Attention: TDR Forum Junkies My truck is finally fixed, it's a long tale of no help from the dealer. .
About 2 years ago the truck started to start differently, when you turned the ignition switch to "ON" the "WAIT TO START" light would not illuminate right away, although that's how it worked when the truck was new. The truck would crank but not start until the "WAIT TO START" would illuminate, this is usually 15-20 seconds after turning the ignition switch to "ON". By this time all the other lights in the instrument cluster would have tested and gone out and then finally the "WAIT TO START" would illuminate and the fuel pump would cycle. The truck would now start as soon as you cranked it over.
Why would the "WAIT TO START" light now take so long to illuminate and why would the truck crank but not start until the light came on ???
I did some research and found that due to the poor dodge design of the fuel delivery system to the engine, the lift pump and injection pump were prone to failure. I was already on my third lift pump, dodge decided to bolt an electric lift pump to the side of the engine where it was subject to all the vibration. It also put the lift pump about eight feet from the fuel tank and above the fuel level, now the pump has to suction fuel instead of pushing fuel to the engine. The lift pump plays a critical part because the injection pump needs positive pressure to cool and lubricate itself. The injection pump only uses about 40% of the fuel it gets and bypasses the rest back to the tank.
Back to my truck- I thought the problem was the injection pump, so I called around and found a Bosch authorized diesel shop in Daytona. They gave me a good price on a rebuilt pump and would install it. After they had my truck for several hours, the mechanic called me and said there was nothing wrong with my pump and I had an electrical issue. He said he had seen this problem once before and thought it was the Engine Control Unit "ECU". There was no power going to the injection pump until the "WAIT TO START" came on. The injection pump is engine driven but computer controlled, it's powered from the ECU. They only charged me a small amount for the labor.
When I got home, I looked into replacing the ECM and found that chrysler wanted around $1800 for an ECU. Although the cummins dealer could get a blank ECU he could not program it for me. The ECU is programmed with chrysler proprietary software and requires the DRBIII scanner for programming.
I decided to live with the starting issue and keep my $1800... .
Fast forward to last month- I decided to fix this problem and a few small issues with the truck. I got prices for a mopar re-manufactured ECU from a few online dealers and went down to my local dodge dealer with the prices, he came pretty close to matching the internet prices so I ordered the ECM from him. When the ECM arrived at the dealer, I brought my truck in to have the new ECM installed and programmed.
When I picked up my truck, there was no change in the excessive time it took for the "WAIT TO START" to illuminate. I had just wasted almost $1700...
Screw the dealer I think- I'm taking the truck to cummins and let them look at it. They built the damn engine and i've had good luck with them before.
After having my truck for two days, cummins tells me there is low voltage going to the ECM when the ignition is turned on. They find about 7 volts going to the ECM which requires 9 volts just to turn on. They suggest replacing the truck's batteries which they think are causing the problem.
I now take my truck to the local gas station where I had purchased my interstate batteries about two years earlier. I ask them to load check my batteries and replace them if they fail.
They load test my batteries to 300 amps and of course the batteries are fine.
The next day I took my truck back to the dealer and told them the problem was not fixed. They called me that afternoon and told me "You must have gotten a bad ECM from wherever you purchased this one" I told service writer the ECU came from them a few days ago and they installed it.
cough-cough- ahhh we'll look into this a little more and get back to you... .
After two days, the dealer call me and says "we can't figure out what the problem is, come get your truck, we are not charging you anything". I can't believe my ears, the dealer has just thrown in the towel and said they could not or would not fix my truck... .
My next step was to call cummins and tell them it was not the batteries and the dealer had given up on my truck. I asked if they had any more ideas, one of the mechanics recommended an auto electric repair shop in the area.
I called the auto electric place and discussed my problem, they called me back and agreed to take a look at my truck. After a few hours they called and told me they felt it was a bad ECM. They said it would be cheaper to replace the ECM and rule it out before tearing into the truck's wiring. I gave them all the paperwork from the dodge dealer for the ECU purchase and installation. They were able to get the dodge dealer to warranty exchange the ECU for a new one. The auto electric repair shop installed and programmed the warranty exchange ECU and PROBLEM FIXED !
They told me they had gotten as many as six bad computers in a row from another dodge dealer. Apparently the mopar re-manufactured computers are not very reliable. The repair shop charged me a very reasonable amount to diagnose the problem, get the dealer to warranty exchange the bad ECU and replace everything.
After two long years, my truck is finally fixed.
About 2 years ago the truck started to start differently, when you turned the ignition switch to "ON" the "WAIT TO START" light would not illuminate right away, although that's how it worked when the truck was new. The truck would crank but not start until the "WAIT TO START" would illuminate, this is usually 15-20 seconds after turning the ignition switch to "ON". By this time all the other lights in the instrument cluster would have tested and gone out and then finally the "WAIT TO START" would illuminate and the fuel pump would cycle. The truck would now start as soon as you cranked it over.
Why would the "WAIT TO START" light now take so long to illuminate and why would the truck crank but not start until the light came on ???
I did some research and found that due to the poor dodge design of the fuel delivery system to the engine, the lift pump and injection pump were prone to failure. I was already on my third lift pump, dodge decided to bolt an electric lift pump to the side of the engine where it was subject to all the vibration. It also put the lift pump about eight feet from the fuel tank and above the fuel level, now the pump has to suction fuel instead of pushing fuel to the engine. The lift pump plays a critical part because the injection pump needs positive pressure to cool and lubricate itself. The injection pump only uses about 40% of the fuel it gets and bypasses the rest back to the tank.
Back to my truck- I thought the problem was the injection pump, so I called around and found a Bosch authorized diesel shop in Daytona. They gave me a good price on a rebuilt pump and would install it. After they had my truck for several hours, the mechanic called me and said there was nothing wrong with my pump and I had an electrical issue. He said he had seen this problem once before and thought it was the Engine Control Unit "ECU". There was no power going to the injection pump until the "WAIT TO START" came on. The injection pump is engine driven but computer controlled, it's powered from the ECU. They only charged me a small amount for the labor.
When I got home, I looked into replacing the ECM and found that chrysler wanted around $1800 for an ECU. Although the cummins dealer could get a blank ECU he could not program it for me. The ECU is programmed with chrysler proprietary software and requires the DRBIII scanner for programming.
I decided to live with the starting issue and keep my $1800... .
Fast forward to last month- I decided to fix this problem and a few small issues with the truck. I got prices for a mopar re-manufactured ECU from a few online dealers and went down to my local dodge dealer with the prices, he came pretty close to matching the internet prices so I ordered the ECM from him. When the ECM arrived at the dealer, I brought my truck in to have the new ECM installed and programmed.
When I picked up my truck, there was no change in the excessive time it took for the "WAIT TO START" to illuminate. I had just wasted almost $1700...
Screw the dealer I think- I'm taking the truck to cummins and let them look at it. They built the damn engine and i've had good luck with them before.
After having my truck for two days, cummins tells me there is low voltage going to the ECM when the ignition is turned on. They find about 7 volts going to the ECM which requires 9 volts just to turn on. They suggest replacing the truck's batteries which they think are causing the problem.
I now take my truck to the local gas station where I had purchased my interstate batteries about two years earlier. I ask them to load check my batteries and replace them if they fail.
They load test my batteries to 300 amps and of course the batteries are fine.
The next day I took my truck back to the dealer and told them the problem was not fixed. They called me that afternoon and told me "You must have gotten a bad ECM from wherever you purchased this one" I told service writer the ECU came from them a few days ago and they installed it.
cough-cough- ahhh we'll look into this a little more and get back to you... .
After two days, the dealer call me and says "we can't figure out what the problem is, come get your truck, we are not charging you anything". I can't believe my ears, the dealer has just thrown in the towel and said they could not or would not fix my truck... .
My next step was to call cummins and tell them it was not the batteries and the dealer had given up on my truck. I asked if they had any more ideas, one of the mechanics recommended an auto electric repair shop in the area.
I called the auto electric place and discussed my problem, they called me back and agreed to take a look at my truck. After a few hours they called and told me they felt it was a bad ECM. They said it would be cheaper to replace the ECM and rule it out before tearing into the truck's wiring. I gave them all the paperwork from the dodge dealer for the ECU purchase and installation. They were able to get the dodge dealer to warranty exchange the ECU for a new one. The auto electric repair shop installed and programmed the warranty exchange ECU and PROBLEM FIXED !
They told me they had gotten as many as six bad computers in a row from another dodge dealer. Apparently the mopar re-manufactured computers are not very reliable. The repair shop charged me a very reasonable amount to diagnose the problem, get the dealer to warranty exchange the bad ECU and replace everything.
After two long years, my truck is finally fixed.
