Attention: TDR Forum Junkies Last Thursday, going to work in the morning, slowing down on the off-ramp for vehicles stopped for a traffic light, my 2004 diesel, stock, with about 57K miles, intermittently lost power. First time this has ever occurred. Light changed, vehicles began to move, and I tried to follow. As I started to accelerate, it began to run very roughly. This persisted for maybe 15 seconds, then the engine quit. I pulled off the road and stopped. The engine would start but die almost immediatly. After several attempts to restart, I discovered that if I kept the rpms at about 2500, the engine would keep running. So, I decided to continue the last 1 or 2 miles to work. Made it to the parking lot, let the rpms drop to idle speed and within several seconds the engine died once again. I asked for the trouble codes and received the following:
P0628 Fuel pump relay control circuit low voltage.
P0514 Battery temperature sensor circuit range/performance.
P0483 Cooling fan rationality check malfunction.
Called the Dodge dealer, now about 17 miles away, told them the codes I saw, and said I needed a tow. Tow truck arrived, my truck started first try and I was able to drive it onto the two lift forks. At the Dodge dealer the tow truck operator said he was obligated to drop me off at the far end of the dealer's lot. Once again my truck started on the first try. I backed off the towing forks, and started to drive to the parking spaces next to the service area. Got about half way there and the engine quit again. Several attempts to restart resulted in the engine starting, revving to about 2000 rpms, then quickly dying. Finally, it kept running, again with the 2500 rpms idea, and I put it in the parking spot.
Late Friday afternoon the dealer called, said they cleared the codes, tried to start the truck, and only the P0483 code returned. They said they needed to replace the fan clutch. No clutches were available locally and it had to be ordered which, they said, would take several days. Cost for clutch is $415. 00 and total will be $587. 00 plus tax. And they said that this is not covered by the warranty. That is flat stupid as it's part of the engine.
I went to the dealer on Sat morning and asked them about what they had done. They said that they went thru the diagnostic procedures for trouble code P0483 and the fan clutch measured less than 10 ohms and, therefore, had to be replaced. I asked them to explain how a bad fan clutch could cause the symtoms we experienced. There answer was that they had a trouble code that had to be addressed and then they would go from there. That's a non-answer as far as I'm concerned! I am very skeptical about all this. I told them that the P0628 trouble code seemed much more likely to be real. I tried to get them to perform some diagnostics on the lift pump as I expect it is very likely the problem, but I don't think I got thru to them. Further, I fully expect that after replacing the fan clutch, the symptom of hard starting/not starting will still be present.
Additional info: The fuel tank is slightly over half full. On the Tuesday before this, the morning temperature was 9 degrees F and half-way to work the temp dropped to 3 degrees F. On Thursday when the problem happened, the temp was 19 degrees F. Given this, I doubt there is a fuel problem or a temperature problem or it would have occurred several days before Thursday.
I'm almost ready to tell the dealer to forget the (probably non-existant) fan clutch problem and find out why the truck doesn't start/run properly.
Bottom line, I really don't want to buy a fan clutch if I don't need one, and I'd certainly like to get the truck back on line. I'd appreciate any insight, opinions, thoughts, etc. that anyone can offer regarding this problem. I don't think the dealer is properly diagnosing this problem. I think they are being very narrow minded and not focusing on the obvious.
Feedback please!!!
P0628 Fuel pump relay control circuit low voltage.
P0514 Battery temperature sensor circuit range/performance.
P0483 Cooling fan rationality check malfunction.
Called the Dodge dealer, now about 17 miles away, told them the codes I saw, and said I needed a tow. Tow truck arrived, my truck started first try and I was able to drive it onto the two lift forks. At the Dodge dealer the tow truck operator said he was obligated to drop me off at the far end of the dealer's lot. Once again my truck started on the first try. I backed off the towing forks, and started to drive to the parking spaces next to the service area. Got about half way there and the engine quit again. Several attempts to restart resulted in the engine starting, revving to about 2000 rpms, then quickly dying. Finally, it kept running, again with the 2500 rpms idea, and I put it in the parking spot.
Late Friday afternoon the dealer called, said they cleared the codes, tried to start the truck, and only the P0483 code returned. They said they needed to replace the fan clutch. No clutches were available locally and it had to be ordered which, they said, would take several days. Cost for clutch is $415. 00 and total will be $587. 00 plus tax. And they said that this is not covered by the warranty. That is flat stupid as it's part of the engine.
I went to the dealer on Sat morning and asked them about what they had done. They said that they went thru the diagnostic procedures for trouble code P0483 and the fan clutch measured less than 10 ohms and, therefore, had to be replaced. I asked them to explain how a bad fan clutch could cause the symtoms we experienced. There answer was that they had a trouble code that had to be addressed and then they would go from there. That's a non-answer as far as I'm concerned! I am very skeptical about all this. I told them that the P0628 trouble code seemed much more likely to be real. I tried to get them to perform some diagnostics on the lift pump as I expect it is very likely the problem, but I don't think I got thru to them. Further, I fully expect that after replacing the fan clutch, the symptom of hard starting/not starting will still be present.
Additional info: The fuel tank is slightly over half full. On the Tuesday before this, the morning temperature was 9 degrees F and half-way to work the temp dropped to 3 degrees F. On Thursday when the problem happened, the temp was 19 degrees F. Given this, I doubt there is a fuel problem or a temperature problem or it would have occurred several days before Thursday.
I'm almost ready to tell the dealer to forget the (probably non-existant) fan clutch problem and find out why the truck doesn't start/run properly.
Bottom line, I really don't want to buy a fan clutch if I don't need one, and I'd certainly like to get the truck back on line. I'd appreciate any insight, opinions, thoughts, etc. that anyone can offer regarding this problem. I don't think the dealer is properly diagnosing this problem. I think they are being very narrow minded and not focusing on the obvious.
Feedback please!!!
