01 Dodge Ram cold battery issue

I have been out of town for a few months and I left my truck behind. I got up this morning and it did not start up, that was expected because it has not been driven in a while. I jump started the truck and it started right up. I turned on the lights and left it running while I was putting everything away. I went to drive away and as soon as I started to move forwards it died. When I tried jump starting it again it wouldn’t even start. Does anyone know what could be wrong?

I’d say your battery has been fully discharged and needs to be replaced.

Often times I’ve had the exact same thing happen to me. Just jumping the battery and letting the engine run for a while won’t fix a fully discharged battery.

I’d get a new battery, myself, and be done with it. Good luck.

3 Likes

You shouldn’t charge a dead battery using the alternator. You should use a battery charger to do that. You also shouldn’t try charging a very cold battery. Your battery was still basically dead when you tried to move the vehicle so it no wonder it wouldn’t restart after the engine died. It takes hours for a battery charger to recharge a good battery that has be depleted. You should also have the battery checked out to see if it is any good. You may need to replace it as the reserve capacity may be low on it.

I presume by “won’t start” you m ean “won’t crank”, that rrr rrr rrr sound with the key in start. If so, remove the battery and charge it somewhere that’s a little warmer using a battery charger on the 2 amp setting . It may take 24 hours at the 2 amp rate. Good time to clean the top and sides of the battery to prevent self-discharge, clean the battery posts and connectors so they are nice an shiny, and top off the battery fluid w/distilled water if it is that type of battery. If all that doesn’t do the job, you’re probably looking at a new battery.

Well…here we need more info. Do you have lights, horn? Seems to have normal power? A multi meter is your friend here.

You may be having a starter solenoid problem not a voltage problem. You can manually send power to the starter solenoid to see if you can get it to energize. This is of course AFTER you check for batt voltage with lights horn…Again…the multi meter.

We can advise more when we have more stats… Its either batt voltage too low…or the starter system.

You have also totally reset the ECM to factory defaults so it isnt going to run right until it relearns all its operating parameters. It’s possible you might have flooded it so it wouldnt start. Get a good battery and see if you can get it started and let it run for 20 minutes and you may have to keep your foot on the gas initially to keep it from stalling then take it out and drive it in all conditions , highway , city etc so ECM caN RELEARN . Otherwise I believe the dealer can do a quick relearn thru their scantool for a price .