I have a 2001 Ram 1500 5.2, 2wd. 180,000 miles. Yesterday, the wife went to work. Called me in the afternoon and said the truck wouldn't crank. Been having trouble keeping the battery cables tight, so I told her to make sure the terminals were tight and try it. No dice. I called my buddy. Let's call him Ricky to preserve his anonymity...and because it's his name, to ride out with me to check it out. As I am waiting for Ricky, she called to say she got it to start. Just started up. As we were talking on her way home, she says she noticed the voltage was all the way up at 18. I had her pull over as soon as she safely could and cut it off so she wouldn't burn up (or blow up) the battery. After that it would crank over and crank over but no start. We towed it home and began diagnostics. It gets fuel. Fuel pump is just over a year old. Also gets fire all the way to the brand new plugs. Ricky called his cousin, who is ASE certified, and he said out sounds to him like the pcm. He says in 2001 the Rams voltage is controlled directly thru the PCM and that is likely why the voltage shot up. Also it has no CEL. DOES have the plenum fix, new tps, coil, distributor cap, rotor, plugs, wires, and fuel pump and battery, all in the last year or so, except the battery that was replaced 2 years ago. 2 questions. Does this sound like the PCM? And I was told that after buying the PCM, I would have to have it programmed. So I have to have the truck towed to the stealership or can I just take the PCM?

 

Sounds like the PCM may be going bad. I had an issue with my PCM before (long story caused by a bad SCT flash which bricked my original PCM) and just went ahead and purchased a used PCM off eBay that matched my setup. Installed the used PCM and had no more issues - truck runs like a dream. You would only need to go to the dealer if you wanted it flashed to update the VIN, which is encoded into the PCM, however, this is not required. The PCM on 2nd gen RAMs does have the voltage regulator built into it. There have been some folks that have bypassed the PCM and implemented an alternate voltage regulator fix for this.

 

Thanks for the reply so quickly. Makes me feel better about dropping the cash. If I order the new one, well it still be death flashed our is that a thing of the past?

 

I didn't see alternator in your parts list. Sometimes they will stick either on or off when going bad. I have had them do both, once with the same alternator.
I would suggest trying a new one and fixing the clamp issues on the battery. Also clean up any grounds to eliminate that possibility.
If that doesn't fix it, at least you'll have one less thing to worry about.

 

I have checked every ground I can find, but was in a hurry and intended to go back over them today. Sorry I omitted that. I can also pull the alternator and have it checked tmw. I put new terminals on the battery cables today. Zinc ones this time. Hopefully that issue is history.

 

Need to have the PCM flashed to the correct vin,else the ABS, and Air bag lites will stay on. Yes, it will have the death flash.

 

Well, can't win 'em all. I see some bolt ons in the ole girl's future. Maybe a custom flash will be on that list.

 

Got my new computer and she runs like a dream. As a bonus she also SHIFTS like a dream.

 

So far, so good. But I am still having a problem. For about a year, she has been hard to start sometimes. Not always, just sometimes, but its getting worse and worse. It will crank over and over , usually for about 5 seconds or so. Other times it busts right off. When it takes a few seconds to fire off it puffs just a tiny bit of gas smoke and you can smell gas a bit, kinda shudders for a couple seconds, then evens out. After that, she runs like a dream. Doesn't affect anything else but startup. As I previously stated, It has the Hughes plenum kit, new distributor, rotor, wires, plugs, coil, fuel pump, battery, tps and the IAC valve has been cleaned all in the last year, except the battery, which is 2 years old. Could this be a crankshaft position issue? I am intending on monitoring the fuel pressure to see if it is leaking down, but trying to get ideas.

 

I think going after fuel pressure first is your best bet. Next, I would look at the coolant temp sensor..... make sure the PCM is getting correct info.