Check Engine Light

ChatGPT is helpful for some of the most mundane questions.... 

Step 1 — Lock in documentation at the dealer (most important)

Even if they “can’t reproduce it,” make sure this exact event is written into the repair order.

What to say:

“Before I leave, I’d like to confirm that today’s visit documents a flashing Check Engine Light under heavy acceleration at 5–6k RPM, with reduced power. I want this noted in case the issue recurs while the truck is under warranty.”

Why this matters:

• Warranty claims depend on first-reported date, not failure date

• This protects you if the issue worsens later

• It prevents the “you never told us” problem

👉 If it’s not written down, it didn’t happen (from a warranty standpoint).

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Step 2 — Request a different technician or shop foreman

You are allowed to ask—politely—for a higher-level tech.

What to say:

“Could a shop foreman or senior technician review the misfire history or Mode $06 data? I understand it may not be active right now.”

This reframes the request as technical, not confrontational.

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Step 3 — Open a case with Ram / Stellantis Customer Care

This is the single most effective escalation step.

How to do it

• Call RAM Customer Care (number is in your owner’s manual or app)

• Or open a case online via RAM support

What to say (concise and effective)

“I experienced a flashing Check Engine Light with power reduction under heavy acceleration on my 2025 RAM with the 3.6L eTorque.

The dealer was unable to reproduce it, but I’m requesting a case number to document the concern and ensure warranty coverage if it recurs.”

Ask for:

• A case number

• Confirmation the concern is logged as emissions / misfire related

Why this works:

• The dealer now answers to RAM corporate

• The case follows the vehicle nationwide

• It dramatically increases seriousness of follow-up visits

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Step 4 — Visit a second RAM dealer (quietly powerful move)

You are not required to stay with one dealer.

When booking:

“I’m coming in for diagnosis of a previous flashing MIL under load. The concern is already documented.”

Bring:

• Copies/photos of prior repair orders

• Your RAM case number (if opened)

Second dealers often:

• Take intermittent issues more seriously

• Find problems the first dealer missed

• Are more motivated to “own” the repair

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Step 5 — If the problem recurs, document it yourself

If it happens again:

• Note date, mileage, RPM, throttle condition

• If safe, pull over after and do not shut off immediately (keeps data fresh)

• Take a photo of the flashing CEL if possible

This evidence + a corporate case = strong leverage.

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Step 6 — Lemon Law / warranty protection (last resort, but important)

You are not there yet—but documentation is what preserves this option.

Most states consider:

• Repeated unresolved emissions or drivability faults

• Multiple repair attempts

• Time out of service

By documenting early:

• You protect yourself legally

• You strengthen any future claim

• You often avoid needing this step at all

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What NOT to do

Avoid:

• Threats

• “I’ll lemon-law this”

• Diagnosing it for them (“It’s definitely the coil”)

Stick to:

• Symptoms

• Conditions

• Documentation

That’s how professionals escalate successfully.

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Summary — The protection checklist

✔ Event documented at dealer
✔ Senior tech or foreman review requested
✔ Corporate case opened with RAM
✔ Second dealer option used if needed
✔ Your own notes kept if it recurs

Do those things, and both you and the vehicle are protected, even if the fault is intermittent.

Christmas 2025

We spent Christmas 2025 in Hampstead, NC with my parents.  We drove down on Wednesday morning (Christmas Eve) with our gifts, the dog crate, the rollarator, two sleeping bags, the carpet spotting machine, and changes of clothes.

As we were nearing the end of NC-540, the Check Engine Light came on.  There were no clues about why it came on and the engine was still running fine, so we continued on to I-40 and down to the coast.

When we got there we found out that Marrissia and Kevin were not coming over to open gifts because the whole family had the flu.  

Mom made a Christmas dinner of spiral sliced ham, scalloped potatoes, devilled eggs, olives, and rolls.  They had an apple pie for dessert.   After our dinner we sat down to open gifts.

Bob got me a shaver, a nail pulling tool, and some velcro straps for securing my bicycle wheels.  I got Bob three different t-shirts, some lip balm, a $100 gift card to Barnes & Noble booksellers, bone conduction audio headphones, and a new set of T-fal pots and pans.  Becky and Bill got each of us a jacket.  The jacket I got was silkscreened to identify me as a US Navy Veteran.

I brought Mom and Bill a bucket of cookies, a loaf of Bishop Bread, a loaf Date Nut Bread, a jar of Blueberry-Lime Jam, a jar of Kiwi Jam, a jar of Habanero Gold Jelly, and a large Hickory Farms gift box.  On the inside of the gift box, I had taped gift cards to grocery stores, restaurants, hardware stores, and a gas station.  I made an identical box for Marrissia and Kevin.

We stayed Christmas Day and watched old westerns and other movies.  On Friday morning Mom made waffles and bacon for breakfast.  Then I began loading the truck for the return trip.

The truck made about 20.2 MPG on the way down to the coast, and about 18.0 MPG on the return trip.

To find out what the Check Engine light came on for, I imagine I will have to take it to an auto parts store to get the error code.  I will likely have to take it to the dealer service department to have it fixed.

I brought everything in and put it away.  We heated up a vegetable lasagna for dinner.  I started the laundry.

Today I made breakfast for both of us, and then I took the recycling out to the bin.  I got the ladder out and changed the 9-volt batteries in our smoke detectors.

I brought the carpet shampooer upstairs and I cleaned the carpets upstairs.  I opened windows in the front and back of the house to help dry the carpet.

In the afternoon we went to Shell and I filled the gas tank, and then we went over to Walmart and I got a case of bottled water.  I found some stew meat marked down and I picked up about $30 worth of the stew meat.   I picked up two heads of cabbage too.  I intend to make vegetable stew tomorrow.  We will eat a couple of bowls of it fresh, and then I will can several quarts of it.

Tomorrow I have to buy the groceries and then start preparing for my work week.

The work week will be short -- just Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Plus, I am leaving at 10:30 am on Monday because I have a dental appointment to have a crown installed.

Winter Solstice 2025

I am exhausted.

This was a good weekend and I got a lot done.   On Saturday morning I got up and I fried eggs and sausages, and toasted waffles for Bob to eat for breakfast.  Then I drove out to have my breakfast at Eggs Up Grill.

After my breakfast I drove to Walmart to get bottled water for the coming week.  While there I picked up a couple more gift cards.

Next I stopped at Sam's Car Wash to get the truck washed.  They are running a special where you buy six (6) car washes for the price of two (2).  I bought that and got the truck cleaned.

When I got back home I got the stand mixer out and began making two loaves of date nut bread.  I followed the recipe from Glenna Snow's Cookbook, but I added a little more water and I added walnuts and pecans to the mixture.

These baked nicely, but I had to extend the time in the oven by about 15 minutes because the middle did not get completely baked.  After cooling, these were wrapped in plastic and put in the freezer.

While the loaves were baking I went to the basement to wrap gifts.  I have all of the gifts and gift cards ready for Christmas now.

Bob is asking me to keep his Microsoft Money program updated with his receipts because he is unable to see the screen very well..

In the afternoon I took a bucket of Pine Sol and hot water upstairs and cleaned the bathroom floors.   I pulled the bedding out of Hercules' bed and put it into the washer.  Later in the evening, I took his harness and collar off and gave him a bath.

This morning I chopped up and onion and diced a can of Spam.  I fried this up with onions and a can of mushrooms.  I stirred up eggs and poured these into the Spam.  This was a very filling breakfast.

I cleaned the toilets upstairs.

Bob got a grocery list ready and I took a shower.  Then I went to Food Lion to get our groceries.  The total came to $113 this time.  It was a small grocery order because we will be in Wilmington over Christmas.   I ordered sandwiches for us from Jersey Mike's while I was in Food Lion.

I took the groceries and sandwiches home.  Put the grocery order away and ate lunch with Bob.  I went downstairs and vacuumed out the truck.  Then I laid on the sofa for an hour.

When I woke up, I told Bob to check-in at Great Clips online and then we drove to Great Clips for his haircut.  While he was in the barber's chair, I went next door to Publix and bought some Aleve and a pack of AA batteries.

I changed the batteries in the outside weather sensor, in the Rid-A-Rat flashing light on the truck, and in the transistor radio in the garage.  I still need to buy eight (8) 9-volt batteries for the smoke detectors in the house.

I have put out clothes to wear to work tomorrow.  I have put out my vitamins.  We are going to get Bob into the shower in a few minutes.

Tomorrow Bob will have physical therapy with Rippa.   On Tuesday he has occupational therapy with Courtney.

It will be a short, two-day work week, but these two days will be hectic.

Past Two Weeks

I am exhausted.

We left Becky and Bill's house from Thanksgiving early because Bob did not look like he was doing very well.  He kept dozing off and he looked disoriented.

On Saturday I took him to the WakeMed Cary Emergency Department because he was having surging blood pressure - 170 / 100.  They gave him a bag of saline and a few mg of fentanyl.  They ran a CT scan on him.  A few hours later the problem resolved.

On Sunday evening, December 7, he was having very high blood pressure again and he wanted to go to the Emergency Room, but he wanted to go to UNC in Chapel Hill.  So we made the drive to UNC Hospital and he was immediately taken into the Emergency Room.  This part of the ER was open with curtains separating the beds.  You could hear every conversation and you knew what was wrong with each person.   

Thinking that Bob had a headache, Dr. Lemoine offered Bob a migraine cocktail.  Bob told him that he did not think this would be a good idea.  This made his problem 10x worse.  The doctor apologized for this, but the damage was done.

We were in the ER from 9:00 am until after 5:00 pm when they decided to admit him to the hospital for observation.  He had a consultation with Neurology, and they had some guesses about his problem.  Bob was moved to the Observation Unit in the new surgical tower.

I had to leave to walk Hercules and get ready for work the next day.   

During the day I texted Bob to check in with him.  In the afternoon I went home, walked and fed Hercules, showered, dressed, gathered some things for Bob, and then drove to Chapel Hill.  It takes 45 - 55 minutes to get there from our house.

I found Bob curled up on his bed in the fetal position, and he was moaning that he was dying.  His nurse, Cassie came in, and told me that they had just given him an enema.  Next two people from Physical Therapy came in.  Then the enema began to work.  He was quickly transferred to a portable potty, and he had a very large movement.  It was very warm in his room, and it was crowded with people.

He was cleaned up and moved back to his bed.  He was unhappy about the side rails of his bed being raised and the rails being covered with foam bumpers.  He was also unhappy about the remote monitor in his room - there was a portable camera on casters that watched him all the time.  He called this "The Eye in the Sky".

I stayed with him from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm.  I brought his phone charger and a change of clothes for him.

During the week I went to work very early so that I could leave early and get to the hospital sooner.

On his second day he went for a walk down the hall with PT.  He climbed 12 steps on the stairs and returned to his room.  He was trying very hard to impress them because he wanted to go home.

On his third day I helped him to the shower and he cleaned himself up.  Then he stood at the sink and brushed his teeth and shaved.  Then we moved him back to his bed.

During the day I spoke with his case worker, Tonia, on the phone.  I told her that he definitely wants to be discharged home, and it would be helpful if he could have home health visit to work with him.  He worked with Bayada in the past.

On Friday he was discharged.   After work I drove up.  On the way up there he called me and his nurse told me to call as I was pulling into the patient pick up loop and she would roll him right out.  He was dressed in his sweatpants and sweatshirt, and she rolled him out to the truck.  He climbed right in.

During the drive back to Apex, he requested something for dinner that could be picked up in a drive-thru.  He asked for Culver's, and we got him a fish sandwich.

I set some rules for him coming home.  1.  When I am at work, he is confined to the first floor of our house.  He is NOT to be on the stairs unless I am home.  2.  He will use the rollarator to walk around the first floor of our house.   3. He will use grab bars in the shower and bathroom.  4.  During the night he will wake me for help if he has to go to the bathroom.

He is struggling with some neurological issues caused by the medications he was given in the hospital.  He relates to me that he feels fear and terror.  Hopefully we can get that stuff out of his system and get him back to his baseline.  I am just concerned that his uncontrolled blood pressure fluctuations will return since he is off of that medicine.

In my spare time I am baking cookies and breads to give as Christmas gifts.  I bought some gift cards, but I really have not had any time to go out and shop for presents.  I tried on Saturday morning, but I was afraid to leave him alone for a long time.

I did the grocery shopping today.   I bought some soups and some microwave meals that will be easy for him to prepare for his lunches.  I also got some frozen pizzas and frozen casseroles that will be easy to just put into the oven for dinners.

Tomorrow morning it is supposed to be in the teens here.   Brrrr!   Cold!  I have to go to work tomorrow, and Keziah is out, so I have to unload both furnaces.  I do not know whether I am loading them again - Jeff said something about running two hard sinters at the time time on Tuesday.  

Hopefully the lady from Bayada will call again and set up some times for therapy with Bob.

I am tired.  It's been a rough week.