Ugh... Weird no start issue Solved? Range AFM malfunction

mikeyk101 · July 6

My truck doesn't get used a lot so sits parked in the driveway for days on end. Today, I had to make a run and when I tried to start, no start, no clicks, nothing. I just assumed that the battery was low and tried using my jump start pack. No good. Unfortunately daughter and her car were out and about so no other car to jump with. I noticed that volts on a separate voltmeter were showing only 11.9 volts. When turning key, it would drop down to mid 11 volts. I hooked up my battery charger and let it do its thing for about a half hour and same thing. Volts would drop well below 12v and no clicks. I then let it go for an hour and same deal. I ended up running out on my errands using my motorcycle and stopped at the local Costco to get another battery. This one was a Warranty replacement from 1-1/2 years ago. I had to purchase a new one as I didn't have the old one to exchange but will get a refund when I bring this old one back.

So I get the old one out. And I'm getting pretty good at it. I didn't even have to pull the coolant reservoir or the air box. Believe it or not, it can be removed without doing that. I still had to remove that angled bar and take off the power distribution panel on top of battery but got it out without too much of a struggle.

So new battery installed and NO START! I checked voltage on this new one and it showed 12.4 volts which I thought was a bit odd for new battery. I did notice that when turning the key, at least voltage didn't drop much.

Last time this no start happened was early this past spring. It was a bad starter. Starter got replaced and it's run fine since.

So I began to think back on if something was different since last time I drove. I remembered that I had pulled my OBDII reader off and hooked it up to my daughter's car because she was getting a gas cap error code. I ran a scan on her car, cleared the code and hers has been fine since. After doing that, I reconnected it back in my truck as I also use it to monitor some various functions.

I also use a Range AFM disabler. I have a splitter OBDII harness so I can use both at the same time. Just for kicks, I unplugged the splitter harness and it started right away! Weird. At this point, I did have the check engine light on so I decided to do a scan. It was showing a historic fault only of U0073. I tried clearing it but still showed up as a historic fault. At least the truck is back up running.

And with the OBDII reader plugged in by itself, no issues. With Range plugged in by itself, no issues. I'm wondering if the splitter has some kind of short but really don't want to plug it back in right now to find out.

Does anyone have thoughts or idea why this would have occurred? Anyone else ever experience something like this?

Back to new battery, I am going to leave it on the charger for a couple hours and see if it goes up to 12.8 or .9 and holds. Otherwise I will be exchanging this one as well. I was always under the assumption that these were supposed to be fully charged so I find this unusual.

Edited July 6 by mikeyk101

mikeyk101 · July 6

So tonight, I just had to go check. Battery is at 12.8v so that's good. I had plugged in the range AFM Disabler earlier. I started the motor and immediately saw that the check engine light was back on. I saw the stabilitrak light flashing and then also got a stabilitrak error. I turned truck off, plugged in the OBD reader to see what comes up after starting back up. It showed a P150C, P2544, and U0101. But what I also noticed was that with AFM disabler not plugged in, no stabilitrak error.

I decided to just drive a few blocks to see how it did. Seemed to be just fine. For kicks, I then plugged the AFM disabler back in and the stabilitrak error immediately came back on. And it came back several times over the next minute. I also noticed a real harsh shift upon starting up after a full stop one time. So something is definitely going on with the Range. I'm going to try to reach out to them next week and see what they can tell me, hopefully help me out.

mikeyk101 · July 6

I found this support blog article on the Range site which is exactly what I'm seeing but it mentions it happens more in the 2017+ models. It's just strange that I had several trouble free years with this and now I'm having troubles.

https://www.rangetechnology.com/blog/post/check_engine_lights/

Mine has the V8.6R1 firmware. Can anyone confirm a newer firmware version? Unfortunately I can't find what the most current firmware version is in the site.

MikeBMW · July 7

Dunno, I disabled the AFM through AutoSync.
I never wanted to try range since it has to be plugged into the OBD port to work.

mikeyk101 · July 7

Well I may have to look further into this now after this recent episode. It's a bit more than I want to spend but looks like I would also be able to ditch my OBDII reader I use for monitoring different functions as the Autosync seems to add those capabilities I have been using.

I'm assuming though that this programming would show up to the service department if I brought truck in for work?

MikeBMW · July 7

39 minutes ago, mikeyk101 said:

Well I may have to look further into this now after this recent episode. It's a bit more than I want to spend but looks like I would also be able to ditch my OBDII reader I use for monitoring different functions as the Autosync seems to add those capabilities I have been using.

I'm assuming though that this programming would show up to the service department if I brought truck in for work?

Nope. I have had almost all of my truck maintenance at my dealer other than lifting, shocks and power steps.
I can remove the AutoSync dongle with no issue, the various units HMI, BCM retain the settings.
The only time i need it plugged in to the OBD port is when I want to use some of the only functions it offers on the fly - flashing lights, real time engine stats and a few more others.
Otherwise, Autosync programs your BCM and HMI.
I think they have an ECU option but I use the Superchips F5 Flashpaq for other programming.
Dealer has never even mentioned it.

Edited July 7 by MikeBMW

Homewrecker007 · July 7

I use the Autosync as well. No issue at the dealership.

rlcole321 · July 8

Mikey, you should just bit the bullet and get a HPTuner set up, then you won't need to have any "Dongle" plugged in to the OBD port and you'll have SO MUCH more capabilities with the tuner!!, look into it!

mikeyk101 · July 8

3 hours ago, rlcole321 said:

Mikey, you should just bit the bullet and get a HPTuner set up, then you won't need to have any "Dongle" plugged in to the OBD port and you'll have SO MUCH more capabilities with the tuner!!, look into it!

We shall see. It's nice having choices.

mikeyk101 · July 8

On a positive note, I reached out to Range Technology calling their support number. They are going to ship me an updated version that also has the newest firmware. They are also going to send a prepaid shipping label for me to send my old one back. I was told it will be no cost to me. Free is always good. Although it would be really nice to have the Autosync or an HPTuner, this is more cost effective for now. And using a splitter which I have been doing, I can continue to have the Range device and my OBDII reader both plugged in at same time and tuck them up under the dash. Between the 2, it covers pretty much everything I really want for now.

But now I'm starting to think about an issue I had just a couple months back that I started this other thread over.

The symptoms are exactly like I experienced last Wed. Drove fine, sat for very short time and then no start. It got towed to a local dealer who diagnosed a bad starter. I know I had been using the Range up till then and I think I unplugged the Range just prior to it getting left with the dealer and hadn't tried to start it again. I'm wondering if the starter may have actually still been ok, the dealer replaced the starter based on symptoms, and it was the start of the Range failing. Unfortunately, I will probably never know but will tuck this nugget of wisdom in to the back of my mind for future reference.

mikeyk101 · August 26

A positive update. I have been using this new replacement Range AFM device for a month and a half now. It's model # RA003G. G because it has the green LED's. It is an updated version. I don't recall the version I had been using but had it for a couple years. I have had no issues with the new one. It has started fine every time and no new codes.

One thing I did notice. I have it plugged into an OBDII splitter harness because I also like having my Bluetooth OBDII reader plugged in to monitor besides coolant temp, the oil temp, trans temp, intake temp, voltage, etc...

I also live in an area that requires regular emissions testing. For quite some time, they moved away from old method of testing the exhaust coming out the tail pipe. It now involves plugging in a computer in OBDII port for testing. My Bluetooth reader using Torque Pro app was also able to monitor the different sensors that would be checked during an emissions test. There was always several that would show not ready when the Range disabler was plugged in. This is an automatic fail for emissions testing. I would need to unplug it sometimes for several days before I would get the complete in all categories. It was a well known issue and had even been listed in the FAQ on website saying it needed to be unplugged prior to emissions testing.

With this updated version, checking the sensors, all of them show complete. This means that I should no longer need to unplug the Disabler until just before I pull in for testing. I won't be able to verify this for a while because I'm not scheduled for testing until my plates need to be renewed. Also checking the Range website in support section, there is no longer any info in regards to emissions testing.

So far, so good!