About three months ago I wend to start the truck as usual. Wait to start light came on.......so I waited and then obviously turned the key just like the 1 million other times I've started the truck.

Well, it **** near did not start........like it was so cold it just could not turn over. Finally it started and the engine light stayed on for an hour or so, it went off and everything was normal for the next three or so weeks.....I chalked it up to being too cold.

The engine light has come on now twice since then at start but always goes off after about an hour or so, most recently this weekend. After Saturday (last time it happened) I started to think there was some other issue, perhaps a bad battery. Well, today on my way home from work the truck started dinging like I'd left the door open. Then the blinker went crazy after I signaled right.....no check engine light this time though.

I checked both batteries and the negative terminal on one post is very corroded and it looks like something strange is going on......otherwise looks normal.

My batteries are original so they are relatively old, but is what I'm experiencing a bad battery or something worse?

Any help is appreciated before I go out and drop a couple of hundred on new batteries.

 

Batteries
Replaced both of mine not long ago
Funky stuff can happen making you scratch your head until one day you turn the key and nothing
Better to replace them on your terms than the tow truck company's

 

Well, it's not the batteries. They both load tested just fine.

 

You load tested them after sitting a while, or right after driving down to the Auto store?

 

The blinker issue is most likely the multi-function switch, very common on the 06's, not sure if it carried over into 07. When mine failed left would trigger right, right would trigger hazards all kinds of weird stuff.

When my batteries needed replaced I first noticed slow turnover during start-up, then my radio would not turn on. The system will shut down unneeded accessories to help the truck start. The batteries will cause all kinds of weird issues when weak. Mine lasted 5 years (80K miles).

 

Did not let the truck sit and then load test, but did not drive it a half hour either.

I can hit the right blinker and the ding goes off. It also goes off every fifteen or so seconds like the door is open.

I really have no idea, I took it to a friend who is a mechanic and he's looking at it for me.

 

Is there a corresponding light with the ding? Lamp out indicator? Otherwise I bet the dinging/blinker issue is the multi-function switch.

 

You've got a lightbulb out.

 

There are no lights with the dings. It is literally every 15 seconds as long as the truck is running. Seems like an odd feature to install if a bulb burns out.

I am also not sure how to explain the check engine light that comes on once a week for several hours and then magically goes off.

I gotta think something else is going on besides a burned out turn signal.

However, keep the suggestions coming.

 

It was common on the 3rd gens to have a plastic base tail lamp that would overheat and melt the base causing intermittent contact which would trip the lamp out indicator and chime sporadically. One fix I found was through Autozone, they sold a glass base lamp with larger contact tracks. That was with my 2002 1500 3rd gen, I haven't encountered it with my 06 2500, but I know it affected the bulk of the 3rd gens.