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RECALL: Stellantis Recalls 131,177 Ram Heavy Duty Pickups & Chassis Cabs For Fire Risk!

Called dealer today and they said it was a 3 hour fix. Supposedly did one for someone else today. I have an appointment for Monday.

'21 3500 HO built 7 / 21
 
Thanks for the info, mine goes in Friday morning. Can I ask what your time commitment was for waiting while they did the work?
 
senecagreen said:
I had mine checked today. The test is they cycle the heater 9 times and if the relay doesn't get hotter than 80C (that's 176 degrees) its good. Mine passed.
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I suppose that Ram knows why they think this test means it is the answer but my non-engineering mind is skeptical. Doesn't all this do is tell them that it not about to start a fire right now? But what about a month later or a year later? Or maybe they may have determined that the ones that catch on fire are bad right from the start so this tests catches all those. And the ones that pass the test were good from the start and will be good forever?
 
Will_T said:
I suppose that Ram knows why they think this test means it is the answer but my non-engineering mind is skeptical. Doesn't all this do is tell them that it not about to start a fire right now? But what about a month later or a year later? Or maybe they may have determined that the ones that catch on fire are bad right from the start so this tests catches all those. And the ones that pass the test were good from the start and will be good forever?
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It may be that they have a known batch of bad silicon in the SSRs, and that batch exhibits a higher heat signature during loaded operation. As the SSRs are considered an expendable part, odds of them being serially tracked are less likely than not. Like a bad batch of bolts due to metallurgy issues, you have to check them all with an objective measurement, toss the bad ones, and then assume the good ones are good. But... who knows?
 
80C (176 degrees) sounds hot to me but if the melting point of the plastic used in the relay is 165C (329 degrees) then it sounds like a fair test to me if the cause of the engine compartment fires is the relay overheating and catching on fire.
 
agtcovert said:
Got mine inspected today for the recall, cleared without issue by the dealer. So that's good news. I have the 'AB' part, in case anyone's curious.

Service paperwork said it never went above 36C.
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Thanks! It would be great if everyone that posts the results of their dealer test could state whether they had the AA or AB relay because I am still a bit confused by the recall PDF. It seems clear that if you have the AB relay and pass the test, all is deemed good and they send you on your way. But what about the AA relay? It seems like those should be changed out no matter what but that is not clear to me from the PDF? I think (?) the AA is the original relay, with some of those AAs having the tape on the back? Are they testing the AAs also? And if an AA passes the test do they then just remove the tape and put the sealant on the back? I wonder if there is any difference between the AA and the AB relays other than maybe the ABs all already have the sealant on the back?
 
Will_T said:
Thanks! It would be great if everyone that posts the results of their dealer test could state whether they had the AA or AB relay because I am still a bit confused by the recall PDF. It seems clear that if you have the AB relay and pass the test, all is deemed good and they send you on your way. But what about the AA relay? It seems like those should be changed out no matter what but that is not clear to me from the PDF? I think (?) the AA is the original relay, with some of those AAs having the tape on the back? Are they testing the AAs also? And if an AA passes the test do they then just remove the tape and put the sealant on the back? I wonder if there is any difference between the AA and the AB relays other than maybe the ABs all already have the sealant on the back?
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I have the AA relay and go in on Saturday. I'll update after the test and what they do about the relay, if anything.
 
Nd79 said:
I have the AA relay and go in on Saturday. I'll update after the test and what they do about the relay, if anything.
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I have the AA. Went to the dealer today. Not sure they really did anything. Got home and the power wire was still zip tied to the cross member. They said my relay is bad but they don't have the part to fix it. They will call when it comes in.

2021 Laramie
 
I took mine in today (AB part number). They actually had to run the test twice as the computer they were using had a network issue on the 9th cycle on the first attempt. Recorded temps were between 22.4C and 24.8C.

Spoke to the tech and he hasn't seen anything above ~45C yet.
 
I had disconnected my relay several days ago. Had started the truck after with no problem but today drive it for the first time. Got a CEL and Code "P2609 intake air heater".

Says it is abnormal voltage detected in one of the intake air heater circuits. Not sure if this is a coincidence or not but sure seems odd that it would happen right after disconnecting the relay from power.

Cleared the code using my Banks iDash. Now the iDash says no codes detected but the CEL is still on. Guess I should reconnect the relay and see if that fixes it?
 
In the other thread it was suggested that I caused the CEL by forgetting to press the start button twice right away. That makes sense as I definitely forgot and just went with the old habit of pressing once and waiting for it to start on its own. When it did not, that is possibly when the code was thrown.

edit to add: Once I cleared the code using my Banks iDash and restarted the truck, the CEL was gone.
 
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Mine went in for the recall today. AA relay. It tested fine (I didn't get any exact temp measurements from them) and they put RTV sealant on the back even though they didn't have to. Mine had the tape and was built after 1/21 so fell outside of the original recall. I'll probably pull it to take a look at it but will run it like this for now.
 
FWIW, I've had the cable for my heater relay disconnected for a couple weeks now, and haven't had a CEL or any other issues. One night it got down to 30, but I do use my block heater so that may be offsetting the intake heater not working. I just use remote start to fire it up in the mornings so the oil can get to temp before I leave. (I've got the block heater on a timer, it works enough that a short idle while I finish getting ready in the mornings is enough to get the oil above 100*.)

No word on when the mechanical relay I ordered will arrive. My guess is the AB relay is NOT the final fix as some are speculating, but that the old mechanical relay may be what MOPAR will fix this with. (Likely AB was pulled from shelves due to the flaw.)

I've got a May of '21 truck, with an AB SSR.
 
I think it is a manufacturing defect rather than a design defect but time will tell. I have no idea what kind of QA tests or checks they do to the relay before it is shipped to RAM. Obviously a run of relays got into the field that should have been caught in house. If it is a design flaw like the CP4 pumps then a replacement design should come in the future and we can all upgrade to that. Hopefully if it comes to that it will be plug and play. Who has the most miles on the original relay? One guy at work has 14,000 already on his 21 3500 DRW and so far no issues. He is scheduled to go in for the recall test soon. Has anyone on the forum had a fire?
 
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