My battery died on me this past weekend. Got my boyfriend to jumpit off and as soon as it cranked it idled really low and then cut off. Even when holding the gas a bit, it kept trying to just cut off. I find it strange that it wouldn't remain running even when it had plenty of juice (or what seems like plenty to me) running through it. Is there some sort of feature that keeps the truck from running if the battery is weak? Or does the battery give power to something that keeps the truck running after its been cranked? Not trying to sound too idiotic here but I'm really curious.

 

From my knowledge on cars,they need power to run (not just horsepower). My brother had an alternator quit working on his suv once and it would quit running after it drained all the power from the battery. So I would say have your battery checked first to make sure it doesnt have a bad cell then check your alternator. Thats my 2 cents worth, someone else on here may know more than I...

 

Your right... if the alternater died... then the vehicle would have been suckin power form the battery... once the batteries dead.... the vehicle dies as well...You need a constant power source...

 

Autozone or Pepboys will test both for free. You just have to get the truck there. If either is close, try to charge your battery overnight. Then drive straight there in the morning so they can check it. You should be able to have 10 - 20 minutes to drive on a charged battery. Good Luck.

 

It may be your alternator, but you may have drained all of the juice out of your system and reset your computer. I had my 01 completely die due to a loose connection and when I started it wouldnt respond, stay running, do anything basically until it "re-learned its parameteres." It was freaky but after about 15 minutes of running 3/4 throttle in neutral it was fine again.

Ryan

 

Al; Ram pickups since 1994 seem to unusually sensitive to low battery voltage.

This seems to have happened about the time Chrysler moved the voltage regulator from being an external device to a circuit inside the PCM computer.

There have been some posts from reliable & knowledgeable Ram owners
describing really weird truck behavior that was 'cured'
when a 'marginal' old battery was replaced with a new battery.

 

The powertrain control module needs atleast 6 volts to run. If theres not 6 volts the "computer" can't controll all it oversees. It will try to "boot up" and when it starts using power and the voltage drops below 6 volts, it shuts off, killing the engine. Try charging your battery. Also have your alternator check and you battery checked.