Hello Everyone,
New person to this forum and to the dodge truck world.

I picked up a 2003 ram 1500 with the 5.7 L with a ton of issues and im getting worries i bit off more than i can chew. Was hoping for guidance from those who know.

I have researched and tried to figure out stuff on my own but i am starting to lose the light at the end of the tunnel lol.

For starters i picked up the truck and it had P0442, P0456, P0300, P0307, & P0480. As well as the ABS light and the emergency brake light and the air bag light.

So far i have been able to clear all the engine codes except P0480.
I did an oil change (this is where i found out it had a blown head gasket that looks to be recently fixed) replaced all the spark plugs and boy did they need to be. I think that was the cause of the misfires.
They had the fuse for the ABS pump pulled. Put in a fuse and it made a terrible noise. I got a new pump put in and that seems to be working fine. Was hoping that cleared my ABS/Emergency brake lights but it didnt.

They had hard wired that AC fan to a switch on the dash. Guess it was quicker to do that to get it to work than to find the actual issue. Now i see why.

My biggest questions is how to get this P0480 cleared and what could be my ABS/Emergency brake lights at this point?

I'm hoping the air bag light will go off when i replace the clock spring.

There is a lot more stuff but i feel like this is a good starting point.

thanks for any help!

 

P0480 is cooling fan 1 control circuit problems. Does your truck HAVE an electric fan? (not too familiar with the third gen trucks.) If it has one, does it work?? (my guess would be: "No".....)

For the ABS and such, going to need to plug in with a scanner that can read ABS codes. The local parts stores around here will sometimes do that...... (some will, some won't..... no clue why. Liability issues?)

 

The P0480 is going to take some patience because the previous owner messed with the wiring. It may have started as a simple relay problem, but he decided to bypass relay and wire directly to the dash controls. You will need to get it back to normal wiring to effectively troubleshoot. I think your PDC has a relay and fuse for the cooling fan.
The ABS light, and possibly brake light, could be caused by the ABS sensor in the differential. The sensor is on the front, top, driver side of the diff. Take it off and see if it has metal flakes on it.
I'd also get a look at the diff fluid if you haven't changed it yourself.

 

As mentioned, the ABS could be the sensor. Another thing to check is make sure there is no air trapped in the ABS module. When the truck is off, if you pump the brake pedal it should get very hard quickly and impossible to press down. If you feel any "bounce" in the pedal, you may have air in the module and it could trigger the ABS light.

As far as the code, see if you can find a part number for the wiring harness and search it on the internet. Some of them are way cheaper then you would think and it may be cheaper to just replace it then trying to figure out how to fix it.

 

It does have a cooling fan. The fan works when hard wired. Or when the relay is additionally grounded on the pin thats closest to the fender.

None of my parts stores will scan for ABS codes and all the shops want to run a a full diagnostic which will cost anywhere from $50-100. A new big scanner that can do it all that i seen and like is roughly $250.... but not sure its worth the investment yet.

 

im going to take a look at this probably this weekend.

i really would like to know what codes the trucks sending. i might just let a shop run diagnostics

 

I dont think there is any air. i replaced the abs pump and module and bled the brakes completely with new fluid.

I am going to look around some junkyards to see if i can get a harness from one of them

 

Having the scan tool is indeed a worthwhile investment. It will work on a wide range of vehicles, and will still be useful on your next vehicle. Being able to read codes, and look at live data, is an invaluable tool for troubleshooting problems.

 

Just to make sure, you did bleed the ABS module also. Air can still be in the module even after a successful bleed of the rest of the braking system. Also check the connections really well. I had a squirrel chew through my wiring that I had to patch. Sad thing is, I had much better braking/stopping power and better control while the ABS system was offline.