Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Ram battery problem

Anyone have a similar problem to this?

Ram 2001 1/ton 5.2. Got a new battery late last summer, over the weekend drained it by leaving the ignition on over night. Jump started and got it running but it won't stay started. Engine starts again volt meter shows 14.5, can keep it running with my foot on the accelerator but the minute I let up, it goes dead, but again it will start without a jump.

Ideas?

Dirty contacts @ battery.

Weak fuel pump or corrosion @ pump electrical connections.

Put a charger on it for a day or 2.

Battery is toast. Take it in and get it tested or swap one from another vehicle to help diagnose

Will it stay running at idle with the vehicle that jump started it still connected? When you remove the jumpers, does it die?

There is no idle at this point.

Jumpers on it dies, jumpers off it dies. Ran it by keeping my foot on the accelerator, lifted and it dies.

Ran for awhile with jumpers on, then with jumpers off. Right now, there is enough juice to start it but dies when I let up.

I have been dealing with cars for 47 years, junkers to quality rides and always have been able to hobble home and/or fix just about everything. This is absolutely new to me, so looking for just about anything someone may have had happen to them.

I can't see where the battery is the problem. I'm thinking a computer problem that isn't setting the idle speed right. Or maybe a fuel pump problem that's not pumping enough gas to run it at that speed. How about a clogged fuel filter that's blocking the fuel?

I bought a battery charger on Amazon a while back and used it a few times and worked as advertised.
"Schumacher SP3 3 Amp Automatic Battery extender /Maintainer"

please read the reviews and check for new products if you decide to buy one.

P.

Put a battery in it. Had my '96 do the same thing. Turns out the battery had an open circuit internally and it wouldn't stay running without a jump box or another battery hooked up to it. No warning whatsoever, Shut the truck off at the metal recycling yard, trailer attached. Tried to start it 5 minutes later, and it was dead.

Sometimes when batteries go, they go without warning. If he's able to jump it and keep it running by giving it gas my guess is it's running off the power the alternator is putting out, which is why at idle it dies.

But here in the OP he says it will restart without a jump.

Oops....Missed that part!

Well guys, in playing around a bit in my mind, I am thinking Rock Chuck is onto it, the computer having a glich due to low voltage.

Guess a simple disconnect the negative for a few minutes and reattaching should/maybe answer the problem.

I shall strive to overcome and try that tonight. I shall return with an answer.

I had an O3 with the 4.7 that kinda acted similar. My auto tech replaced the cam shaft position sensor, and then a week later the crank shaft position sensor. Evidently it used the same code for both problems, or they normally just replaced both, its been several years so I dont remember some of the details.

Well as promised for all you folks on the edge of your seats, here is the report on this problem-

Apparently as Rock Chuck surmised, the low voltage and jumping the battery caused a glich in the computer making the fuel pump to not pump at idle.

The fix was, as I surmised in my last post, disconnected the battery for a minute then reconnected. Engine started and idled like a boss once again. Battery is still low but a good half hour drive should bring it to total life again.

Thanks for all the input not only were they good ideas but also some reminders of things I need to get done.

For those who stayed up all night for this report, you may now stand down.

Thanks for the followup. So it appears that anytime we run a battery down and nearly out, it might be a good idea to disconnect totally to drain the system, then start over from scratch?

Disconnect, charge and then reconnect and start your engine.... or do what I did.

Strive to Persevere

I think the old chief said "Endeavor to persevere"

Either way makes about the same sense.

I haven't tried the disconnect/drain, but my older Grand Cherokee is a bit*ch to jump and does the same thing.

You need to charge battery, Alt isn't a charger just a maintainer!!

Running a starting battery clear down isn't good for it. Doing it several times can completely destroy it. Starting batteries aren't the same as deep cycles.

true that rock chuck have had them that a couple times totally dead ruins them even if almost new!! Fastest way to junk a good battery!!

Running it down dead wasn't intended, series of events came together to that I accidentally created the problem. As to the battery condition now, yes it no doubt has some damage but it is working and probably for along time yet.

Alternators are maintainers? mmm The jump fro the car to truck last less then 10 minutes, not enough time to charge the battery. Running the truck in place for 25 mins though brought the voltage back up. This afternoon, after starting I watched the voltage meter climb right back up to 14.5 volts where it should be. Guess the alt maintained it right well.

Just disconnect, not drain the battery. What you will drain is any errant charge in the computer which may have /could cause a problem.

With a run down battery, running the truck for 25 min likely won't give it a full charge. A charger will take a few hours.

Your truck has a computer controlled voltage regulator. As you found out, you have to reset the computer to get it to talk to the alternator, which then tells the computer the battery condition.