2019 Ram 1500 OBD code U11E9 - Fixed!

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

2019 Ram 1500 OBD code U11E9 Fixed!

Last week I got this OBD code U11E9 “AGS grille shutter malfunction or lost communication.” After doing some research I notice that a lot of people were just changing the grill shutters right away but the issue persisted. I did more research, and found that it the grille shutters and the air dam at the bottom behind the front bumper are linked together and that a lot of times the issue is either a broken wire at the grille shutters connector or a bad air dam. The only repair that I found was one for the electrical connector for the grille shutters and nothing else.

Here’s what I did to repair mine.

1. Disconnect the bottom air dam to see if the code clears. If it does, follow the next steps. If the code didn’t clear, check the harness going to the grille shutters looks like one of the wires corrodes and breaks near the windshield washer reservoir.
2. If the code cleared. Leave air dam unplugged and remove 4 nuts holding the assembly, the unit is very light.
3. Once the unit has been removed, place on a table or workbench for easier disassembly.
4. Take pictures to make so you have some reference on how everything was.
5. Remove the four 10mm bolts to air dam.
6. Loosen the two 10mm on the hinge bracket and slide out. For the motor side, 3 torx screws must be removed, then slide out.
7. With a medium flathead screw driver, super gently and evenly start prying on the white cap of the motor. In my case, I got a lot of rusty water coming out.
8. Once the white cap is removed, remove water.
9. Gently pull on the electric board and set it a side. The board just plugged in.
10. Remove shaft and 4 smaller torx screws inside and with a small flathead screwdriver gently pry upwards the motor and gear assembly inside.
11. Remove shaft seals one on each end. In my case, both were hard dried out and cracked.
12. At this point, the unit is disassembled and everything should be cleaned and degreased. I clean the electronic board with alcohol and compressed air, no scrubbing on the board.
13. In my case, the seals were bad so I ordered them in Amazon for $10. These seals fit perfect. Of course they will be a tight because they are new.
14. Grease and assemble. Fitting the shaft in the seals gets a bit tricky, but nothing crazy. Before putting the white cap, add sealant to keep water from coming in. Find someone to help you keep thing aligned.

I tried adding more pictures, but I think I reached the limit.

Hopefully this $10 repair and some dedication helps someone out there that is struggling with the same issue.

 

[JetMech]

2019 Ram 1500 OBD code U11E9 Fixed!

Last week I got this OBD code U11E9 “AGS grille shutter malfunction or lost communication.” After doing some research I notice that a lot of people were just changing the grill shutters right away but the issue persisted. I did more research, and found that it the grille shutters and the air dam at the bottom behind the front bumper are linked together and that a lot of times the issue is either a broken wire at the grille shutters connector or a bad air dam. The only repair that I found was one for the electrical connector for the grille shutters and nothing else.

Here’s what I did to repair mine.

1. Disconnect the bottom air dam to see if the code clears. If it does, follow the next steps. If the code didn’t clear, check the harness going to the grille shutters looks like one of the wires corrodes and breaks near the windshield washer reservoir.
2. If the code cleared. Leave air dam unplugged and remove 4 nuts holding the assembly, the unit is very light.
3. Once the unit has been removed, place on a table or workbench for easier disassembly.
4. Take pictures to make so you have some reference on how everything was.
5. Remove the four 10mm bolts to air dam.
6. Loosen the two 10mm on the hinge bracket and slide out. For the motor side, 3 torx screws must be removed, then slide out.
7. With a medium flathead screw driver, super gently and evenly start prying on the white cap of the motor. In my case, I got a lot of rusty water coming out. View attachment 162105View attachment 162106
8. Once the white cap is removed, remove water.View attachment 162107View attachment 162112
9. Gently pull on the electric board and set it a side. The board just plugged in. View attachment 162108
10. Remove shaft and 4 smaller torx screws inside and with a small flathead screwdriver gently pry upwards the motor and gear assembly inside.View attachment 162109
11. Remove shaft seals one on each end. In my case, both were hard dried out and cracked. View attachment 162110
12. At this point, the unit is disassembled and everything should be cleaned and degreased. I clean the electronic board with alcohol and compressed air, no scrubbing on the board.View attachment 162113
13. In my case, the seals were bad so I ordered them in Amazon for $10. These seals fit perfect. Of course they will be a tight because they are new.View attachment 162114
14. Grease and assemble. Fitting the shaft in the seals gets a bit tricky, but nothing crazy. Before putting the white cap, add sealant to keep water from coming in. Find someone to help you keep thing aligned.

I tried adding more pictures, but I think I reached the limit.

Hopefully this $10 repair and some dedication helps someone out there that is struggling with the same issue.

Great post! I had the same OBD code on my 2019. Disconected the air dam plug, cleared codes and it has not repeated. Will have to try this repair next. No recall posted for my VIN like others have noted.

 

[Cbty2050]

Some have an extended warranty on the air dam.

 

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

Great post! I had the same OBD code on my 2019. Disconected the air dam plug, cleared codes and it has not repeated. Will have to try this repair next. No recall posted for my VIN like others have noted.

Thanks! I was really concern finding the oil seal. Luckily I was able to find it in Amazon. So far no issue. A video would’ve been more helpful.

Great post! I had the same OBD code on my 2019. Disconected the air dam plug, cleared codes and it has not repeated. Will have to try this repair next. No recall posted for my VIN like others have noted.

 

[BChillyP]

Actuator housing: (3)x T20
Internal motor housing: (3)x T10

2020 Ram. With the air dam (AAD) plugged in, I get U11E9 AGS Communication Lost and U0645 AAD Communication Lost errors. With the AAD unplugged, I only get U0645 for the AAD and the AGS correctly cycle within 10sec of startup. I fully disassembled and cleaned the AAD actuator per above steps, but the symptoms remain. $400 for a brand new AAD assembly (Front Air Dam - Mopar (68274406AH)) is ridiculous for known crap. My issue started at 37k miles, so just beyond the warranty. Any ideas guys? I haven't unwrapped the cabling yet, but it looked good. Also, couldn't tell by OP's pics, but my actuator only had 3 pins where 4 are possible.
Any ideas are greatly welcomed.

 

[Titanschris]

2019 Ram 1500 OBD code U11E9 Fixed!

Last week I got this OBD code U11E9 “AGS grille shutter malfunction or lost communication.” After doing some research I notice that a lot of people were just changing the grill shutters right away but the issue persisted. I did more research, and found that it the grille shutters and the air dam at the bottom behind the front bumper are linked together and that a lot of times the issue is either a broken wire at the grille shutters connector or a bad air dam. The only repair that I found was one for the electrical connector for the grille shutters and nothing else.

Here’s what I did to repair mine.

1. Disconnect the bottom air dam to see if the code clears. If it does, follow the next steps. If the code didn’t clear, check the harness going to the grille shutters looks like one of the wires corrodes and breaks near the windshield washer reservoir.
2. If the code cleared. Leave air dam unplugged and remove 4 nuts holding the assembly, the unit is very light.
3. Once the unit has been removed, place on a table or workbench for easier disassembly.
4. Take pictures to make so you have some reference on how everything was.
5. Remove the four 10mm bolts to air dam.
6. Loosen the two 10mm on the hinge bracket and slide out. For the motor side, 3 torx screws must be removed, then slide out.
7. With a medium flathead screw driver, super gently and evenly start prying on the white cap of the motor. In my case, I got a lot of rusty water coming out. View attachment 162105View attachment 162106
8. Once the white cap is removed, remove water.View attachment 162107View attachment 162112
9. Gently pull on the electric board and set it a side. The board just plugged in. View attachment 162108
10. Remove shaft and 4 smaller torx screws inside and with a small flathead screwdriver gently pry upwards the motor and gear assembly inside.View attachment 162109
11. Remove shaft seals one on each end. In my case, both were hard dried out and cracked. View attachment 162110
12. At this point, the unit is disassembled and everything should be cleaned and degreased. I clean the electronic board with alcohol and compressed air, no scrubbing on the board.View attachment 162113
13. In my case, the seals were bad so I ordered them in Amazon for $10. These seals fit perfect. Of course they will be a tight because they are new.View attachment 162114
14. Grease and assemble. Fitting the shaft in the seals gets a bit tricky, but nothing crazy. Before putting the white cap, add sealant to keep water from coming in. Find someone to help you keep thing aligned.

I tried adding more pictures, but I think I reached the limit.

Hopefully this $10 repair and some dedication helps someone out there that is struggling with the same issue.

Great post…I just got this code tonight on my 2019. Question…is it safe to drive until I can get the seals? I don’t want to cause any further issues with the truck. Thanks.

 

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

Great post…I just got this code tonight on my 2019. Question…is it safe to drive until I can get the seals? I don’t want to cause any further issues with the truck. Thanks.

I drove mine for a week with no issues until the seals came in.

 

[laoxu]

Thank you for sharing! I got both AGS and AAD error code last week. I read your post and disassembled the AAD controller. Same issue! I cleaned the parts and ordered oil sealers today. Just wondering what's kind of grease you use for lubricant before putting them back together? Thanks.

 

[gtrfred1]

Thanks for the instructions. I had the same issues and was able to get it resolved following the steps above. Now if I can fix the "shift to P" and the delamination of the touch screen I would be all set.

 

[kapinallinen2]

delamination of the touch screen

There was a thread about that a while back. I am experiencing the same thing but it is still working.

 

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

Thanks for the instructions. I had the same issues and was able to get it resolved following the steps above. Now if I can fix the "shift to P" and the delamination of the touch screen I would be all set.

Clean the throttle body for the “shift to p” issue. I posted something about it.

 

[cincyram89]

What kind of grease did you use? Did you lubricate that gear before reassembling? If so, what did you use?

 

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

What kind of grease did you use? Did you lubricate that gear before reassembling? If so, what did you use?

Use silicone grease. It works well with the plastic gears.

 

[jaychris]

I know it’s been awhile, but I just got this code. I pulled the plug on the AAD, started the truck, and the code was still there.

I started to pull the front grill off to check the wire for the AGS but noticed that the AGS cycles open and closed when the truck starts up - I would think if it was a wiring issue, the shutter would just not work at all, right?

Are there any other measures to be taken before replacing major parts or taking it in?

 

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

I know it’s been awhile, but I just got this code. I pulled the plug on the AAD, started the truck, and the code was still there.

I started to pull the front grill off to check the wire for the AGS but noticed that the AGS cycles open and closed when the truck starts up - I would think if it was a wiring issue, the shutter would just not work at all, right?

Are there any other measures to be taken before replacing major parts or taking it in?

Take a minute and read the first post.

 

[jaychris]

Right, which is why I said “I started to pull the front grill off to check the wire for the AGS but noticed that the AGS cycles open and closed when the truck starts up - I would think if it was a wiring issue, the shutter would just not work at all, right?”

If there was a broken wire in the harness, I would guess the shutter would not cycle at all. So before I tore apart the entire front end to look at a wire that would seem to not be broken because the shutter actually works, I wanted to confirm.

 

[Ruben-Ram5th 1500]

Right, which is why I said “I started to pull the front grill off to check the wire for the AGS but noticed that the AGS cycles open and closed when the truck starts up - I would think if it was a wiring issue, the shutter would just not work at all, right?”

If there was a broken wire in the harness, I would guess the shutter would not cycle at all. So before I tore apart the entire front end to look at a wire that would seem to not be broken because the shutter actually works, I wanted to confirm.

Correct. Also get a flashlight and look at the rubber seals of the air dam to see if they are cracked. That could confirm your issue.

 

[Antselfmadecruz]

I changed the active grill shutters. I even changed the wire harness to the active grill shutter. My next move is trying to change the active air dam & do what he said and hope for a miracle because this is insane we all deal with the same issue

 

[Guyfromthenorth]

I popped this code last week, cleared it, and it came back. I disconnected the harness to the AD and it didn't return. I pulled the assy out and sure enough my seals are absolutely wrecked looking. New synthetic seals on order now and the AD is in my shop waiting for their arrival. Thanks so much for this post!!

 

[Guyfromthenorth]

OK I just finished this job now. What a process. A couple notes I can think of off hand:

1) The white plastic faceplate has a silver allen screw in it. I don't believe you need to remove it, it seems like it acts as a pressure bushing for the electric motor that turns the worm gear.

2) My face plate was so well pressed in that I'd swear it was radio welded on. No matter how wide I spread the load while surgically pressing against it with screwdrivers, long feeler gauges, etc, it did not budge. I cracked 2 spots and they essentially broke in a way that made the faceplate look glued on. I tried razor blades, you name it. After 45min and being ready to give up I did the CPR First Aid process of "well it can't get any more dead anyways" and I managed to force a driver in enough and got a tiny bit to snap loose. I got the lid off with MUCH effort. When I reinstalled the lid I applied silicone (RTV would work too) to try and make sure it stays watertight.

3) I applied silicone grease to everything inside, including the PCB, in case of future water exposure. I used the brown seals originally posted, they fit perfect. I used silicone grease to bed them in the motor chassis and then silicone grease on the shaft to help it slip into the seal without tearing it. WARNING: These are rubber\synthetic rubber based seals and are fine with silicone grease. If down the road someone makes a silicone version of these seals do not use silicone grease or you will "melt" the seal.

4) Getting the dam plate lined up where it should be was a pain when re-installing the shaft and then the motor assembly onto the armature. I had to take it apart 4x to get it right. Maybe use a grease pencil or similar to put alignment marks on the shaft before removing it from the motor chassis. I'm still not 100% sure the armature is aligned proper, but it looks pretty good once re-installed on my truck.

I did this mostly to remove the check engine light. I'm not sold these air dams save SO MUCH gas that they are worth the cost of a new one tbh. But with a check engine light lit up I can't use my remote start, which is bad during winter here. Before pulling the unit out I had a pending code same as the one listed here, I erased it, but still had a permanent code of the same type. I unplugged the unit and the permanent code remained but pending left. Unsure what all that means, but I just rebuilt and re-installed the air dam now and both the pending and permanent code are gone. So I'm hoping that does it. I haven't taken it onto the highway yet to see if it breaks but that'll be for later today. Codes being gone is a win for me so far.

I also noticed the water pools around the gear and worm gear. That has eaten my gear to bits, literal chunks coming off of it. I don't know the life left in this thing but if anyone knows a way to remove the unit and make no codes appear that would be nice. I hate that a simple check engine light for an air dam can completely disable my remote start.