Stuck in 4th gear

[miles01]

My battery was almost dead after truck sat for a month in cold weather.
I boosted the truck and it was stuck in 4th gear.
Called my dealer and the sevice guy told me it is in limp mode, probably because the shift sensor is reading low voltage.
I ran the truck for 1 1/2 hours and took it for a drive of 800kms home from the pipeline job for Christmas break, the truck ran fine with no transmission problems.

This is ridiculous of Chrysler having a transmission go into limp mode because battery is low!!!

 

[Daw14]

A low battery can cause various electronic anomalies.

 

[crash68]

It's something that can happen to any vehicle when the battery is low, you might even want to have the battery load tested if it's the original. If it's common for the truck to be parked for month(s) at a time you might want to install a battery disconnect switch.
If you don't like the transmission limp mode from low voltage just imagine the limp mode of an EV.

 

[mtofell]

Mine went into limp mode 3 different times.... twice because the tranny was about to blow up and once because the valve body went out. I'd have been happy just having to replace the battery

 

[miles01]

I’m at the dealer, lots of low voltage codes.
This was the problem with the transmission a few days ago.
Need to buy a new battery. I wouldn’t let them replace it with the crappy dodge battery.
I’ll buy a interstate battery tomorrow

 

[Senodil]

Interstate are avaialble at Costco relatively inexpensively

 

[62Blazer]

This is a very common issue on most new vehicles. If it reads low voltage it will cause all types of issues and it's going into limp mode to protect the components. The transmissions are completely electronically controlled and if they don't have the proper voltage they won't operate correctly and could cause major mechanical failures. All that was required to fix it was get the vehicle running and the battery charged back up.

 

[JRS950]

I’m at the dealer, lots of low voltage codes.
This was the problem with the transmission a few days ago.
Need to buy a new battery. I wouldn’t let them replace it with the crappy dodge battery.
I’ll buy a interstate battery tomorrow

Did the new battery correct the problem?

 

[miles01]

The new battery corrected the problem

 

[Bmags]

Good to know

 

[Bmags]

I sometimes think we have passed the limit of useful electronics in vehicles. I purposed bought a classic because I didn’t want all the new options. Just seems like it will create issues at 200k+

 

[Wulf]

Yea, the Classics are still prone to some of those same problems caused by "low battery voltage". Unfortunately, really any "new" vehicle with these level of electronics, it is possible to get these gremlins to pop up on seemingly unrelated system. It seems to be the automotive version of computer issues where you need to "turn it off and turn it back on".

 

[Kev86]

Thanks everyone for the tips.
Shutdown and restart cleared the codes.

Truck would not start.
Attempted to jump start, when I noticed the negative battery cable was loose.
Tightened the cable, jump started and truck started.

Then tried to drive, and truck was stuck in 4th gear.
Tried everything I could think of.
Except shutting it off of course in case it did not start again, because the Good Samaritan who jump started my truck had left.
Limped it home in 4th gear.
Googled the problem, and found this thread.

Went out and turned the key, started and it was not stuck in 4th anymore.
Drove around the block and everything seems OK.

Thanks again everyone.