I have a 2007 5.7 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT quad cab 4X4 Just under 100K

About 1 month ago i started the truck (no starting issues) and noticed my radio clock had reset, and the radio was at the very bottom of the AM frequency. All my presets were still progammed.

About 3 weeks later i went to start truck and the tach seemed stuck and the truck wouldn't start. turned key off and tried again...no issues to start, ran a wee bit rough but no engine light and it smoothed out very quickly. With this the radio had repeated the same issue from above. also the overhead console reset "only" the fuel consumption (L/100km) and was stuck at 16.0 for ...30 mins? until I manually reset it. although i was enjoying the thought of 16L/100km, lol

Now this brings us today. I started the truck this afternoon to move it and it started fine but the radio was clipping out (did this twice during the move) the odometer screen was ever so slightly flickering and the battery guage was at about 3/4 (this seems high?) as i was leaving the truck i went to lock it with the key fob.....nothing tried to lock with the power lock switch....nothing, put key in ignition and turned on....nothing.

I have not had time to check anything, I will be back at the truck this evening. my guess is it will start and run. but this seems to be an escalating issue and would like to address it.

Notes: the truck has factory remote start, PL,PW,power rear window, A/C, manual seats, NO nav.

thanks in advance for your help.
Derek

 

Either you have a few dead cells in your battery causing these things, or you have an issue within your cluster or tipm module. The tipm is what actually controls everything and relays it through the cluster.

I'd have your battery checked first.

 

what is the tipm module, where do i find it and whats the best way to test it?

 

totally integrated power module, located on passenger side fender by the battery? is there an issue with corroded wires? its too intermittent to be perminent damage to something i woud think.

 

It replaces mechanical relays. If you were to tear apart the tipm unit, which is the fuse box, there is an electronic board inside there. It's essentially a computer board, so once there are issue's, they could slowly multiply or go all together. It uses millions of electronic transistors rather than mechanical relays.
Are you throwing any DTC codes? I'm not talking about visible CEL's(check engine light), DTC's are stored internally and need to be read by a tuner or scanner. If not, I'd really check the battery. A low battery will store a battery code that doesn't set off the CEL. My truck would do alot of funny stuff with a battery that appeared to have good charge, but had dead cells so it would drain right away.
You can do a cluster test to verify that is okay. Push and hold in the trip button while you turn the key to ON position but dont start. The cluster will cycle through all the guages and light all idiot lights. If anything fails to illuminate or guage fails to sweep, your cluster is no good.

I'd be surprised if anything is wrong with your tipm as they generally throw alot of visible codes.

 

You should also take the time to download the service manuals from the links in my signature below.

 

just want to say thanks dirtydog for all your time

when i got home the key fob worked and i turned the key to on posistion and everything seemed fine. went inside to change into some warm work clothes and guess what....no power again and i meen nothing. so i popped the hood and heard some really quick clicking from behind the cluster, maybe about 3-4 seconds. all power back (so now im thinkin lose wire). the ground wire on the battery terminal was wigglable, not lose but not tight. I have tightened that up.

went out for a drive everything seems fine except the Fuel consumption estimate in the overhead console. it is all over the place. In a 5 minute drive it went down to 13.0 up then down then up..........

no codes have displayed on the dash, but i am going back out in about 10 mins to see if there is still power, I will plug in the scanner to see if any codes are pending.

I'm hoping this is just as simple as the ground being lose.

 

Thanks weedahoe, I have already gotten the service manual a while back, may have even been from you.

Just noticed you don't have the 07 and 08, i am going to check but I believe i have that which i will gladly share

NM i only have the '06

 

No codes

 

have you had a load test done on the battery