Truck won't start

[HeavyH]

Hi everyone!
I've got an 01' RAM with a 5.9 in it. Truck has 85,000 miles on it.

A few months ago I had to leave town and left my truck sitting for 2 months roughly. I had my wife crank the truck and drive it around the neighborhood a couple times while I was gone. When I came back the truck was dead. She had started and drove the truck 4-5 days before this. I had AAA come out to jump the truck and was told it wasn't the battery, but the lady didn't really seem that knowledgeable. The next day I used a jumpbox to get it to start and drove it around the neighborhood and all seemed well. Tried again the next morning and had to jump it again. Battery was under warranty and went to have it tested and was told that it checked out, but they gave me a replacement battery anyhow. Put the battery on the truck and the next morning I had to jump the truck again. At this point I assumed it was the alternator so I ordered one to replace it myself. Got busy and didn't go back to the truck for another month or so. Went to pull the truck in the garage to replace the alternator and truck started up instantly without needing to be jumped off. Ended up not replacing the alternator. Went out the next two mornings (this past weekend) and truck started just fine and let it run 5-10 minutes both mornings. Today I went to go have new tires put on it and all was well. Drove 30 minutes there and turned it off. They were able to start it and get it in the shop, but it wouldn't start when they were done with the tires. The voltage meter was down to 8-10 volts. Got it jumped and drove the 30 minutes home with no problems. Tried to re start it immediately after I got home and it's completely dead. No power to anything whatsoever! Let it sit for an hour or two and went back outside and the lights would turn on at first but after I tried to crank it once everything was completely dead again.

I'm just really perplexed and don't know where to start. If it was the alternator wouldn't the truck die while driving it? I'm not that mechanically inclined, but I am wanting to work on it myself just for the satisfaction of it!

 

[CliffordK]

How annoying.

Batteries are made up of 6 cells of about 2.1V each. They really don't like to be discharged to below about 10v, in which case you can easily kill a cell, and the battery will be dead.

Make sure your voltmeter can read in tenths, with 12.6V being "normal", and slightly higher for fully charged.

Start the pickup. Then drive for a few minutes, and check the voltage at the battery while it is still idling. The voltage should be 13V to 14V at the battery with the engine running. Otherwise, your alternator could be dying a slow and painful death. Revving might help some.

You could also have a power drain somewhere.

 

[Jim BB]

That is a real Pain in the A** also check the alternator to see what it is putting out right at the alternator ! if putting out 13.V to 14.1V then you probably have a drain several way to check for drains on battery's !
if you have a battery charger charge battery fully then disconnect both neg and poss terminals from batt for the night then check to see if it has dropped in Volts if it has bad batt ! if no change start looking for draw the draw can be any thing from relay to a starter or even a alternator ! good luck! keep us posted

 

[Spike95]

I see a couple details in your description that immediately make me shy away from it being the alternator. Just to be sure, check the alternator’s output at the terminals on the alternator itself. The acceptable range of output is 13.5-14.5 Volts DC. Then check the battery voltage with the engine off. Charged battery should be around 12.6-12.8 Volts DC. Don’t just trust a gauge in the truck. Use a voltmeter or multimeter that can measure DC.

The intermittent nature of the problem leads me to suspect you likely have a bad connection somewhere. The first place I would look is for any loose or corroded battery cable connections. Key spots to check are on the starter, at the battery, and on the alternator. Check both Positive and Negative. Just get in there and wiggle them around. Anything even slightly loose is an issue. That is the quick and dirty way to check them. If you want to do it really correctly, then you would perform a voltage drop test with your multimeter. I’m sure you can find a hundred YouTube videos describing how to do that, so I won’t get into it here. Also a good idea to check all of the major ground connections on the engine, chassis, and body.

If you don’t find the culprit, make sure to keep your meter in the truck with you. The next time the problem arises, check the voltage at the battery itself before jumping it. The best time to diagnose an issue is at the moment it is happening. It is also a good idea to buy a multimeter that has an amp clamp on it. That way you can test for any parasitic draws on your battery. I don’t think that is your most likely issue though, since you said it would start up fine and then not start again after a very short amount of time (like the day you went to the tire store). You can get a cheap multimeter with amp clamp on Ama£0n for about $35.

 

[CSI-INDY]

I just had my 2018 5.7 Hemi battery fail me with no prior indication of issues BUT yesterday I had an idiot alarm going off showing my bed lights were on... That little button on the left of the light controls I had never pushed before so I figured it was a mistakenly pushed and moved on. This morning though my battery was ailing & the truck labored to start, and did so intermittently throughout the day. I stopped at AutoZone and an employee tested my battery, & informed me that it was "GOING bad", and he had a battery for ONLY $199. Told him I wanted to look into it... That's what I'm doing now. One Other Thing (IMPORTANT) right after I left AutoZone, I had something happen for the 1st time ever... My truck acted like it was not getting any gas or power or anything for about 15 seconds, I finally switched out of drive to neutral revved the engine, got nothing, then it started to react to the gas pedal, then a few seconds later did the same thing again, then came back again, and nothing after that. VERY weird and scary! Luckily light traffic conditions did not cause any other issues. Any thoughts from you experts?

 

[Mack Wiggins]

I have a 2019 Ram 1500 4X4, 507 Hemi. For the past two weeks the truck has not started first thing in the morning. The battery was replaced six months ago and I went back to the Interstate dealer and after quite a while of conversation, they replaced the battery. The next morning, the truck would not start. I was able to get it started by jumping the battery. The truck worked perfectly for the rest of the day. Next morning, same problem! Jumped the battery and the truck worked perfectly. Third morning, same thing. The dealer has had the truck for two days and they (the dealer) said after two more days that they found a secondary battery ground was not attached at the factory. Long story is getting longer... Picked up the truck and I was home for two hours and guess what! no start. The truck is going back to the dealer on a flat bed tomorrow. Voltage on the new battery is 12.6
voltage meter reads that it is putting out 14.5. First thing in the morning, it still wont start. I can hear the solenoid can be heard hitting the starter motor but no start! The battery is not starting the truck or the starter is dragging?
Any ideas? Oh yea, the truck has 95,000Plus miles and there was no " secondary ground"

 

[Mack Wiggins]

The engine is a 5.7 Hemi

 

[Mack Wiggins]

Thanks! The truck is at the dealer getting a new starter.
I still love the truck and for 95000 + miles it is ready to go some more.
Mack

 

[Big Gravy]

I'm having start problems too. New battery, Alternator, electronic shifter, and ignition switch. Still doesn't start, every so often it will.