2006 Ram 2500 CTD advice needed

[4bearhug]

We discovered that the ignition switch was left on in the assessory position for 4 days over the holiday weekend which drained the batteries. I tried to charge the batteries, but they were the original batteries and wouldn't charge. So I replaced the batteries and now the engine will turn over, but will not fire. The check engine light blinks rapidly before turning the key all the way over to start. I've looked briefly at the owners manual w/o any success in finding any relevant info.

Any Ram owners out there with any personal experience with anything like this? I'm not sure if it relates specifically to a diesel engine or is unrelated to the type of engine.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Grit_dog]

Glad you got it fixed.
I had a similar odd issue with my 07 once about 2 yrs ago.
Original batteries, wife said it felt like batteries were bad, started hard that day. I went out and it acted like half dead batteries. Barely cranked, no fire.
I figured the batts just gave up. Hooked jumper cables to it and it fired immediately and easily. Disconnected jumpers right away. Started it about 10 times in a row with no issue and never had another issue. Think the Rams are finicky to any corrosion or connection problems. Never did pinpoint what it was.

[4bearhug]

This is definitely a great resource for helpful information and helpful folks willing to take time out of their schedules to offer assistance. I have come here on several occasions just to get advice or ask some questions about 5th wheels and TV.

I wanted to let everyone know how it got resolved because maybe someone else might benefit from my experience down the road.

[PenMan]

I'm glad you posted your results. So often we hear about the problem but not the solution. Glad you got her going. Isn't this a great forum?

[ScottG]

Wow, it sure doesn't take much does it?
Glad you got her going.

[transamz9]

Good deal! Glad you got'er goin'

[4bearhug]

Well I started this morning by removing driver side battery to look for missing wire. No missing wire, but while I had the battery out I decided to do a thorough cleaning of wire ends which attach to the post at the negative side. I believe this is where one of the wires got dropped in the 2012 post on the Cummins site. Anyway I finished cleaning connections, reinstalled battery, and reconnected posts. Shazam, no more flashing engine light or clicking, truck fired right up.

Here's what I believed happened. When I was removing the old batteries I used a baking soda/water mixture to clean off some corrosion from the negative side wires and post. Because the bolt was loosened to allow the cable to be removed from the post, some of this mixture got down between the wire ends and hardened. This was preventing good contact when I reattached the cable with the new battery.

I so much appreciate all of the help, especially all of the good detective work to find similar issues that might shed some light on my problem. When you have no real skill at working on vehicles it's just really easy to convince yourself that your not capable of doing even the simplest repair. I can't tell you how greatful I am to have people willing to offer their assistance.

[boogie_4wheel]

4bearhug wrote:

He didn't mention which battery that wire was hiding behind, but I'll start with the driver side...

Post #9 on the CumminsForum link says Driver's side batt.

[ScottG]

Any time - good luck!

Scott

[4bearhug]

ScottG wrote:
OK, were on a mission now..
I found this thread Cummins forum where the exact same thing happened. You can read down to the fix-it post but long story short, he had a ground cable slip down next to the battery when he was reconnecting everything and without it, it did as you describe.
So check besides or even under the batteries (esp drivers side) for a wire that may have slipped away during the batt work.

OK, I will take both batteries back out in the morning and see if I missed one. He didn't mention which battery that wire was hiding behind, but I'll start with the driver side cause there really wasn't any place on the passenger side to hide a wire that I could see. I really could understand missing one on one of the posts, but not taking the bolts out really rules that out so I'm still perplexed unless there was a 3rd wire to the qtr panel as a ground that I missed.

The other possibility is the multiple wires on the positive posts are not making good contact, but not even sure that makes sense since it turns over fine. I guess i'll start at the beginning. Thanks for all of the detective work.

[ScottG]

OK, were on a mission now..
I found this thread Cummins forum where the exact same thing happened. You can read down to the fix-it post but long story short, he had a ground cable slip down next to the battery when he was reconnecting everything and without it, it did as you describe.
So check besides or even under the batteries (esp drivers side) for a wire that may have slipped away during the batt work.

[ScottG]

ECM is the engines computer which is mounted on the drivers side of the eng block. It gets power from the fuse block next to the front of the eng and it gets ground from a bolt that has several wires connected to it at the edge of the quarter panel on the drivers side.
I really think you still have a connection issue. You could trace some of the wires (including grounds) that start from the battery connections and go to other places. check both ends for looseness.

Also, and this is a stretch, do you have a factory security system with coded key? If so then maybe try your other key.

[4bearhug]

ScottG wrote:
I did a little searching and found another 06 where the same exact thing happened after unhooking the batteries. I his case a small ground wire was left slightly loose (just touching) for the ECM.
So make sure every connection is tight especially the smaller ground wire that goes to the edge of the qtr panel on the drivers side.

OK, I'm going to go out and undo that bolt and reverse the order to see if that makes a difference. I have the other wire (which you have mentioned for ECM) against the qtr panel, ground wire from battery, and head of bolt. I will retightened this. If that fails I will try ground wire from battery next to qtr panel and see if that makes a difference.

[4bearhug]

Rechecked all the ground wires and cords to make sure all appropriate wires were included when hooking up new batteries. Nothing looks missing. In fact, didn't even take bolts off at terminals, just loosened and slid off so as not to lose any connecting wires. I did get the correct batteries, 65S.

Tried to do the on-off-on-off-on thing quickly but got no codes. The check engine light just blinks rapidly and I hear a loud clinking sound, not like you get with a dead battery. This clicking is happening when I turn the key in the on position b4 I get to the cranking position.

Also, not sure what you all are calling the ECM. I don't know exactly what that stands for. I'm not worth much under the hood. Thanks for all of the help so far.

[ScottG]

I did a little searching and found another 06 where the same exact thing happened after unhooking the batteries. I his case a small ground wire was left slightly loose (just touching) for the ECM.
So make sure every connection is tight especially the smaller ground wire that goes to the edge of the qtr panel on the drivers side.