Took my 99 Ram Van 3500, 5.2L on a little road trip this past weekend. At the very beginning of the trip, it hesitated on the freeway 3 times. I don't know if that's the right word for what happened, but each time it felt like the van either lost power for a second or slipped out of gear and right back in. After the third time, the check engine light blinked on for a second and then went back off. The problem didn't recur, and when I reached my destination (about 200 miles), I plugged in my scan tool and found no trouble codes. I did turn the van off before checking it, so maybe I'd have gotten some info if I'd checked it before turning off the ignition (didn't think that one through).

My transmission was rebuilt about 5000 miles ago, and at first I was worried there was a problem with the transmission. But the next morning my van was hard to start, I drove it for about half an hour, and when I tried to start it after that, it wouldn't even crank. Jumped it and drove to AutoZone, where they confirmed my alternator was good and my battery was shot. After replacing the battery, I've had no more issues in the 500 or so miles I've driven since.

Could the dying battery have caused the "hesitation" at the beginning of my trip, even if it had a couple more starts in it? Or should I start preparing myself for it to be something more serious?

 

Low voltage on the battery will indeed cause some interesting issues..... If changing the battery solved it, be happy, and drive.

 

Good advice HeyYou. If the problem returns or worsens, Maybe consider buying new ignition switch. When they start to go bad it gives weird hick up / hesitation /die and revive kind of episodes. Also make sure you don't have cracked or corroded battery Terminals.