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Might be joining the dead battery party soon

FirstTimeRamDriver

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2019 RAM 1500 Laramie
Truck sits outside and havent been driving much, but still at least 20-25 miles twice a week. temps lower 30 this week. tried to start the truck using the keyfob and it would just make the locking sound and nothing else. Thought the battery was dead, and it was jump started it and tried to drive

12" screen wont come on
all sensors are off
dash shows service traction control and trailer brake system (or something to that effect)

thought will drive around a bit to charge the battery, upon driving found out the transmission is stuck on first gear. there is no light on the shift selector (press 2 WD, 4 high, low, 4WD) and it doesnt work. Axle lock works though.
took a shaky picture while on the road. RPM close to 3000, speed 16 m/hr

anyone seen this before? I connected a battery tender to the battery and i will let it charge for a couple of hours and start again to see if the issue is still there. 35 months without a hiccup.

i am guessing its the battery - so the next Q is should i bother with warranty replacement or just get a Northstar X2 and call it good!
 

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djevox

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2019 RAM 1500 Laramie
Truck sits outside and havent been driving much, but still at least 20-25 miles twice a week. temps lower 30 this week. tried to start the truck using the keyfob and it would just make the locking sound and nothing else. Thought the battery was dead, and it was jump started it and tried to drive

12" screen wont come on
all sensors are off
dash shows service traction control and trailer brake system (or something to that effect)

thought will drive around a bit to charge the battery, upon driving found out the transmission is stuck on first gear. there is no light on the shift selector (press 2 WD, 4 high, low, 4WD) and it doesnt work. Axle lock works though.
took a shaky picture while on the road. RPM close to 3000, speed 16 m/hr

anyone seen this before? I connected a battery tender to the battery and i will let it charge for a couple of hours and start again to see if the issue is still there. 35 months without a hiccup.

i am guessing its the battery - so the next Q is should i bother with warranty replacement or just get a Northstar X2 and call it good!
I vote for just getting a new battery and being done with it.
 

Nsleone

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2019 RAM 1500 Laramie
Truck sits outside and havent been driving much, but still at least 20-25 miles twice a week. temps lower 30 this week. tried to start the truck using the keyfob and it would just make the locking sound and nothing else. Thought the battery was dead, and it was jump started it and tried to drive

12" screen wont come on
all sensors are off
dash shows service traction control and trailer brake system (or something to that effect)

thought will drive around a bit to charge the battery, upon driving found out the transmission is stuck on first gear. there is no light on the shift selector (press 2 WD, 4 high, low, 4WD) and it doesnt work. Axle lock works though.
took a shaky picture while on the road. RPM close to 3000, speed 16 m/hr

anyone seen this before? I connected a battery tender to the battery and i will let it charge for a couple of hours and start again to see if the issue is still there. 35 months without a hiccup.

i am guessing its the battery - so the next Q is should i bother with warranty replacement or just get a Northstar X2 and call it good!
A YouTuber had the exact same problems after jump starting his truck, turned out to be the battery so that’s my guess
 

Moosefire66

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If you're still under a free replacement warranty for the battery I say get a better one under warranty

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk
 

FirstTimeRamDriver

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If you're still under a free replacement warranty for the battery I say get a better one under warranty

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk

I will call the service advisor tomorrow but I know what he is going to tell me - bring the truck in, we are low on techs so will take a few days to diagnose and we don’t have a loaner. Will call you when/if we find something. Just recently went through that for a service airbag error code
 

Moosefire66

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I will call the service advisor tomorrow but I know what he is going to tell me - bring the truck in, we are low on techs so will take a few days to diagnose and we don’t have a loaner. Will call you when/if we find something. Just recently went through that for a service airbag error code
Every battery has a date code on it. Either melted into the plastic, stamped, or a sticker. If it happens to say 36 month free replacement warranty or something of the sort on the battery just take it out yourself and take it to the dealer for replacement. It might only he a 12 18 or 24 month free replacement battery though, so I dont know

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk
 

FirstTimeRamDriver

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Every battery has a date code on it. Either melted into the plastic, stamped, or a sticker. If it happens to say 36 month free replacement warranty or something of the sort on the battery just take it out yourself and take it to the dealer for replacement. It might only he a 12 18 or 24 month free replacement battery though, so I dont know

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk
i will check it out tomorrow. man i have having really bad luck with electronics today. the battery tended that was charging the truck just went dead. grr
 

Cbty2050

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Every battery has a date code on it. Either melted into the plastic, stamped, or a sticker. If it happens to say 36 month free replacement warranty or something of the sort on the battery just take it out yourself and take it to the dealer for replacement. It might only he a 12 18 or 24 month free replacement battery though, so I dont know

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk
Is this still under 3/36 warranty? You can't just take a battery in and get it exchanged. They have to test it in their tester, if it fails then they have to get a code that goes through witech.
 

FirstTimeRamDriver

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Is this still under 3/36 warranty? You can't just take a battery in and get it exchanged. They have to test it in their tester, if it fails then they have to get a code that goes through witech.

Yeah it will be 36 months in feb
 

djevox

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Both of these guys have matched my experience in the past. The dealer will question it, but parts stores and independent shops (depending on the shop) do not.

I don’t think my example below is necessary for the frequency that our trucks are used, so the purpose of the example is to show what you can do with battery warranty while the batteries are still good.

My example:
I have a generator, pressure washer, and two tractors. One tractor has Duracell 94r, and the rest have Interstate (smaller batteries). I pull the battery on the generator once a year and turn it in for a prorated refund and replacement, and I turn in the tractor batteries every two years. I could mitigate that by putting everything on maintainers, but I don’t care when he cost me less than $20 combined to know that I have fresh batteries.
 

Moosefire66

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Both of these guys have matched my experience in the past. The dealer will question it, but parts stores and independent shops (depending on the shop) do not.

I used to work for interstate battery for a few years, my shop was independently owned, not corporate owned but our inspection process was fairly involved before we would warranty a battery. If the voltage was where it needed to be we would just do a load test which simulates a starter draw. The load test will tell you if it keeps enough voltage or amps during that draw. If it drops too quickly or goes below a certain point then the battery failed and would be replaced. If it didn't then the battery is still good.

If the batteries voltage isn't charged enough to do a load test then we would keep and charge it overnight, before load testing.

Side note, interstate has unbranded batteries (all black, doesn't say "interstate") and puts stickers on them for different dealers, including chrysler/ram/Mopar dealers. Once the batteries are ordered in, interstate puts on the appropriate sticker, then delivers it to the dealership. GM / diehard batteries excluded. There's quite a few dealers that aren't supplied by interstate but you would be surprised how many share the same battery, with just a different sticker

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk
 

djevox

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I used to work for interstate battery for a few years, my shop was independently owned, not corporate owned but our inspection process was fairly involved before we would warranty a battery. If the voltage was where it needed to be we would just do a load test which simulates a starter draw. The load test will tell you if it keeps enough voltage or amps during that draw. If it drops too quickly or goes below a certain point then the battery failed and would be replaced. If it didn't then the battery is still good.

If the batteries voltage isn't charged enough to do a load test then we would keep and charge it overnight, before load testing.

Side note, interstate has unbranded batteries (all black, doesn't say "interstate") and puts stickers on them for different dealers, including chrysler/ram/Mopar dealers. Once the batteries are ordered in, interstate puts on the appropriate sticker, then delivers it to the dealership. GM / diehard batteries excluded. There's quite a few dealers that aren't supplied by interstate but you would be surprised how many share the same battery, with just a different sticker

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk
That’s funny how differently some shops work. I turn in my interstate and duracell batteries no questions asked, and the battery guy picks them up on his weekly run. My situation is not like everyone’s, so I was just illustrating a point in my earlier post.
 

SpeedyV

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2019 RAM 1500 Laramie
Truck sits outside and havent been driving much, but still at least 20-25 miles twice a week. temps lower 30 this week. tried to start the truck using the keyfob and it would just make the locking sound and nothing else. Thought the battery was dead, and it was jump started it and tried to drive

12" screen wont come on
all sensors are off
dash shows service traction control and trailer brake system (or something to that effect)

thought will drive around a bit to charge the battery, upon driving found out the transmission is stuck on first gear. there is no light on the shift selector (press 2 WD, 4 high, low, 4WD) and it doesnt work. Axle lock works though.
took a shaky picture while on the road. RPM close to 3000, speed 16 m/hr

anyone seen this before? I connected a battery tender to the battery and i will let it charge for a couple of hours and start again to see if the issue is still there. 35 months without a hiccup.

i am guessing its the battery - so the next Q is should i bother with warranty replacement or just get a Northstar X2 and call it good!
Mine went 39 months. All sorts of crazy happens when the batteries of these trucks run low. I drove over 1,000 miles just a day or two before mine died, so you'd think it was as charged up as it would ever be (voltage always reads around 14).
 

steveved

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Mine went after 28 months. I called the dealer. Dealer said it was "probably" the battery. Bring it to me and I can diagnose it in a day or two and pro rate a replacement for you. As I don't have an extra vehicle sitting around, I drove to the nearest Interstate dealer and got a new AGM battery in the correct size. That was a year ago. It was worth $400 to not have to wait 2 - 3 days for the dealer to get around to it. Even then, he said on the phone that the battery had a 3 year warrantee and they would pro rate one for me. I figure doing this myself only cost me around $100 more than letting the dealer pro rate one. Money well spent considering I didn't have to go without my truck for a few days.
 

FirstTimeRamDriver

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Thanks everyone. I drove to battery plus today and got a new X2 installed. The truck did startup fine today but I have a road trip coming up where there will be no one around for miles, not worth taking the risk. I will put this battery in a tender for a day or two, not sure how long this was sitting in their shelves.
 

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