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Husband of one of Harvey's friends has a no crank no start condition on his 2005 4.7 Dodge RAM.
Husband figured it was the battery, so I offered him a ride to the parts store for a replacement.
This was plausible, Florida heat is hard on batteries.
Nope. Battery tests fine.
When he puts the truck in 'run' the fuel pump relay starts buzzing and there's a turn-signal-like clicking from under the dash.
There is no continuity from the positive battery cable to the alternator.
There is no continuity between the battery cables. There must be some pathway that's working, because some parts of the truck are powering up.
Mystery Mopar Electrical! Again.
It's why Harvey no longer owns her, dearly loved, '85 Ram 1500. Those electrical gremlins drove us batty and it had a carburetor!
Mopar is the only American maker that gives Lucas a run for its money as the Prince of Darkness.
The internet is pretty confident that it's a bad ground (possibly internally in the starter) or a bad PCM.
The PCM is $900 and will take a week to get here.
Did I mention these are the same people I mentioned in this post? They don't have two dimes to rub together.
I wanna help, but I also don't want to own this problem.
My circus has enough monkeys already.
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ReplyDeleteOne of my heroes is Eric O. at South Main Auto. I did not see a no crank no start on Dodge ram, but he does have a vid on finding wiring diagrams and service data.
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L1FxoQI_Fw4
There's also Pine Hollow Auto Diagnostics - he does have a 2004 Dodge no crank no start vid.
Watch Wes Work is another excellent tech channel.
These three make their living diagnosing and fixing stuff.
A fourth diagnostician channel is Schroedinger's Box - he does diagnostics for the challenge and to help others learn. All of these guys have the problem figured out before they order a part. Rainman Ray has his own shop somewhere near you. He sometimes shoots from the hip, but he gets it figured out and is honest and fair, to my mind.
I don't know how to help without owning the problem, sadly. I wish you and they fair wings and following seas.
Jim
What Jim said and a simple "hit the starter with a mallet" first, if that does not work, look at every ground connection and tighten it anyway, especially those under the steering column that relate to the ignition switch, the starter motor/solenoid and related circuits.. Lastly, swap relays of same number that relate to the starting circuits.
ReplyDeleteIt's looking more and more like a PCM problem. Glad it's not my problem.
DeleteI haven't run into that kind of electrical gremlins with Mopars but my relatives have run into worse ones... Ones that cause the car to catch fire. No less than 3 people I know have had a Mopar burn up like that.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue I've seen on Mopars is brakes and suspension seem to not last as well as GM or Ford. In particular it seems like Mopars go through brake pads quicker than they should for no good reason. It doesn't seem to matter what brand of pads or rotors either.
And weird little ticky-tacky interior and body panel issues where things fall apart. I've seen these in all brands, even ones with cults that worship their reliability like Honda and Toyota, but it seems like Mopar of major brands is one of the worst.
-swj