Service Shifter & Sway Bar Disconnect Unavailable

[GeRick]

Hi all,

First time Ram owner here, I purchased a 2020 Ram Power Wagon about a month ago with 30k miles on it. The truck is incredibly comfortable to drive for a 3/4 ton and alot more power than my eco boost I had previous to it. However; I have an intermittent issue that I cant seem to fix.

First, when I start the truck and drive it without letting it sit too long idle it operates perfectly and I can drive all day so no issues with that.

Second, when I am letting it idle for like 15 minutes or longer like when hooking up the camper or using the remote start I start getting all kinds of chimes and a couple codes. It pretty routinely throws "sway bar disconnect unavailable" and "service shifter". Now I have found that if I shut the truck down and let it cool down I can climb underneath and disconnect the wire harness that plugs into the smart bar and reconnect it to resolve this issue for awhile. it will even clear the check engine light off of the dash.

Does anyone else have any experience with this or potential solutions? I have a appointment in September at the dealership but unfortunately I still need to keep the truck going in the meantime as I also use it as my daily driver.

 

[JoshsRam]

I would first try to clean the connectors/contact points of the harness and where it connects to see if it's just a dirt problem.

 

[Travelin Ram]

Does the error message make the truck undriveable? If not, I’d just ignore it until the dealer repair. I routinely get messages like “stability system unavailable “ or parking sensors. My previous PW had similar non-critical errors. And my 2022 Wrangler.

My experience is the software in these are prone to glitches.

Does your swaybar disconnect function unlock and relock as it should when the error message is not displayed?

 

[GeRick]

The only time I have noticed it have any effect other than the annoying chime it makes is when I had my camper attached and it was in tow mode. It would not shift out of 1st gear, but luckily I was 2 blocks from my house this time so I just limped it home.

I honestly have not wanted to take a chance and disconnect the sway bar for fear that it will disengage and not re-engage, but I am getting more comfortable now knowing that I can get the issue to go away temporarily when it happens. I really would like to find the solution before winter is here it wont be fun not being able to have Remote start and having to crawl under my truck when its -20 outside

 

[GeRick]

I would first try to clean the connectors/contact points of the harness and where it connects to see if it's just a dirt problem.

I absolutely appreciate the suggestion, thank you for this. I do do this each time it happens and have tried applying some di-electric grease to the contacts in hope that if it was a dirt/moisture issue this would allow it to keep good connection; however this hasn't seemed to help it or hurt it.

 

[RDL005]

New user here. The Service Shifter topic drew me in because when i went to start my 2022 Power Wagon today it would not shift out of park. And I noticed it had 2 messages on the message board. Service Shifter and Sway Bar.

I bought this truck new and have 21,000 miles on it. Never had an issue until today. Guess I will be calling the dealer tomorrow unless anyone has an easy fix for this?

Thanks