So I have my first Dodge ram truck, a 2001 Ram 1500 with the 5.9l motor. When I bought it I knew that the battery was not the correct one. Posts were on the wrong side and it was real small. Put in a new interstate battery and everything worked great for the last month. went out yesterday morning to start the truck and when I tried to start everything went dead. I mean everything..... Disconnected the battery cables and let it set for about 5 minutes. checked the battery with my volt meter and battery read 12.57v... connected battery back up and everything in the cab was back on... put key in the ignition and turned to aux position. everything worked. wipers, lights, radio. Tried to start and everything died. Nothing works...... Checked the starter to see if I had a loose ground but found no issues. I checked all of the ground wires under the hood and did not see any issues. So should I be looking at a relay and if so, which one, or is the starter solenoid shorting out or maybe the ignition switch shorting out.....

 

Look under the dash for extra wiring. Might be an alarm on it. When you tried to start it it kills power.

Or look at the column wiring to see if the ignition wire is frayed since it seems it only dies when the key is in the start position.

 

How are your battery terminals? That kind of behavior suggests to me you have a bad connection somewhere. For light loads, it's fine, but, the heavy load of the starter is too much for it, and it loses it. Check and clean the battery terminals really well. Make sure they are clean and tight. Check any other major connections under the hood as well.

 

Just to confirm, you're losing interior dome light, brake lights etc. that are not switched via the ignition as well ? If that's not the case it's likely the ignition switch/wiring to it.

Check the voltage directly on the battery posts (not the terminals) during cranking, and also in the PDC. If voltage drops at the battery itself it points to a major short but then there likely would be smoke associated with it. If it only drops at the PDC it's a wiring issue.

 

Thank you for your responses. So yesterday, I pulled the 1 month old battery and took it back to where I bought it and they put it on their charger. While it was charging and being tested, I pulled the battery terminals off to clean the cable ends and noticed that both terminals had a lot of rust on them, so I replaced them. Battery tested good, put it back in and truck fired right up. So I need to find what is draining the battery. Sense I have owned the truck, the only 2 electrical things I have done is remove the cigarette lighter and install a USB port and the radio that used to be installed was in the passenger seat so I installed it. Today, I am going to remove the radio and see if that is what is draining the battery.

 

Make sure your drain isn't something simple, like the glove box light staying on. That will run a battery stone dead overnight.