a similar incident?

 

[njjeff201]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_9?k=auto+test+light+for+mechanics&sprefix=auto+test

 

[Rlnsfrd]

I had a similar experience with my 2015 2500. I would put the key in the ignition and the shifter would indicate in Reverse without touching the shifter. Now I cannot remove the key, the truck will not start and I can not not move the shifter. It would reset after a period of time ranging from 15 minutes to an hour, once longer. I took it to the dealer 4 times, no codes, they could not duplicate the problem and said they have never heard of a similar problem. I got rid of the truck!

 

[Bowzer]

Not contributing anything new here: I'd be all over that battery with a jumpstart. Bad voltage does really screwy things to these vehicles nowadays.

After counting that out, start tracking from the battery forward on where else the power is getting lost...but start at that battery including the cable connectors.

 

[OnSale]

Hey everyone I just want to update everyone with what happened.

So it was my birthday on Saturday so my girlfriend had an entire weekend of stuff planned so I wasn’t able to look at my truck until about 7pm last night. I hooked up jumper cables from my civic to my truck and it was jusssst enough juice to allow the door chime to ding and the gauges to come on (nothing else) but the key came right out and the truck wouldn’t start, just a click (not enough juice from the civics teeny tiny baby battery).

So the problem was a fully dead battery. I am guessing one of my dash cameras or my radio killed the battery. This most likely hasn’t been an issue since my new battery cause I drove my truck once or twice a week but the last few weeks I’ve been driving my civic every day and the truck has been sitting so whatever it was draining the battery had a long time to do so without a recharge. So once I recharge/replace the battery, I will have to track down the issue whether it’s a dash cam staying always on, or if my 12.1” Tesla style radio’s wiring is constantly drawing power (I think this is the issue tbh).

I took the battery out and I am bringing it back to pep boys in a few hours for them to either recharge or replace with a new one.

But it seems the problem was the battery seeing as the small amount of power from the civics battery was enough to turn things on and remove the key, but nowhere near enough to jump start it.


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[SkylarMelo]

I've had this issue come and go for years now on my 2011. I only noticed it after putting in an aftermarket flash logic remote starter. While driving I'd have all electronics go wack, gauges act up or just turn off, sensors stop working, lights on dash, the whole lot. Eventually if I turned off the truck, it would no longer turn back on, no power to anything, key fob stuck in iginition, unlock/lock doesn't work. Giving a little kick under the dash or grabbing and moving wires around under the steering column seems to fix it everytime. I've since terminated and taped up the ends of the spare wires on the remote starter, thinking they were causing a short. It's stopped the complete system shutdown, but I still sometimes get to the truck with no power nothing, then after 5 minutes, or again wiggling wires under the dash, the truck wakes up! Super weird...kind of concerning but i've found my ways around it so it works for me. The remoe starter is too nice to give up lol. Glad your's was sorted by a dead battery, I think my remote battery is going! Cheers