New issue. Started Friday, didn't happen yesterday, happened three times today. 2011 Ram 1500

While driving, christmas tree dash will light up and all gauges die. EVIC stays online, but going to the vehicle info screen gives a bunch of blank data. A/C shuts off or the blend door neutralizes. Traction control, tow/haul, and parking sensor buttons stop working. Tap shifting stops working.

Truck still drives like normal, shifts fine. Flashers, fan speed, mode door, and radio work normal.

As soon as you turn the key off and remove it, the "Key in Ignition" message remains on the EVIC until you shut the door.

Once you open the door, the truck is entirely dead inside. Insert key to on/start is like the battery is unhooked, except the EVIC still shows the mileage.

Heaven forbid you lock the door, the fob is no longer working. Use the brass key in the driver door and the alarm goes off. Open hood, unhook battery...even unhooking both leads and touching them for a minute...as soon as there is power, the alarm goes off.

Pull all the relays out of the TIPM, alarm still goes off. Pull both horn fuses, and you can still hear a relay clicking inside the TIPM. It's the energizer bunny and just never gives up.

Lift the TIPM out of the cradle...suddenly the HVAC fan starts blowing and the "Key in/door open" chime starts dinging.

That was Friday's sequence.

Three time today i've lifted the TIPM out of it's cradle and that has brought the cabin back to life. Sometimes instantly, sometimes first time didn't work but waiting a few minutes and doing it did work.

I think I have it narrowed down to 2 of the harnesses going in the bottom of the TIPM... but I guess tonight is going to be "Pull the TIPM and battery tray and inspect the harnesses" night.

 

Gotta be a loose connection in there some where.....

 

So the codes that I pulled from the SES light were
U110C - lost fuel level
U1110 - lost vehicle speed
U1120 - lost Anti-lock Brake System
U0141 - lost Body Control Module
U1403 - impluasible fuel level
U110E - lost ambient temperature
U0100 - lost ECU

U-codes are a CAN bus fault prefix

This video below pretty well matches my situation

Now, some background. A rodent got under my TIPM and the dealer had to repair the harness. Ironically, the harness I've moved that seems to make the issue come and go, has the braided (then unbraided and spliced) wires for the CAN bus.

 

Found some more info. For the Ram (assuming my 11 is same as the 12 linked below), the CAN signal exists on both C1 (P15, 16) and C7 (P24,25, 28, 29).

The connector i'm dealing with is the bottom right one on the vertical panel.

Anywho, I re-did the splice repairs that the dealer did several years ago. Time will tell if the repair is successful.

https://mopar1973man.com/topic/14732...iring-diagram/

https://mopar1973man.com/external-me...m/canctopo.png

https://mopar1973man.com/external-me...em/canbusc.png

 

Wow, what an exciting array of issues. I feel for you, but also am impressed that you tracked it down to the TIPM harnesses as quickly as you did. When you redid the work the dealer had previously done, did you find any splices that were suspicious?

While I hope to never encounter a similar issue, I'm glad you shared your experience so that I will have an idea what to try first if my Ram or Charger ever has similar issues.

-Rod

 

Actually, this is what bothers me the most - nothing screamed at me that the splices were bad. I cut the heat shrink and insulation off all around the splice on both ends, and everything looked good.

No issues yesterday or today, so crossing fingers. Right now the harness is still un-loomed and hanging loose under the TIPM; this weekend i'll lift it back out and loom them back.

As far as going straight to the TIPM - because everything other than the cabin was working fine, and the fob was not being recognized at all,, I had a heavy suspicion it was a loss of power to the dash, cabin module, or something down those lines. I dug around under the dash a bit, and nothing screamed at me.
That's when I went straight to the known-problematic TIPM.
When this first happened, I had locked the truck and gone into my client's office for work. Well in the time i was in there, something went haywire - I was able to lock the truck with the fob, but not unlock it.
When i opened the door with the brass key, the alarm went off. That told me it was not a power issue, as the body module handles the alarm.
That's when I opened the hood and yanked both horn fuses to stop from being that annoying person in the parking lot. But the relays were still clicking for the flashers.
So i yanked all the relays...and it was still clicking...from inside.
That's when I lifted the TIPM to find the hidden relay.
When I lifted it, the clicking stopped, and I could hear the key-in/door-open chime, plus the HVAC blower fan came on. So i knew whatever it was, had been fixed by lifting the TIPM.
From there, it was a matter of screwing with each harness each time it happened until I got down to the last 2.
Then I saw the splices in the braided cable, combined with the U-codes, and connected the dots.

 

Since there was a relay wired in under the TIPM, it sounds like someone has already also fixed the problematic, and I think even recalled, fuel pump relay issue with the TIPM.

-Rod

 

My dad and I have had the truck since it was new (traded our 2005 in at 297,000 miles, original owner of it as well) and I never did find what was clicking. I'm assuming it's a relay soldered to the circuit board. This 2011 truck just turned 188,000 today and I'm planning to also take it to the high 200 land if it will let me.