Engine shutting down while driving

[Snekpete]

I went to the dealership yesterday. The tech basically said "yeah, sometimes the trucks do that. We have no idea why and have no fix for it."

Does anyone have this TSB? The only one I've seen is tied to the auto start feature light not coming on, or something like that. I'm not sure that's the issue I'm having as I keep the auto start turned off on my truck because it is the dumbest feature that no one asked for.

Having a truck that randomly kills the engine then immediately engages the parking brake is probably the most dangerous issue I can think of, and no one at Ram seems to care.

Okay, we're a pretty smart group here but we're not clairvoyant. Most of the TSBs were for earlier years, 2019-2022. We need to know the model and year. In the safety settings turn off the Auto Engage on the parking brake. That should also prevent the automatic shift to park but I am not sure of that.

 

[bluecheese]

Okay, we're a pretty smart group here but we're not clairvoyant. Most of the TSBs were for earlier years, 2019-2022. We need to know the model and year. In the safety settings turn off the Auto Engage on the parking brake. That should also prevent the automatic shift to park but I am not sure of that.

Sorry. 2021 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi with etorque.

Is this the parking brake setting you're talking about? If so, it was turned off when the truck killed this past Friday and parking brake still engaged.

 

[Snekpete]

Yes, that looks like the Auto Park Brake setting, so when you put the truck in Park the parking brake Should Not go on.

The 21 and 22s had a TSB to flash the PCM to address the low speed stall issue. I know I had mine flashed. I don't recall the TSB but if you do a search of TSBs for your model and year you should be able to find it. I don't believe that it will fix this problem however. AFAIK there is no known fix for this problem.

It is my opinion that the problem lies in the transmission or the TCM, or both. I have personally experienced this in a rented Jeep Wrangler with a completely different Hybrid motor but the same 8 speed transmission. If my truck does this I will be very tempted to track it down once and for all. Maybe start a Go Fund Me to buy a new trans.

 

[bluecheese]

Yes, that looks like the Auto Park Brake setting, so when you put the truck in Park the brake Should Not go on.

The 21 and 22s had a TSB to flash the PCM to address the low speed stall issue. I know I had mine flashed. I don't recall the TSB but if you do a search of TSBs for your model and year you should be able to find it. I don't believe that it corrects this particular problem however.

There was a recall - 37A - that was supposedly tied to this issue, and required flashing the PCM. I had the recall serviced last year.

The truck had previously died on me twice before the recall was fixed. I haven't had the issue happen again until this past Friday.

When I went to the dealership yesterday, the tech told me "We can make an appointment to drop the truck off for us to check, but you'll be wasting your time, because they won't find anything wrong with the truck."

 

[Murval]

I *just* had this issue occur an hour ago on my brand new 2023 Ram Rebel v8 eTorque with 1,230 miles on it. I was approaching a stop sign at slowing speed, maybe 5 mph. Engine shuts off. Shifts into park. eBrake goes on. No cars in front or in back of me.

Once I got it started and took off the eBrake, the Auto On/Off would not engage all the way home (stop and go for ~15 miles). I pushed the Auto On/Off button and no change. It was like that feature just disappeared.

Crazy that this is impacting 2023 vehicles?! Not happy.

Have had this EXACT thing happen twice now, 3 months apart. 2023 Rebel GT 5.7 Etorque with 30,000 kms.

 

[Gbolson]

Sorry. 2021 Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi with etorque.

Is this the parking brake setting you're talking about? If so, it was turned off when the truck killed this past Friday and parking brake still engaged.
View attachment 203977

Been having issues with the truck since 8,000 miles. Now almost 50k. The dealer replaced MGU (eTorque) at 16,000.
Truck is 2023 1500 3.6 v6 with etorque (MGU).
Truck shuts off while at low speeds, almost like motor hesitates and then dies, sometimes when gently pressing accelerator/gas pedal.
Been to the dealer now about 10x, they reprogrammed truck, they checked electrical systems, and they replaced the MGU unit last year as they could not for sure figure out what is going on. Truck seemed to work okay. Service manager (SM) requested to bring it in immediately if it happens again, so this time I did when it died.

What happens when it dies/stalls... Truck shuts off. Restart and get low battery warning. If you drive without shutting and restarting the 12v battery begins to drain and will get below 10volts, then the dash lights go off, the truck will eventually begin to idle at 2k RPM, exhaust smells like rotten eggs (according to me and dealer mechanic), and this time it started overheating when I took it to the dealer and coolant fluid boils out of the overflow. That got the service managers excited as they saw this all happen in the service bay.

HOWEVER, if you just shut down and restart after initial restart, the truck works fine.

Truck is at dealer since this just happened and they ran tests while it was still running before it died ( it pulled 25 something error codes, I'll share shortly).

Today they ran more test and it came back normal with no errors. SM said they would replace MGU again to see if that helps as mechanic said there have been some issues with his past experience.

I requested they check lithium battery - no report yet.
Beginning to wonder if it is fuel related, like an injector.

UPDATE: Dealer said after restart the codes were cleared and truck ran fine. Mechanic suggested to replace MGU so they did. This is the 3rd MGU (eTorque) for this 2023 1500 3.6 v6 with etorque.

I wonder if it is caused by the running too rich that effected other model years (2021), however they state is only the 5.7 eTorque model.

Ram Recalls 131,000 eTorque-Equipped 1500 Trucks to Address Stalling Issue

Some 2021 Ram 1500 eTorque models may stall while driving, leading the automaker to launch a new recall campaign to fix the issue — here are the details.

tfltruck.com

 

[Gbolson]

My truck is having the issue with the engine shutting down and engaging the parking brake. Can someone explain how you eliminate the "slam in to park" and "ebrake"?

I have a 2021 ram etorque, had it in for a few recalls, just putting it in the garage would shut off and engage the ebrake, release the brake and drove it in. Yesterday we went on a trip pulling a enclosed trailer, about 2hrs into the trip, engine shuts off at 70mph
Luckily got it off the road, unlocked the brake tried to start it, it would only crank, tried it numerous times, 93 degrees with no air, finally tow truck arrived, towed it to dealer, soonest they can get to it was Friday, could not get a rental car, luckily Toyota had a few, so I left home in a ram, returned in a Toyota. This truck only has 19,000 miles on it. Been watching this forum and can’t believe all the trucks having this issue, it don’t seem like ram is gonna fix this issue. Hopefully Friday the dealership will find the problem, but not getting my hopes up after reading all these posts.

 

[Snekpete]

I have a 2021 ram etorque, had it in for a few recalls, just putting it in the garage would shut off and engage the ebrake, release the brake and drove it in. Yesterday we went on a trip pulling a enclosed trailer, about 2hrs into the trip, engine shuts off at 70mph
Luckily got it off the road, unlocked the brake tried to start it, it would only crank, tried it numerous times, 93 degrees with no air, finally tow truck arrived, towed it to dealer, soonest they can get to it was Friday, could not get a rental car, luckily Toyota had a few, so I left home in a ram, returned in a Toyota. This truck only has 19,000 miles on it. Been watching this forum and can’t believe all the trucks having this issue, it don’t seem like ram is gonna fix this issue. Hopefully Friday the dealership will find the problem, but not getting my hopes up after reading all these posts.

Stalling at 70mph is a completely separate issue from the low-speed stall and should be able to be fixed. The Star Connector should be the first point of concern.

 

[WXman]

Has anybody here simply replaced the rotary shifter module? Doesn't that cure the issue?

I recall when my wife's 2018 Cherokee would randomly shut off on her. A few months later she got a "Service Shifter" message. Dealership replaced the electronic shifter (in her case a handle, but still 100% electronic) and all problems went away.

 

[Hb92]

Ram 1500 Big Horn VIN 1C6RRFFG7PN557769
3.6L V6 24V VVT eTorque Engine with Stop/Start

RAM claim #89887555
STAR case #92449393
NHTSA report #11654928

No check engine or codes on display… only two red batteries displayed at times..

2/14/24 Slowed down left u-turn engine shut down.. pulled over came to complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. press E-brake switch to release, push start, restart engine and select drive to drive away… went to dealer.. scanned a fault but I could not leave the truck that day and was told there were no rentals for use… they will call when one is ready… waited a week and went back to
dealer and the truck was scanned again “no fault” meaning the fault that was found was now gone and was it not documented by the dealer…. can’t find anything can’t fix anything…

5/16/24 Slowed down for speed bump engine shut down... pulled over came to complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. press E-brake switch to release, push start, put in drive to restart engine and drive away… went to dealer.. scanned no fault (had a friend in the truck at time)


6/1/24 Slowed down right turn into store driveway engine shut down.. came to complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. press E-brake switch to release, push start, restart engine, select drive to drive away… two battery displays on… had to turn off and restart for the displays to clear.

7/4/24 Slowed down left u-turn engine shut down pulled over and came to complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. had to press E-brake switch to release, push start, restart engine, select drive to drive away…
Thinking that I got into the habit of setting the auto shut off override button and that’s maybe why the big gaps in time of the problem showing up.. I stopped using the override button and try to help with the troubleshooting.

1/7/25 Slowed down for speed bump engine shut down.. pulled over and came to complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. had to press E-brake switch to release, push start, restart engine, select drive to drive away…
Back to dealer software updated… not related to fault found…


3/3/25 Slowed down for right turn on red.. not a complete stop.. engine shut down.. complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. had to press E-brake switch to release, push start to restart engine, select drive to drive away… two battery displays on… had to turn off and restart for the displays to clear. Back to dealer… Stellantis STAR report opened.. dealer updated all modules software…


3/20/25 Slowed down for right turn yield sign… not a complete stop.. engine shut down.. complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. had to press E-brake switch to release, push start to restart engine, select drive to drive away… back to dealer same fault found again…
Got text from dealer that report from Stellantis to dealer NO REMEDY.

3/30/25 Slowed down for right turn on green light… not a complete stop.. engine shut down.. complete stop.
E-brake auto engaged and it shifted into park.. had to press E-brake switch to release, push start to restart engine, select drive to drive away… THIS TIME THE AUTO START-STOP WAS DISABLED…both batteries displayed in red… this time alarm sounding with battery displays in red as driving away from stalling out. Only after second restart did both clear….

After many trips to the dealer... "I like them"... and after many calls and emails to Stellantis Customer Care & Experience. and The Customer Retention Team case manager.. I now hate my case manager for the many days of no call backs and no return email .. and the lack of backup and escalation from Stellantis... In the end she said after 10 days with a flight computer attached no problem was found... so there is no problem !!!! they will stick the head in the sand... so my documentation of the events with a witness and the error codes found before mean nothing...
So as we all can see they do have a problem !!! I ask everyone that is having this problem... open a star case, ram claim, NHTSA report, and in my State FL. a Lemon Law arbitration case..
The dam shame of this whole thing with me is I really do like the truck !!! I just can't "LIVE" with this problem....

My 2022 5.7 etorque did this - your 2/14/24 example verbatim. However, it only appeared when it was below freezing. It had not happened in other months & the prior Winter I was living in TX. Was in the dealership for months. They said it was corroded high-voltage terminals. Took like 4mo and settled with FCA for cash.

 

[Chicken George]

I bought my truck brand new with 500 miles on it Oct. 14th 21. I made it to around 70k when the truck would stutter and hesitate to drive. Took it to dealership and said No codes, nothing wrong after 2 days of "checking it". Brought it back at 76k and truck would hardly drive, but yet said they couldn't figure it out and sent me on my way. Was driving home at 85k and truck stalled going 75mph while on a 2 lane highway. The truck rolled to about 30 mph and completely died and locked up steering wheel and activated the E brake as I was almost safely off the road. After trying time and time again, I finally got the truck to start and off the road. Called dealership and was told they wouldn't tow it as it was out of warranty at this point. So I had no choice but to limp it to them 400 miles away. They let it sit over weekend and went to test drive it and drove as it would normally. Sent me back out with it, only for it to happen again at 99k and stall. Same process as before and had to lug it to them out of my pocket. They Finally agreed to replace fuel pump, but out of my pocket conviently since they sent it back numerous times and now out of any warranty. At 105k, I took it back to dealership with same issue as before and was told there was nothing to do and sent me on my way. At 111k it stalled on highway at night and almost caused a major crash as the E brake set it's self while traveling at 45mph in a construction zone. Limped to dealer yet again, and they replaced the EVAP cannister as part of their guessing game. Now today at 115.5k I have dropped it off again for same issue. Stalled while traveling 75 on Interstate and almost caused me to hit a pole as I only have so much room to get off the road before it shuts down. I have since called MOPAR themselves and have yet to hear more as the Dealership has not helped at all. This has ALL transpired over the course of 1 year with brand new 2021 Ram 1500 V6 Penstar. Please help.

By the third time, I would have traded it in on something else.

 

[Chicken George]

I'd like to know also. I have a 2024 5.7 Limited.