04.5 engine shuts off

[SGregson]

I have a stock 04. 5 2500, and within the last 3 months I have had it in the shop 3 different times trying to figure out why the engine and entire electrical system shuts off while driving. For instance I will be cruising about 60mph and then all of the sudden the headlights, instrument cluster, radio, everything electrical shuts off for 2 - 3 sec. After the 2 to 3 second lag the engine and all electrical components come back to life. This as also happened to me at a stoplight and I had to restart the truck by putting it into neutral and cranking it up. There is no pattern to when this problem happens. This morning in the middle of a down pour it happened again, it tried to start back up 4 different times and I had to put the transmission in neutral and crank it back up to get going again. It will go up to a week or so with no problems and then it will do it. 3 different dealerships can not find anything wrong with it. They have taken it for test drive and it shows no code from the computer. I am so frustrated with the truck and I just want the problem to go away.

 

[jelag]

A good friend of mine used to have an old volkswagon station wagon with the same problem... . we were poor at the time so we'd go to a used car lot and test drive one... . and change parts out..... we never solved it... but each time we replaced a part we left a note... . ""this parts been changed and it didn't fix casper the gost""



I also owned a chrysler lebaron that my wife drove... . it would do the same to her... at about 80K miles I had replaced the battery and low and behold behind the battery was a large connector that wasn't fully connected... . I opened this connector and found the ribbon of grease in the bottom that was never pressed into the connections and one bent connection..... I straightened the connection and plugged it back together and we drove this care for another 60K miles without a problem..... it would just go open... and the car would stop... . and it might restart 1 min or 30 min later... .



The problem here is that you have a loose connection... . make sure that you take it back to the same DEALER... and make them write a sevice order each time you take it in... ... . if they don't write the service order... they are just parking it and giving you what I call a wall job..... get a copy of each service order. . and after you 5 or 6 of them have the field rep start replacing parts..... until they find the poor connection and fix it... unless the wheels make noise they won't get greased so to speak.....



I'm sorry you have this problem... but from a service stand point its the hardest thing to find.....

 

[SGregson]

Jelag,

Thanks for the info. Each time it has gone into the dealership they have written up a service request. I am just not sure where to go from here. Would contacting DC help the matter any? I still have an extended warranty as well.

 

[Msilbernagel]

Normally, I'd go for the warranty but since you've already tried three times the loss of time / hassle factor starts to be a consideration!



I'd lean towards something that removes power nearly completely... otherwise, the ECM could log a fault. The number of things that can remove power that effectively should be smaller than normal - since this affects computer/bus items as well as low-tech stuff like lights.



Consider a internal battery fault/short (you may have to just put another in given that it is intermittent). I've had several batteries do strange things inside over the years...



I don't have a truck identical to yours - does turning off the key also turn off the lights? Could there be an ignition problem with the switch or related wiring?



Another way to completely remove power and disable all the things you list is an 'open' circuit internal to the battery, 'hidden' in a bad connector, or under the insulation in the big cables leading from the battery itself. They can look fine but be almost completely useless inside. I've seen alternators run vehicles when the battery is 'gone' - at least, once there are some RPMs, but I don't know how much steady-state current your model draws, or if the alternator can keep it alive by itself or not.



Other alternatives such as cable shorts and alternator issues would be rather likely to leave traces if they were capable of removing power that completely... you know, smoke, charred insulation, etc.



You can try and jostle the battery and cables while it's idling if you can safely do so, and feel up to it. Got another vehicle with a compatible battery?



Good luck,



Mark

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Jelag,

Thanks for the info. Each time it has gone into the dealership they have written up a service request. I am just not sure where to go from here. Would contacting DC help the matter any? I still have an extended warranty as well.

 

[p-Bar]

how about the ignition key??

 

[SGregson]

I will try each of these things this weekend when I really have time to work on the truck. It has to be something that is shorting out power to the entire truck. Case in point, the other morning the truck shut off along with everything with it, then as I am driving down the road it tries to come back, but again it shuts off and this happens 2 more times. Finally everything came back on, the funny thing is that when this happens I lose all my presets and information in my radio as well. I am going to try one more dealership. Does anyone know of anybody that is good in the Houston, TX area? I just want someone that will actually spend time on the truck and not park it like the post above.

 

[WCPoe]

Idea

SGregson do some more searching. I believe I recall of some electrical harness rubbing on a part of the A/C system causing similar problems. Maybe someone else can chime in here.

 

[p-Bar]

Poe has a point but I think that would only kill the engine not the rest of the electrical. . He is talking about some wires that rub at the rear of the ac comp.