Posted by Dylan on Saturday, February 05, 2005 at 10:16PM :
In Reply to: Re-Booting a newer Dodge? Battry dead! posted by Willy-N on Saturday, February 05, 2005 at 3:29PM :
Don't know if this will help but my buddy called in a panic one night, about two years ago. Apparently his daughter had switched on the dome light one evening and he didn't notice it for a couple of days. Well the battery was stone dead and after getting a jump it still wouldn't idle almost like you described, but only more severe. So we tried the key on/off trick, with a little success, it would idle but occassionally it would die, at a stop light. So we tried everything we could think of short of replacing the PCM. This went on for a week or so, (he didn't have the money to take it to the dealer). Eventually the truck refused to start at all (wouldn't crank over), then it dawned on us that that battery had been in there since the truck was new (it was a 97')
He scraped enough money to purchase a new battery, which didn't help right away but after about 10 key-ons the truck ran great!!
Later on the same year my 98' had roughtly the same problem, as long as the RPMs were up it would run, but it would not idle. So I drove it 60 some miles to the nearest dealer, the battery on my truck at the time was only 5-6 months old, but you know the first thing that the mechanic tried (even after testing the battery that was in it) was a new battery. It actually ended up being the sensor for the speedo/ABS/engine control, on the top of the rearend, I just thought it was interesting that he would try that first even after testing that brand-new battery. (both trucks were 1/2 ton short boxes with the 318, and 5-speed)
Follow Ups: