1998 RT/10 just cranks after new battery installed..HELP!!! No start

[carguy]

Got about as much as you can get from a 1998 Mopar battery with a trickle charger. Tried to jump the car and it wouldn't crank. Changed to an Optima battery using info from this Forum (thanx gang!) and now the car just cranks and won't fire. Didn't hear the fuel pump when I turned on the key and doesn't even sound like it will make a spark. Cycled my key fobs to cycle the alarm, checked fuel pump fuse, PCM and other fuses, all look good. Is there a little trick here that I am missing??

Thanks in advance for your help.....

 

[99 R/T 10]

Call Chuck Tator tomorrow, 914-763-3136!!!!!!!!

 

[ROCKET62]

Kind of sounds like the alarm system has shut off the ignition. When you say you cycled the key fobs are you referring to turning the key back to acc, then off, then acc, then off, then acc, then off (then acc, then off - cant recall if its 3 or 4 times to reset the alarm). Also, dont the 98's have an alarm reset switch?

Good Luck!

 

[carguy]

Didn't have time to call Chuck on Friday until the evening and heard the "Wizard" is moving around the country helping other tech issues for Viper owners. (Ironically, I work at Chrysler and was using the forum to get a quick answer. On Friday, I couldn't find any of my Viper engineering buds either, so I would have been better off squeezing in a minute to talk to Chuck. Can't drive my snake yet and am out in the garage swapping around relays as a last attempt.) I'll look for a Viper colleague on Monday and, if I can't catch one, I would be honored to work with the Wizard........

 

[Viper Wizard]

Hi carguy,
I will be in from 10:00am till NASCAR! Sunday 6/6, if you want, give me a call and maybe I can give you some pointers while we're on the phone? Lets see if we can get you running so it wont be a complete Viperless weekend! When you call, just start talking to my answering machine and I'll pick-up
[screening ]. If not call me on Monday.
Chuck

 

[Vic]

Have a friend turn the key, while you hold a spark plug against ground, got spark? No spark? Check for codes. Have spark? Check fuel pressure on the rail with a gauge. If you've got fuel pressure and spark, put a long screwdriver (shadetree mechanic's stethescope) from your ear, down to an injector or two, and listen for pulsing noises. Its assumed you checked all fuses. Let us know what you or the Wizard finds!

 

[MichaelP]

Hi carguy,
I will be in from 10:00am till NASCAR! Sunday 6/6, if you want, give me a call and maybe I can give you some pointers while we're on the phone? Lets see if we can get you running so it wont be a complete Viperless weekend! When you call, just start talking to my answering machine and I'll pick-up
[screening ]. If not call me on Monday.
Chuck

OMG is this guy AWESOME or what??????????

 

[carguy]

Thanks, Chuck,

Sounds like you don't like to be bothered once the NASCAR race starts either. I will call after 10:00. Thanks a million for the offer...

carguy

 

[trainville]

Had a similar problem on my 95. After totally powering down the car and powering it back up with new battery, the factory alarm resets itself. I too tried to start, but it wasn't firing. My Viper Tech said it was the factory fuel cut-off. The motor would turn over but it sounded like no spark or fuel. He was right! In my case it was as simple as disarming the alarm with the factory Dodge fob. Good luck!

 

[Vic]

trainville, Nice avatar! Great color, and setting.

 

[carguy]

Oh well! The Viper Wizard and another fine member, Steve, from Indiana with a full set of service manuals tried valiantly to make sure that I covered all of the basics. (The Viper Wizard talked me through a thorough diagnosis on the speaker phone in my garage like an air traffic controller trying to help a passenger land a plane and Steve taught me several of the idiosyncracies of the alarm system as well as a few other theories.) I really want to thank these guys and appreciate all the help. Thought for a moment that I had isolated the problem to the fuseable link under hood where you would hook up a battery charger or jumper cables, next to the PDC. When I finally punched my probes through the insulation, it appears to be okay.

Monday I borrowed a DRB from work to see what codes I could find and found that it could not recognize or talk to my PCM at all. Found the alarm module and it was working fine so I believe that I had the diagnostic tool hooked up right. Looks like a dead engine brain......So much for trying to jump start this thing..JTEC units used to be pretty tough..

 

[Steve-Indy]

Sorry to hear about "dead brain" ...I sure hoped that it would be something simpler...don't know what to say about the role of "jumping" the Viper and a dead PCM. One of our AM coffee crowd had this happen last month with a 96 or 97 Dakota, dead battery from light being left on, tried to jump it with his Jeep, and BINGO...dead PCM.

Many thanks for the followup...think I'll be careful about jumping a Viper in the future.

 

[Jack B]

CARGUY:

Just a couple of observations. I do not believe the fuel pump will cycle unless the check valve in the pump is leaking or the system is not holding pressure for some other reason.

This is not a "for sure", but, I can give you a failure mode for the ECM if in fact it has failed. Depending on how the car was jumped, a large current draw that is quickly broken (starting with a loose jumper)can create a large voltage anomaly across the battery terminal. The ECM is also in parallel across the same terminals. Depending upon the dv/dt (rate of rise) and impulse (instantaneous voltage) rating of the semiconductors within the ECM, the simple action of jump starting could damage the unit. In general any rapid break in current can cause a high magnitude of voltage for a very short but destructive interval.

 

[Viper Wizard]

Carguy,
I would have thought we had it with the fuseable link? Jack is right! You could have spiked the PCM with that 440 volt charger you have. I guess you can get a good price on the PCM from work?

Let us know how you make out!

 

[Larry Macedo]

We recently had a car towed in from the Chicago area, the owner happened to be vacationing here, and it wouldn't start one Saturday morning. We traced the problem to a faulty VTA module, replaced the module and sent the happy customer home. Additionally we had a Viper towed in for a no-start condition and found the customer attempted to charge the discharged battery. He then went on to replace the battery when it wouldn't take a charge. This instance turned out to be a blown PCM in the end.

 

[carguy]

Update: New PCM installed and car fired up first crank. Has the latest calibration in the string for that series of car and I swear it runs better than originally. (Could have been that low battery voltage was becoming a problem though as my poor old '98 MOPAR battery tried to live beyond its years.)

I continue to be in awe of the "willingness to help attitude" of this Viper Nation and especially thank the Viper Wizard and Steve for all of the personal time they devoted to getting me through a diagnosis. Makes me proud to be associated with you all!!