2014 Ram 2500 Crank No Start

[Cody Pereira]

Hi all,

I have a head scratcher here... After driving my truck last weekend, I noticed the "Water in Fuel" light come on - no other lights or performance related issues with the truck. Park the truck in the driveway, knowing I would drain out the front and rear filters the following weekend. Thursday night I start the truck to move it within the driveway, took a few cranks to start, fired up and idled but got "License Plate Light Out" on the EVIC. Put the truck in park still idling, walk around and confirm that the license plate light is out along with the passenger tail light. Walking back around the truck, the truck shuts off randomly. Still no lights on the dash. Trying to restart, it fires up then dies out. Will not restart. Fuel is about 1/4 tank.

Drained both filters front and rear, reprimed, and still nothing. Checked batteries, they were a little low - replaced with new (4 year old Interstates) and still no start.

Planning to change out both front and rear filters later today, is there any way that these two issues that came up at the same time are related?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cody Pereira]

Update - replaced both the fuel filter and water separator. Primed the system by cycling the ignition to run 6 times and waiting 10-15 seconds per cycle for the pump to pressurize the system. Still no start. Opened the front fuel filter drain, heard a brief “puff” of air but no fuel came out. Starting to think that the fuel lift pump went… made additional attempts to prime the system with the drain valve open still nothing.

 

[Cummins12V98]

You may be onto something!!! Do you hear the pump running ?

 

[Cody Pereira]

I don’t hear it, I even checked my dads truck (‘12 Ram 2500 w/ the 6.7L) and clearly heard the fuel pump… I am wondering if I m looking at a sudden TIPM issue being that the license plate and passenger rear tail lamp assembly all went out at the same time?

 

[Diesel85]

Start checking fuses and wiring connectors.

 

[Cody Pereira]

Start checking fuses and wiring connectors.

I went through and checked the fuses, all look good. My next approach is to check the fuses for power with a multimeter. I’m interested to see if the fuel pump is even being delivered power from the TIPM.

 

[p-Bar]

Fuel pump relay if not fuse.

 

[Cody Pereira]

I was curious about that - some reading that I have been doing indicates that the fuel pump relay is integral to the TIPM? Is that correct? If so, thats a pretty bad design. I saw some folks talking about a small jumper from the 12V cigarette lighter fuse on the TIPM to jump the fuel pump relay bypass to check if that is the issue... I hate chasing electrical gremlins.

 

[PRS]

Easier just to check for voltage at the fuse with a test light. Ignition on should have voltage immediately. No voltage, the problem is up stream, relay or pcm.
You are correct for a 2020 the relay is on the circuit board in the TIPM. However there is a Mopar and aftermarket kit to direct wire the power source.

 

[Grumpy8811]

no start troubleshooting in its most basic form.

1 does the Check Engine light function? ie it comes on with the key ( if it function it means the ignition circuit functions)
2. is there fuel in the tank, dont laugh it happens.
3. when you crank the engine does the tach needle move? this tells you it gets a engine speed signal
4 .do you get any smoke from the exhaust when cranking ( this indicates fuel is getting into the cylinders)

after that electrical side of things it comes down to either fuel or air.
chances are good it gets enough air so it is down to fuel system problems
and since yall are talking about fuel pumps and relays
that is probably what it amounts too

 

[Cody Pereira]

Ok - following up after finding the issue and correcting. After confirming power at the TIPM and all associated fuses had power, I figured it had to be the tank fuel pump. Tried the old "bang on the tank" trick, still nothing. The truck was now throwing a code; "P008A - Low Pressure Fuel System Pressure - Too Low." Something still did not feel right about the tailgate backup camera, passenger brake light, and license plate lights malfunctioning at the same time this problem arose. Dropped the spare tire and started chasing each wiring bundle back to the front to check for damage. Just passed the driver side door, there is medium gauge ground that looked loose. The nut on the grounding stud backed off half the thread length... Removed, cleaned back "shiny" and reinstalled.... and what do you know? The passenger brake light, license plate light, and backup camera were back functioning. Turned the truck to accessory, and the sound of the fuel pump priming the lines can be heard. After priming, the truck started right up. Moral of the story - one ground can really ruin your day. Thankful that my trusty pickup did this in my driveway, and not out on the road.

One note - The factory grounding nut was not a nylock or had any means of holding pressure to the threads. I will be heading to the hardware store and picking up a nylock nut to prevent this from happening again.

 

[petersonj]

Excellent diagnosis on your part!

- John

 

[PRS]

Great find!

 

[Lordsman]

Hunches pay off!
I have a '14 as well I'll check that ground.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Good for you going the extra mile!!!

 

[SAndreasen]

Yay . You’ve been here before with wiring it sounds like ? One time spent 2 12 hour shifts chasing wire on a 2013 kenworth just to find out that it was a bad light control module

 

[Cody Pereira]

Yay . You’ve been here before with wiring it sounds like ? One time spent 2 12 hour shifts chasing wire on a 2013 kenworth just to find out that it was a bad light control module

Thankfully I have not had wiring issues before with this truck other than the factory air suspension system. This was just my methodology for working through the least expensive solutions to the most expensive... while trying not to drop the fuel tank unless absolutely necessary!

 

[SAndreasen]

Thankfully I have not had wiring issues before with this truck other than the factory air suspension system. This was just my methodology for working through the least expensive solutions to the most expensive... while trying not to drop the fuel tank unless absolutely necessary!

Thankfully it was just a ground and not anything expensive. You were right when you tied everything together to make your diagnosis if several things stop working all at once or don’t work right and another problem is occurring you can usually bet that’s they are all interrelated then it’s trying to figure out why and how .

 

[Topzide]

Grounds will cause the biggest headaches with our trucks! Whenever something doesn't seem "right", the first go to is, batteries, than grounds. Voltage on the network in our trucks is so dependent on good contact with all connections. Great find!!!!!!!!

 

[Grumpy8811]

at some point in life you realize that chassis ground is not the most negative point in the electrical system whereas battery negative is.. so any poor connection between batt minus and the device in question becomes a question of voltage drop and how much..

anyway you look at it, it was a good find.