First off, thank you.

Around late Sept. of 16', I noticed the trucks mpg dropping and overall performance off, accelerating mainly. A bit sluggish from an idle.

First week of Nov. all the coolant/water profusely leaks out from behind the timing chain cover, before this I was aware of a slow drip coolant leak that I had kept topped off. Smoke billowed from under the hood, so something finally have and blew out. Upon inspection I noticed a small portion of the timing chain gasket wedged out between the cover and under body where it bolts in.

I drive my truck by filling the radiator with tap water for about 9 days, and decide to, against my hearts and souls feeling, to use a sealing product. Used half the bottle and the appropriate amount of mixed coolant, drove 11 miles down the freeway with heater on and upon parking there was no more coolant leaking from behind the timing chain cover.

70 miles later and the next evening, I drive the truck home with the gauge on E and make it to the gas station. Upon fueling to a half tank, the truck experiences its first stall. The next morning, the truck continues to internmitendly stall while driving around town. At this point it would crank over and still start right back up.

So now, the truck is stalling, but starting right back up, about a week after using the sealant product the leak blasts through again. I proceed to use the remaining half of sealant product and drive to my next job. Upon parking, again seems all sealed up. Truck stalls on way home, 3 times on way to freeway, once more while on freeway.

The next week, 3rd week of Nov. I'm driving truck to and from local job, on way home stalls and won't turn over, by this time I'd done some of my first research and may have worsened the cause by wiggling wires and such.

Next thing I know, after attempting to crank truck on for about 3 minutes in intervals of 3 seconds with breaks of 20 seconds or so, I hear what sounds like a thud or something blowing out passenger side under hood, which is right where the PCM is located. NO BUS displays on the mileage gauge and my intensive research begins.

I drive the truck like this for a few weeks then park it in my driveway after too many stalls and unsafe conditions.

I eventually opened the PCM, of course from my eyes it all looks fine. One DIY I found from research was to place a small piece of rubber bottom left corner of PCM under cover to help a shorted connection under the gel. That seemed to help when I add zip ties. Truck would run when warm and dry but not when rainy moist or wet.

Took truck into shop, they got to it on a rainy day, spent two hours diagnostics fees to tell me to replace the PCM. Ok, I already knew something is up either with the PCM itself or the wiring harness etc.

The truck will start up when warm and dry when I've rigged the PCM and Harness with zip ties, but when rainy and wet will have a lot of issues starting up.

My main question and concern is, what caused all this? Is any of it related, or were there just some electrical issues I wasn't aware of?

Shop says replace the PCM, wouldn't the truck not start at all if the PCM is bad?

What electrical short am I not seeing or missing here?

Any help is greatly appreciated thank you.

 

Welcome to DF!

You have a selection of problems going on there.

First, you need to pull the timing cover, and reseal it. Replace the water pump, and timing set while you are in there. Don't be surprised if you need to replace the cover itself.... They are easily available off of ebay, for not very much money.

Second, you need to check your plenum. It's highly likely that it is blown, and that is why you are down on power. It's possible it has already destroyed the O2 sensors, and cat...... You will have to check that out. Replacing the sensor when you do the plenum isn't really a bad idea.

Third, for the stalling, you need to pull the throttle body (and check the intake while its off, to verify the plenum gasket is blown) and give it thorough cleaning. Pay special attention to the IAC well. It likes to gunk up, and IAC doesn't work as well as the computer thinks it does....

Fourth, check your plug wires, and the rest of the ignition as well, for that matter. Late some evening, when it is fairly dark out, start the engine, let it idle, and the use a mist sprayer on the plug wires. See if you get a light show. (wouldn't surprise me at all.)

Are we having fun yet?

 

Lots of fun, thank you.

Well it's back to walking to work and saving again.
Had parked her to save up and then truck shop fee, and some
extra expenses this month ate through the set aside funds.

You think the PCM is by now faulty and i should still invest in
A re-man or should I work through that list first?

 

I zip tied the first connector to the PCM because one solution had been to press in on the connector or press in on the lower left of the pcm.cover, this would help the relay kick in and the truck to start again.

with the zip ties in place, the truck again started earlier this evening, ran for 20 seconds shut off, relay immediately kicks in, and I could turn truck on. Ran for 45 seconds, stalled, relay locked in, turned her on and she idled until I turned her off.

so, either the PCM blew something in the bottom left, or the first connector on the harness itself has a short, understandable since there are almost 30 wires or more per connector on the harness. But with zip ties and the tension from them to keep connections in check, truck seems to run fine. It did still stall while like this, but only after some driving and would turn on right away again. Leads me to think the vibrations from driving would knock a connection loose.

I bought her in late April of 16', and focused solely on front end suspension as I was doing a lot of landscaping and hauling, had new tires and shocks installed, and ball joints were last remaining component before shop would do an alignment, of course telling me after the repairs each time that it needed another component, so I stopped at the ball joints and ordered them myself, only to encounter the issues described in the first post of the thread. These ball joints are welded on though and I didn't reach out to a friend to borrow a tool and have help with the project, so eventually the other issues took precedence and I returned the ball joints for the funds needed to invest in above attempts at diagnosing and repairing.

truck runs right now, but if a rain would come again there would most likely be a short somewhere I've not found that would cause the truck not turn over.

heyyou, the info you provided I will follow up on, I had initially found some of it in my research endeavours, but had abandoned furthur looking into because I noticed that pressing on the first connector at the PCM would get the relay to kick in. This made me feel it was entirely an electrical issue. In regards again to your reply, I want to recheck the IAC valve, and actually take it off this time. First time I tried to do so it got dark and I skimmed it using a can of compressed air, but the liquid sprayed out, held can sideways i know not good, and into the valve. I'm sure this messed up the IAC as the next day I noticed the transmission lagging while shifting out of first into second.

I like throwing wrenches and learning and doing, it makes me feel like I'm growing. The furthur into the engine a repair gets the more wracked my nerves get. Took me 9 months owning the truck to summon the confidence to do stuff like taking the air box off, and cleaning connectors and using di-electric grease. I finally am confident to disconnect and reconnect the battery without refreshing the proper procedure for doing so.

I wouldn't be surprised if she needs some work, more than I am aware, no thorough diagnostics done other than having a few people look under the hood. I bought her topped the oil off and away to work we went.

summary, I'm thinking if the PCM itself is not bad, then it's got to be one or more of what you listed heyyou, that and or more as I have a list of sensors to check as well. Could be the wiring harness, could be the loose bolt connection at the main source in fuse box. The bolt does not tighten all the way, will go to a certain point then strip and start over.

just a lot of stuff I wasn't neccessarily prepared for, but I'm sure it's all common ram stuff and most of it I am capable of doing, I hope.

thank you, let's fix this truck!

 

you could take a look at this thread. its a different symptom, but the ziptie fix seems to point at similar issues.
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ml#post3323189

 

have you pulled that connector, to make sure it wasn't just corroded?

 

yes, I pulled the connector but could not access each individual wire to check for corrosion.

 

thank you, I read through that thread. It may be a possible solution, but I just want to fix what needs fixing and be done and back on the road.

 

Watch the video.... re-soldering the connections would be a quick fix if you have connection issues.

 

Update.<br /><br />i have since replaced the pcm, that fixed the stalling and no start issue.<br /><br />i then read two codes, <br />P0753 Shift Solenoid A Electrical<br />P1765 (M) Trans 12 Volt Supply Relay CTRL Circuit An open or shorted condition is detected in the Transmission Relay control circuit. This relay supplies power to the TCC.<br /><br />my next move was research, i then went for it and replaced the gov pressure solenoid, gov pressure transducer, 3-4 overdrive shift solenoid, spring and speed sensor.<br /><br />I did not clean or replace the wiring harness/connector for the 3-4 od shift solenoid, it was after the repair was done that i looked up how to replace the harness.<br /><br />I know this may be the issue for either p0753 or p1765, and i am open to draining the transmission fluid and dropping the pan again to replace the harness if someone feels i should give it a go, at this point $70 for more transmission fluid is better than my other options.<br /><br />after those repairs did not fix the codes, a few test drives and the battery was drained. Thus telling me that due to the 12v electrical short, my battery had not been charging while the truck was on. The amount of times i had cranked and turned the truck on to a) work on her, b) test drive, c) use for a few jobs requiring debris removal, and d) short trips to the store etc, had drained the battery.<br /><br />this confirmed for me an electrical short in the charging system. <br /><br />i bought a multimeter, checkd the alternator and it showed 11.9v, i went and bought an alternator and belt (it was indeed cracked) at oreillys and installed that night.<br /><br />no difference, and i smelled something burning, no smoke or vapors, just a definite not good somethin is fryin smell.<br /><br />i turned on my ac, the battery meter dropped to 0, and the check gauges light lit up on the dash.<br /><br />i tested the new alternator, it flashed 13.9v, then went to 11.65v. <br /><br />New alternator is under warranty, no prob to take it out and exchange.<br /><br />what i want to do is bring both the new alternator and my old one, yes i still have it, and if it all turns out that my old alternator is fine and its a wire shorting or something similar then ima get my refund on the new alternator you better believe it, i want to take both alternators and my battery to a shop that will bench test the **** out of them for a reasonable fee.<br /><br />with that accurate info i will know the true condition of both alternators and my battery. The battery is 4 years old, and the parts store that charged it for me twice did not bench test it, so there may be a simple battery issue causing the 12v short.<br /><br />one more note, the code p1682 flashed one time. Only once, it was after making two stops with the truck, so cranking the battery 5 times total.<br /><br />when the code flashed, the battery meter dropped to 0 and check gauges lit up on the dash. The checm gauges light comes on each time the truck is turned on and driven for any amount of time now and started the day code p1682 flashed.<h1>P1682 DODGE - Charging System Voltage Too Low</h1><h2>Possible causes</h2><ul><li>Faulty generator (alternator)</li><li>Defective or Loose generator belt</li><li>Generator harness is open or shorted</li><li>Generator circuit poor electrical connection</li></ul><br /><br />ive looked at the alternator fuse and checked it with a multi meter, it seemed to pass the test, but im open to putting a new 140v or is it 120v alternator fuse in<br /><br /><br />i have also cleaned all the grounds, with electrical cleaner and a wire brush. Some were dirty and bits of corrosion, but none seem to solve the issue.<br /><br />there is one ground wire that is loose, it goes off the negative battery terminal to the front, right at your waist if you open the hood and look down.<br /><br />i also noticed an unconnected ground tucked under the main power harness, coming off the fuse box wire bundle, going to the right, mine was just tucked in and unhooked, as far as i know it was like that when i bought the truck, i dont know why it would cause issues 9 months later.<br /><br />any help? Need more info? I tried to cover, quickly, the work ive done since the previous post.<br /><br />i would appreciate any suggestions, thank you so much!<br /><br />