Three problems related to battery cable have been reported for the 2008 Dodge Ram 3500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
On three different occasions, the tipm has failed on this truck. The first time the vehicle was under warranty. Second one happened in 2013. The third time in Dec of 2015. All three times the motor quit in heavy traffic and the dashboard went off. The tipm box then started smoking. I disconnected the battery cables. On the third occasion, I was delayed by heavy traffic in getting to the battery cables. The truck was on a steep grade. The horn started honking, wipers and windshield sprayer activated, and then the vehicle tried to start itself and move forward. If I had been under the hood, I would have been run over. Also, this truck was pulling a trailer on a mountain pass with no power steering, brakes, or trailer brakes due to this problem and made this extremely dangerous.
I was turning onto another street I smelled electrical smoke. Truck started to run rough then stalled. Electrical smoke filled the cab. Everything that was electrical turned on and was either flashing blinking or running. I put truck in neutral and pulled the ignition key. The starter engaged on its own. I had to pull battery cables off to kill power to the truck by hand no tools. The tipm module burned internally. If my wife had been driving the truck would have burned. If the truck was in gear it would have taken off by itself.
The contact owns a 2008 Dodge Ram 3500. No occupants were in the vehicle nor the key in the ignition when the vehicle started on its own and crashed into the garage. The bumper of the vehicle was badly damaged. He turned the battery cables off in order to stop the engine from running. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they are repairing the engine but not the bumper. He was told to call the insurance company to repair the bumper. The failure mileage was 20,000. Updated 02/24/10. The truck was in 1st gear and the vehicle was not parked on an incline. Updated 09/02/jb.