Hey guys, hoping you might be able to help me figure out what's going on with my AWD 2012 RT.

We got a couple inches of snow overnight and usually that isn't any problem at all. But this morning when my wife went to drive it up out of the driveway for work it couldn't even climb the little hill out from our house to the road, it just couldn't get any traction at all. I was able to get it out tonight using feed sacks to gain traction on top of the snow but it's only the two rear wheels spinning, and they'll spin to beat the band while the front wheels aren't moving one bit. So it's essentially RWD currently.

I tried engaging Low Range but that won't do anything at all, no LOW light on the dash, flashing or not. It doesn't make a bit of difference where the dial is at, it's just the two rear wheels spinning.

Any thoughts on what might be the cause? I went through all the fuses I could find related to power train, transfer case, etc. and none of them look bad.

Thanks!

 

As a start I would recommend to look up the fuse chart and check fuses. All these functions to engage low range and traction control are electrically operated.

 

Thanks DDCREW, I had the same thought as well so I went through all the fuses I could find related to the powertrain, transfercase, etc. and checked them. Then I switched all of those for fuses in other areas just to see if maybe I was missing something but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I do have one other thing I've been fighting for the past 4 months that I have an inkling might be related... My cruise control won't work, in adaptive settings or otherwise. I've had it into the dealership 3 times to try and find the source of this and they haven't been able to solve anything. That ring any bells with you?

I have a friend that suggested maybe a wheel speed sensor isn't working, but I feel like that should return a code and I'm getting nothing there either.

 

No. Sorry I can't help. But, if you had the car at the dealer 3 times to solve the cruise control issue and they can't find the problem, then you should escalate through the regional service manager; this dealer has either incompetent mechanics or doesn't have the tools to help the mechanic diagnose the issue.

 

Hi jacobsmith,

We're sorry this is happening, and if you need assistance working with your dealership on this, please private message us. We would be happy to assist.

Jennifer
Dodge Social Care Specialist

 

If you've already tried the obvious such as fuses, DTC codes, etc.. it seems like you might consider bringing it in.
Otherwise, if you are serious about diagnostic/troubleshooting it maybe worth getting the repair manual for your vehicle.

On the bright side, at least the AWD not engaging should be easy to reproduce at the dealer

If you get it figured out, post back... It would be interesting to know what the root cause was.

 

Thanks Jennifer, that's much appreciated! I just moved recently so now I'm near a different dealership now so I'll give them a shot to see if they can figure out what's going on!

 

Haha, it should be pretty easy to reproduce, that's for sure!

You bet, I'll let you guys know if I get it figured out, otherwise we might be in for a long winter!