Technical section questions...

[wed3k]

remember to check all solenoids because that may have taken the ecu out. low resistance solenoid = higher amperage

[Ilikebigbutts]

24hrs into it...holy shit...after about 3 hrs of checking pwrs grounds and signal wire then the mechanical side of it I would of just thrown a pcm at it lol...

This reminds of a brand new 2009 ram truck I was working on.would stall every time you would come to a stop.No codes in the system.the good thing is that i could easily duplicate the problem.It would do it all the time hot or cold.I checked all the basics.Cam/crank, fuel pressure while it was going on, checked for a leaking egr valve, checked for torque converter clutch locking up (fluid airation can cause this), Checked electronic throttle and even swapped with another vehicle...Nothing.NO CODES!Nothing to go on.Took a bunch of freeze frames which didn't tell me much.Send them to chrysler and they where scratching their heads.They called back and said they have another report of another truck in the area doing the same thing.Just so happens my buddy from another dealer is working on it.We are both stumped trying to give each other ideas.Truck sits for 2-3 weeks while Chrysler is coming up with a "flash".Flash comes out and it magicaly fixes the truck my buddy is working on.Not mine!WTF!continue to take snap shot of sensors.I finally catch the crank senor doing some iffy stuff, but only got it on one freeze frame.swap sensor, nothing.Checked all my wiring, all good.Said fuck it and ordered a pcm for it.Finally got that POS out of my life!

Don't get me wrong, I love the whole diag part of the game, but when everything checks out,some times you just have to guess...

Damn that was a whole story.

[Ilikebigbutts]

remember to check all solenoids because that may have taken the ecu out. low resistance solenoid = higher amperage

Learned that the hard way...Had a liberty with cruise inop.Vent solenoid driver on pcm out it.Put a pcm in it and it fixed it...for about 2 months...haha...put a servo and pcm the next time and shes been cruisin for over a year now.

[wed3k]

dodge/jeep and chryslers are pretty bad

my friend's 91 ford thunderbird would run like crap, windows and sunroof and overdrive wouldnt work. we tested eveeyrthing and what was sketch was we couldnt pull a blinky CEL from the gauge. the CEL worked because it was illuminated so i told him to slam a PCM and the motherfucker runs (because it is the factory supercharged model). Too bad he cant drive it right now because we swapped the entire dash out to check the wiring and he hasnt gotten it back in.

[evil_demon_01]

24hrs into it...holy shit...after about 3 hrs of checking pwrs grounds and signal wire then the mechanical side of it I would of just thrown a pcm at it lol...

Keep in mind that intermittent faults require more time, since you have to try and force the fault to be able to actually diagnose.

And just for the sake of saying it - Even on a forum, No-one here said "The ECU is faulty"
I mean who would honestly gamble $1500 on it being that, when everything leads to something else.
Diagnosing always starts with the cheapest possibilities first.


That is the SINGLE biggest fact that customers don't understand.

Customer - "Oh but it did it in the weekend, why can't you just fix it"
Us - "Fix what? There is nothing wrong"
Customer - "But I told you it did it in the weekend"
Us - "But it's not doing it now, Everything is testing inside spec, so we can't confirm which component is faulty"
Customer - "You people are useless, :I'm angry now: So how much more will it take to fix?"
Us - "When the fault occurs we can start diagnosing"
Customer -

[evil_demon_01]

2nd problem.

CL7 Accord Euro

Symptom - Vehicle cuts out randomly (but only for a split second, not enough to make it stall)
Numerous random codes in ABS, VSA and PGM Systems - None of any value to be able to diagnose the fault.
Gauge cluster flicks off then back on, as does the radio.

[EJX_Michael]

2nd problem.

CL7 Accord Euro

Symptom - Vehicle cuts out randomly (but only for a split second, not enough to make it stall)
Numerous random codes in ABS, VSA and PGM Systems - None of any value to be able to diagnose the fault.
Gauge cluster flicks off then back on, as does the radio.

Sounds like a loose ground, bad power cable, or a bad battery to me.

The small fluctuations would point towards the different systems not getting enough power. Also, I think the intermittent failures would show that those sensors were not getting enough power to function, but the computer had enough to notice and store the codes. Possibly a fuse box problem also.

[evil_demon_01]

Sounds like a loose ground, bad power cable, or a bad battery to me.

The small fluctuations would point towards the different systems not getting enough power. Also, I think the intermittent failures would show that those sensors were not getting enough power to function, but the computer had enough to notice and store the codes. Possibly a fuse box problem also.

All grounds tight and clean.
Power cable is OK.
Battery is OK.
Not a fuse box issue.

True that the sensors were probably not getting enough power to function.

[Ilikebigbutts]

All grounds tight and clean.
Power cable is OK.
Battery is OK.
Not a fuse box issue.

True that the sensors were probably not getting enough power to function.

If this were a Chrysler if one of the engine sensors shorts out all the sensors that share the share the same pwr feed short out...anything similar?

What kind of codes?

[wed3k]

Keep in mind that intermittent faults require more time, since you have to try and force the fault to be able to actually diagnose.

And just for the sake of saying it - Even on a forum, No-one here said "The ECU is faulty"
I mean who would honestly gamble $1500 on it being that, when everything leads to something else.
Diagnosing always starts with the cheapest possibilities first.


That is the SINGLE biggest fact that customers don't understand.

Customer - "Oh but it did it in the weekend, why can't you just fix it"
Us - "Fix what? There is nothing wrong"
Customer - "But I told you it did it in the weekend"
Us - "But it's not doing it now, Everything is testing inside spec, so we can't confirm which component is faulty"
Customer - "You people are useless, :I'm angry now: So how much more will it take to fix?"
Us - "When the fault occurs we can start diagnosing"
Customer -

because pcm issues arent common on hondas. we diagnose with what we know.

[Ilikebigbutts]

because pcm issues arent common on hondas. we diagnose with what we know.

True that, any older asian ecu's are reliable it seems like.Lately we have been seen a lot of Chrysler pcm's go bad.

here's another one for you.Had this one today.2000 ram 1500.Car runs like complete poop.misses, stumbles, stalls all warning lights on dash are on it seems like and odo reading is really bright.cluster is going haywire.adaptives all over the place.customer has replaced:all coils, coolant temp sensor, O2's, new battery and it looks like he might of swapped in used injectors.Finally he gave up.Poor guy just needed a scanner because it took me 5 minutes to isolate the problem.

BTW, ABS light was on and no communication with module.

NO engine DTC'S.

What has gone wrong?

Hint, it wasn't the coils, coolant temp sensor, O2's or the battery.


Ok I'll tell You...





First hint was the no communication with ABS.customer said abs was fine before problem occured. Because i work on these everyday I no that a system overcharge will burn out the abs module in these trucks.I know this because it is recommended you disconnect the abs module every time you flash the pcm or tcm.this is because when flashing 20 volts is introduced to the system to erase old memory.20 volts can burn abs module up.quick DVOM check across the battery while running, 19 volts!at idle!yikes.I looked at my battery voltage sense on the scanner...you guessed it-0.0 volts.

So the computer thought the alternator was not charging, which in turn full fielded the charging system.this excess juice really messed up all the sensor readings causing it to run like complete poop.This pcm has 3 different pwr feeds, and only uses one to sense batt voltage.The broken wire was really easy to find, right under the pcm the harness had some corrosion.a lil cut and solder fixed my problem.Well except that $450 abs module.