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Vehicle 1999 Dodge Ram 1500, 5.2L V8, 4WD, 130,000 miles, Manual Transmission
I’ve been having some intermittent issues of the truck not wanting to start really strong or idle all to well, after it has sat for awhile, such as over night. I’ve checked my battery in the morning, and I typically get a reading around 12.3v. One morning it was down to 12.1v…must have sat for longer than normal. I’ve pulled the battery, put a charge on it, and it held the charge just fine. Put the battery back in the truck, and voltage goes back down by morning. I have tested the battery, and alternator, both checked out fine. I took it to a shop, they tested both, and said alternator and battery are good, but battery voltage is low, and that I probably have a draw on the system. I got home, hooked up the meter, and it showed on a 10A scale that I had a draw of 0.35amps. Looked at the service manual, it states I should be somewhere between .005amps to .025amps for normal draw. So I started pulling fuses one at a time. I’ve pulled all fuses and found fuse 12, from the fuse box inside the truck, when pulled eliminated my draw. Looked on the sticker chart that was attached to the fuse panel, and it said IOD. Did some research, and found IOD stands for Ignition-OFF Draw. Evidently this is the fuse they pull from the factory when shipping to the dealership so it doesn’t drain the battery. And I guess a fuse I can pull if I plan on having the truck sit for awhile.
What I’m looking for here, is 1). some reassurance that I’m barking up the right tree. 2). Also some help in deciphering some wiring diagrams for that fuse. I’ve attached 4 files, that appear to have information pertaining to fuse 12 from the service manual. Needing help making sense of it all and where to go from here. The truck is manual everything. Manual windows, manual locks, manual mirrors. No overhead console, no vanity mirrors. It’s bare bones. I do have a dome light though lol.
What I have tried and did not work, removing the aftermarket radio, which was there when I bought the truck a couple years back, pulled the bulb from the dome light, checked the function of the door jam switches, they seem to be working as intended. Need some direction. Thanks.
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f122 is just for fuse 11, so that you can ignore. What direction are you looking for exactly? You’re on the right track if you yanked fuse 12 and it stopped the excess draw, it’s just a question of going through what’s listed on that circuit to find the culprit.
I’d just check what’s on the list there for f123, and the left side of the f12 documents (which just expands on the ignition switch portion from f123). Hopefully something simple, like the glove box light from it not fully closing the switch anymore, same with under-hood light, etc..
If it’s not one of the simple things like a light staying on, I’d probably check the ignition switch next before I started yanking power on the modules to check. As that is the more likely suspect after checking those.
Checked the glovebox light, that was good. There is no underhood light, so no worries there. I pulled everything from the ignition switch and that didn’t seem to have an effect either. Being at a loss, I just started pulling connectors, and found that connector C203 when unplugged also eliminates draw. Not sure if that really helps me though, as I have no idea what that connecter is even doing. I attached a picture of the connector I pulled. Does seem that the connector shows up in wiring diagram for fuse 12 though, so I’m guessing they are related. On a side note, I discovered a light bulb that was burnt out and a cigarette lighter that wasn’t working so I got those fixed. Got to take a win anywhere I can as this is frustrating.
So start pulling modules next?
Look closely at your f123 document. That kills everything on that line, seat-belt control module, dome lamp, power mirror switch, and cargo lamps.
Well, after some more inspection I found it. The source of the battery draw was due to the seat belt control timer module drawing power. Evidently this should occur up to 30 minutes after exiting the vehicle, and then shut off, which mine appears not to be doing. The seat belt module connects with the door jamb switches, the airbag system, and two different solenoids (one in each seat)that controls the seat belt latching and releasing. So I’m guessing the problem could also not be the module itself, but anyone of these other systems that it talks with?
I also found that my passenger seat belt is not being released, which If I understand correctly could be a bad solenoid inside the seatback, or the wiring leading up to it. After messing with the connectors last night, I now have my seat belt indicator light on my dash, alerting me to their being a problem.
Dealing with SRS… should I keep going and try to determine what part is at fault in this system or should I take it to the dealership and have them address it?
Lastly, if someone would like to borrow me one of those power probes like Eric has, I am convinced that would make this job ten times easier. 😉
Without a factory scanner (or knockoff) you’re kind of stuck with a best guess beyond this. So your choices are dealer to get them to switch things on and off manually to lock it down properly, or you get to replace parts one at a time..
I’d probably just bite the bullet and take it into a dealer you hear good things about. It’ll likely be less frustrating, faster, and cost less ultimately. You can just get them to properly diagnose, and let them know you’ll do the fix/part replacement yourself. This should be relatively cheap.
I tried hooking my scanner up to it, but it wouldn’t pull the codes so no luck there.
I think I would feel better knowing those systems were serviced properly and functioning as intended.
Having done some more research online now that I know where the problem lies, it appears this is a fairly well known problem with these trucks, and starting in 2000 they did away with this system all together. Looking at a couple other forums, as of last month, the seat belt modules are still on a “national” back order because they have had so many issues with them. :angry:
I guess it’s off to the dealership to see what they have to say about it. 🙁
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