LIMP MODE HELP, 911!

[Digerati]

Haha, busted! Fair play, you got me, and no offense taken at all.

I mean, take a look at my username—digerati literally translates to "people with expertise in digital technology." Did you guys really expect me not to leverage the latest tech tools to format my posts?

But in all seriousness, I’ll be totally transparent. When I'm digging into HP Tuners data, airflow models, and torque management strategies, my raw thoughts usually come out as a massive, chaotic wall of text. I use AI as a tool to organize my brain-dumps, format the paragraphs, and keep my technical rambling in check so it's actually readable. Think of it as a highly advanced spell-checker and translator for gearheads.

While the structure and grammar are definitely polished by the bots, the diagnostic logic, the wrenching experience, and the understanding of these platforms come straight from me. If you just ask a raw AI to diagnose a vehicle from scratch, it usually hallucinates and tells you to check the eTorque on a supercharged TRX or top off your blinker fluid! It doesn't inherently know which specific VCM Scanner channels to pull to catch a Nick Williams 108mm throttle body correlation error—but it is incredibly good at making my explanation of it look clean and organized.

At the end of the day, my only goal is to share what I know to help @WidowMakerTRX get his beast back on the road without throwing another $1,000 at parts he doesn't need. If taking a 96% robot score is the price for providing clear, step-by-step troubleshooting, I'll gladly wear it like a badge of honor.

Anyway, back to the important stuff—@WidowMakerTRX, did you get a chance to graph those channels in your scanner yet? Curious to see what that throttle blade is actually doing!

 

[WidowMakerTRX]

Haha, busted! Fair play, you got me, and no offense taken at all.

I’ll be totally transparent—when I'm digging into HP Tuners data, airflow models, and torque management strategies, my raw thoughts usually come out as a massive, chaotic wall of text. I absolutely use AI as a tool to organize my notes, format the paragraphs, and keep my technical rambling in check so it's actually readable. Think of it as a highly advanced spell-checker and formatter.

While the structure and grammar are definitely polished by a bot, the diagnostic logic, the wrenching experience, and the understanding of these Hellcat platforms come from me. If you just ask an AI to diagnose a car from scratch, it usually hallucinates and tells you to replace your blinker fluid (or check the eTorque on a supercharged TRX! ). It doesn't inherently know which specific VCM Scanner channels to log to catch a Nick Williams 108mm throttle body correlation error—but it's incredibly good at making my explanation of it look clean and organized.

At the end of the day, my only goal is to share what I know to help @WidowMakerTRX get his 850WHP beast back on the road without throwing another $1,000 at parts he doesn't need. If taking a 96% robot score is the price for providing clear, step-by-step troubleshooting, I'll gladly wear it like a badge of honor.

Anyway, back to the important stuff—@WidowMakerTRX, did you get a chance to graph those channels in your scanner yet? Curious to see what that throttle blade is actually doing!

I did yesterday....but im notnsure what to think of them.

TPS 1 mirrored TPS 2. One was high, ine was low, but they moved together at all times....

The other 2 parameters I had on there were off, but moved together....the Commanded Throttle Actuator (SAE), and the Throttle Position Sensor (SAE). At idle, Commanded would be at say 4-5% while the TPS SAE would be at 12-13%. While driving, they stayed about 9% apart at all times...

With that said, I drove for the tineframe that it usually happens while logging, and of course the issue didnt happen this time ...thats part of why this is so damned frustrating, it occurs so randomly that I cant just make it repeat when I want or need it to repeat.

 

[Digerati]

Man that is actually exactly what you want to see.

The TPS 1 and 2 doing that opposite thing where one goes up and the other goes down is literally how dodge wires them from the factory. One sweeps 0-5V and the other sweeps backwards from 5-0V as a built in safety check. As long as they mirror each other perfectly without any weird voltage spikes or dropouts, the internal sensors are totally fine.

That 9% gap between the commanded and actual is completely normal too. The throttle blade physically rests open a few degrees mechanically so it doesnt get wedged shut inside the bore. Because of that, your actual position will always read a little higher than the commanded baseline. The fact that they stayed exactly 9% apart and tracked together perfectly when you drove it proves the motor is strong and the blade isnt fluttering.

But hold up... didnt you say in your very first post that you already have a datalog from February where it actually DID go into limp mode on the highway? You dont need to keep driving around burning gas waiting for it to happen again! Just open up that exact log from February in VCM Scanner, add those same four throttle channels to the chart, and zoom way in on the exact second right before your torque source flips to STALL.

If those lines are tracking smooth right up until the crash in that old log, boom there is your hard proof. It means the hardware is healthy and you are 100% hitting a tuning limit.

Intermittent issues drive everyone crazy but it makes total sense if its the tune. Your airflow models are probably just sitting right on the absolute ragged edge of the computers safety limit. When you are on the edge like that, all it takes is a slight change in outside temp, humidity, or DA (density altitude) to push the airflow math over the cliff and make the PCM panic.

Load up that Feb log and let us know what it shows!

 

[WidowMakerTRX]

Man that is actually exactly what you want to see.

The TPS 1 and 2 doing that opposite thing where one goes up and the other goes down is literally how dodge wires them from the factory. One sweeps 0-5V and the other sweeps backwards from 5-0V as a built in safety check. As long as they mirror each other perfectly without any weird voltage spikes or dropouts, the internal sensors are totally fine.

That 9% gap between the commanded and actual is completely normal too. The throttle blade physically rests open a few degrees mechanically so it doesnt get wedged shut inside the bore. Because of that, your actual position will always read a little higher than the commanded baseline. The fact that they stayed exactly 9% apart and tracked together perfectly when you drove it proves the motor is strong and the blade isnt fluttering.

But hold up... didnt you say in your very first post that you already have a datalog from February where it actually DID go into limp mode on the highway? You dont need to keep driving around burning gas waiting for it to happen again! Just open up that exact log from February in VCM Scanner, add those same four throttle channels to the chart, and zoom way in on the exact second right before your torque source flips to STALL.

If those lines are tracking smooth right up until the crash in that old log, boom there is your hard proof. It means the hardware is healthy and you are 100% hitting a tuning limit.

Intermittent issues drive everyone crazy but it makes total sense if its the tune. Your airflow models are probably just sitting right on the absolute ragged edge of the computers safety limit. When you are on the edge like that, all it takes is a slight change in outside temp, humidity, or DA (density altitude) to push the airflow math over the cliff and make the PCM panic.

Load up that Feb log and let us know what it shows!

I do have a log, but TPS 2 and Throttle Position SAE were not being tracked in that log. It wouldnt let me add them to the channels to be able to see them in that log, so I added them to the channels now and was trying to get it to repeat while logging again.

 

[Kicker]

Hi there, we are real people who monitor forums and social media platforms to assist customers currently experiencing vehicle concerns and connect them with a Case Specialist to work with their dealers throughout the repair process. We also track trends so that the appropriate parties are made aware of what concerns our customers are experiencing.

Diamond
Ram Cares

It was meant as a joke because the comment by you is always the same. Jeesh, lighten up.
We do appreciate that someone is in our court is some small way.

 

[IdahoKTM]

Haha, busted! Fair play, you got me, and no offense taken at all.

I mean, take a look at my username—digerati literally translates to "people with expertise in digital technology." Did you guys really expect me not to leverage the latest tech tools to format my posts?

Ahh, now he admits to using AI. I remember @Louk challenging you about your use of AI and you denying it like Slick Willy after he got his knob polished by Lewinski.

Tansmission fuild, is this bad?

I have a relatively new TRX, 2024 year. With around 14k miles on it. I've been noticing the truck is holding the first gear for longer time before shifting. Recently there were a couple of incidents (not always) when I wanted to take off quickly and I would hit the pedal to the metal and the...

www.ram-trx.com

The primary issue with AI generated posts is the length. Most people drift off after about 2-3 paragraphs.

 

[AZDinoPwr]

Ahh, now he admits to using AI. I remember @Louk challenging you about your use of AI and you denying it like Slick Willy after he got his knob polished by Lewinski.

Tansmission fuild, is this bad?

I have a relatively new TRX, 2024 year. With around 14k miles on it. I've been noticing the truck is holding the first gear for longer time before shifting. Recently there were a couple of incidents (not always) when I wanted to take off quickly and I would hit the pedal to the metal and the...

www.ram-trx.com

The primary issue with AI generated posts is the length. Most people drift off after about 2-3 paragraphs.

This is why I like to make sure I throw insults into my posts…no confusing me with AI.

 

[Digerati]

lmao alright idaho, i'll give you that one. the slick willy line was gold. i'll take the L.

honestly, i only use it to clean up my formatting because the grammar police on these forums are ruthless. you miss one comma or misspell a word and dudes will completely ignore the actual diag advice just to roast your typing. can't win either way.

but dino makes a great point about throwing out insults to prove my human card. let's test that out... idaho, i'd keep my posts under two paragraphs for you, but i didn't realize your attention span was shorter than the tread life on the factory goodyears. and dino, i'd roast you too, but buying a first-year 2021 stellantis product means you've already suffered enough

but real talk for a second... you guys are spending all this energy playing forum cop and coming after me, but ask yourselves: how is any of this actually helping widowmaker figure out his truck? dude has an 850whp truck going into limp mode and is begging for help, and you guys are in here whining about how my paragraphs are structured. at least i'm actually looking at his datalogs and trying to get his truck fixed. what exactly are y'all contributing to his troubleshooting?

anyway, keeping it short before idaho falls asleep... @WidowMakerTRX to force that limp mode on a log, get on the highway in 8th gear and barely lug it up a slight incline. high engine load + barely open throttle blade is exactly where the tuner's airflow math usually crashes. let us know if you catch it on the new log man, you're super close.