In May we bought a 2003 Ram 2500 4X4 and have enjoyed a good, reliable truck. Today the wife started the truck (weak start) drove a short distance and back home. She shut the truck off, only to find a blinking red light in the gauge cluster. She cycled the ignition switch, only to find the truck would not start.

I'm guessing the factory security system was somehow activated, but there were no fobs with the truck when we bought it. Both batteries are 4 years old and appear to be in good shape. The battery cables are like new with no corrosion, though the terminals would benefit with a good brushing. I removed the cables and am charging the batteries to see if they may be at issue due to poor contact.

If the light is the factory security, how can I deactivate it when I reconnect the batteries, since there are no key fobs?

-Joe

 

Have you looked in the owner's manual? Mine's an 06 and the red light flashing happens when using a key that is not correct for the truck. There is no fob but there is a transducer in the key.

 

No owner's manual and the keys that came with the truck do not have transducers. They're just cheap hardware store copies, which have worked fine for the 4 months.

The passenger side battery was fully charged, but the + cable was a bit loose. Still waiting on the driver's side battery.

-Joe

 

Fixed!! I cleaned a bit of oxidization from the + post on both batteries and the insides of the cable ends, made sure they were properly tight on the battery posts and viola!

No blinking light on the dash and the truck started right up!

-Joe

 

Good to hear!
Glad you worked it out.