New 2019 Rebel 5.7 with Etorqu Battery Charging Problem

[formula233]

OK just bought this truck as a left over new with 45 miles on it. One of the only trucks around that had what I wanted. Quad cab, 6'4 bed, 33gal tank, 392 electronic locking rear. Paid right sharp money but these options seam hard to come by. Anyway I am having a problem under hard acceleration toward the top of the rpm range the truck will miss or buck and at the same time the voltage goes from say 14 to 11.4 to 11.9???? Battery and check engine light will come on. Well once you stop, power down and re start it goes back to normal???? Until you hard accelerate again?? Does not do it every time but its not hard to get it into this condition. Took it in to the dealer to have this looked at. They had it all day, rainy day mind you so it would be had to find a safe spot to run it hard but they did get it to go into this error mode a few time. They said they have never seen this before? They did some software updates, problem still there. Next they cleaned and checked some grounds??? Tested it and could not get it to error but it was raining and pretty heavy traffic. Anyway the problem is still there.. This is a large dealership that had like 80 new truck on the lot. Doesn't Dodge share problem cases like this with there dealers??? I don't have to search hard to find other with the same sounding problem.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Try involving RAM cares.

 

[RamCares]

OK just bought this truck as a left over new with 45 miles on it. One of the only trucks around that had what I wanted. Quad cab, 6'4 bed, 33gal tank, 392 electronic locking rear. Paid right sharp money but these options seam hard to come by. Anyway I am having a problem under hard acceleration toward the top of the rpm range the truck will miss or buck and at the same time the voltage goes from say 14 to 11.4 to 11.9???? Battery and check engine light will come on. Well once you stop, power down and re start it goes back to normal???? Until you hard accelerate again?? Does not do it every time but its not hard to get it into this condition. Took it in to the dealer to have this looked at. They had it all day, rainy day mind you so it would be had to find a safe spot to run it hard but they did get it to go into this error mode a few time. They said they have never seen this before? They did some software updates, problem still there. Next they cleaned and checked some grounds??? Tested it and could not get it to error but it was raining and pretty heavy traffic. Anyway the problem is still there.. This is a large dealership that had like 80 new truck on the lot. Doesn't Dodge share problem cases like this with there dealers??? I don't have to search hard to find other with the same sounding problem.

Hi @formula233 - I certainly understand why this would be concerning. If you wouldn't mind following up with me via private message to provide additional details of your most recent dealer visit, I would be happy to learn more about your situation to determine how to best assist.

Mark
RamCares

 

[formula233]

Hi @formula233 - I certainly understand why this would be concerning. If you wouldn't mind following up with me via private message to provide additional details of your most recent dealer visit, I would be happy to learn more about your situation to determine how to best assist.

Mark
RamCares

I pm ed you my contact info

 

[mtbiker033]

Hi @formula233 - I certainly understand why this would be concerning. If you wouldn't mind following up with me via private message to provide additional details of your most recent dealer visit, I would be happy to learn more about your situation to determine how to best assist.

Mark
RamCares

omg I'm new here but how nice is it to see support like this!!!!!

 

[RamCares]

I pm ed you my contact info

Hi @formula233 - Just had a chance to respond to your PM on this!

Mark
RamCares

 

[formula233]

I have an update. They have now replaced the Rear window, 48 v battery and wiring harness from the 48v battery pack behind the back seat to the generator or somewhere under the dash. They told me it would require the whole interior to be pulled from the truck. They did that and it still had the problem. They kept the truck and order a generator pack and replaced that. NOW all along I have had another problem of loosing the center instrument cluster and it going blank. I think they may of fixed the charging problem but not the instruments going blank. All I have is speedometer, fuel, temp and tach for instruments. Ram Cares was in contact with me the whole time. I complained quite a few times to them about being compensated for the troubles with nothing on that. So I applied for arbitration with NCDS and they accepted the case. About 3 days later Ram Cares call and wanted to talk about compensation... SO I thought that got the ball rolling... Wrong I mentioned that I now have a case with NCDS and you all should know about it. She did not??? Then she said she had to check with legal. Called back and said legal advised to stop communicating with me?? SO I guess this will be settled in arbitration. I was kind of hoping it would not come to that as research show about 50 or more gets settled before the herring that is Aug 5 for me.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Sucks. Unfortunately the ET just isn’t fully debugged, not like a plain ol’ 12v battery/electrical system anyway. ET has its adherents, It’s only when it breaks that the flaws/uglies really come out. Guess it’s new to the service techs and not a great supply chain on them.

Engineers have to think through and test more/longer when introducing such complicated “replacements’ to tried and true technology. (Ford worked hard on their ecoboost engine line design and testing and yet still had problems with the original 3.5 design especially 2011-2012. It took till 2015 before I trusted it enough to buy one.)

 

[formula233]

Sucks. Unfortunately the ET just isn’t fully debugged, not like a plain ol’ 12v battery/electrical system anyway. ET has its adherents, It’s only when it breaks that the flaws/uglies really come out. Guess it’s new to the service techs and not a great supply chain on them.

Engineers have to think through and test more/longer when introducing such complicated “replacements’ to tried and true technology. (Ford worked hard on their ecoboost engine line design and testing and yet still had problems with the original 3.5 design especially 2011-2012. It took till 2015 before I trusted it enough to buy one.)

I am pushing for a new truck as these electric problems could come back at anytime. Also the truck was built mid 2018 and got to the dealer Aug 2018. Not sure when the back window started leaking butt it could of been leaking the whole time. I am worried about rusting of the battery box area prematurely. Not to forget the trucks interior has been completely removed and re installed for the wiring harness. At least that is what the service guy told me.

 

[FastBlackRam]

What a freaking nightmare. You must be sick from all this. It would make me sick if it was me. Knowing they tore out the whole interior and put it back together? Like they really know how to do this correctly. That is a factory process in my opinion. Not a dealership mechanic process. I have had body work done on my BMWs at the dealer preferred body shop where they couldn't even put the front bumper parts underneath and in the wheel wells together correctly. I can't imagine tearing out all that plastic from our interior passenger compartment.

Good luck with the rest of this. I really hope you get satisfaction somehow out of all this.

 

[aLarge92]

What a freaking nightmare. You must be sick from all this. It would make me sick if it was me. Knowing they tore out the whole interior and put it back together? Like they really know how to do this correctly. That is a factory process in my opinion. Not a dealership mechanic process. I have had body work done on my BMWs at the dealer preferred body shop where they couldn't even put the front bumper parts underneath and in the wheel wells together correctly. I can't imagine tearing out all that plastic from our interior passenger compartment.

Good luck with the rest of this. I really hope you get satisfaction somehow out of all this.

This.
Of all things I worry about any shop doing work on my vehicle. Just knowing that the people who work on them will never do as good a job as the day it left the factory. Chances are they will cut corners because people are lazy and flat out don't care.

 

[formula233]

They did have there lead guy working on my truck.I have talked to him and is a good mechanic. I do know from work on stuff over the last 40 years stuff just does not go back like from the factory. A lot of fasteners are pretty much one and done but you can make them work just not a good and tight and new. I am a hardcore Dodge Ram guy and just want to be able to brag a little about my new truck. Ram Cares was in touch a lot with me and the dealer not sure what was said to the dealer. I start asking about compensation just before I had to start scratching out 670$ payments on a truck with a charging problem. They never came back with and mention of compensation until 3 days after I turned in the paper work to NCDS for arbitration as I thought that was the route I had to take. Then when the girl from RamCares found out i had a herring date she said she had to cease all communication with me???? Just to mention the truck would go back to charging every time you turned it off and turned it back on.. But when the display is out I have no idea if its charging or not??? The display seems to only work in the morning when its cool. Once the cabin heats up it goes out. I am a little worried about this NCDS thing as I found out the arbitrators are hired by the MFG??? SO I got my attorney involved and am also reaching out to my attorney generals office for guidance. All I want is a reliable truck as I tend to keep my vehicles 10+ years at a time. Like to be able to brag instead of ***** about the truck.

 

[FastBlackRam]

They did have there lead guy working on my truck.I have talked to him and is a good mechanic. I do know from work on stuff over the last 40 years stuff just does not go back like from the factory. A lot of fasteners are pretty much one and done but you can make them work just not a good and tight and new. I am a hardcore Dodge Ram guy and just want to be able to brag a little about my new truck. Ram Cares was in touch a lot with me and the dealer not sure what was said to the dealer. I start asking about compensation just before I had to start scratching out 670$ payments on a truck with a charging problem. They never came back with and mention of compensation until 3 days after I turned in the paper work to NCDS for arbitration as I thought that was the route I had to take. Then when the girl from RamCares found out i had a herring date she said she had to cease all communication with me???? Just to mention the truck would go back to charging every time you turned it off and turned it back on.. But when the display is out I have no idea if its charging or not??? The display seems to only work in the morning when its cool. Once the cabin heats up it goes out. I am a little worried about this NCDS thing as I found out the arbitrators are hired by the MFG??? SO I got my attorney involved and am also reaching out to my attorney generals office for guidance. All I want is a reliable truck as I tend to keep my vehicles 10+ years at a time. Like to be able to brag instead of ***** about the truck.

You deserve some sort of award for Most Patient Ram Customer Of All Time. I may have driven my truck to Ram Headquarters by now and called the news and knocked on their front door until they came out and dealt with my issues!!!! I am glad I don't have a "Friday Afternoon" vehicle, but am very sad to hear anyone does.

 

[formula233]

I have to Update this... It appears they finally fixed the charging problem, time will tell. They did NOT fix the multi function display problem of going blank???? I did back out of the arbitration thru the NCDS after Dodge Letter pretty much put all the blame on the dealer. I also did a lot of research on other sources to find this arbitration ends up in favor of the MFG a lot of times. My attorney and I will address this at the courts as I want a judge to here my case if I don't get some restitution from Dodge without going to court. Ram Cares stopped communicating with me once I started the arbitration process so Now Ram Cares should be able to start communicating with me now that I canceled that process. NCDS told me I could re-start it at anytime and I do still have the display problem that was there from the start.