Attention: TDR Forum Junkies OK, first, I have posted in the 911 section and thanks to the great courtious responses. 
My truck, 2005 3500 4x4, will not start, no lift pump activation, nor grid heaters. After towing it to the dealer, according to them, the ECM will not respond or communicate to the scanner. OK, I have searched another forum, read a long post about how the ECM CAN be made to respond etc, but time is not on my side to go back and forth with the dealer and trying to "educate them".
I need to have this truck running ASAP, it is how I make my living in the Oil field. No truck = no paycheck. OK, past that. The dealer wants $2300 for an ECM. I can't do that, so I have found a rebuilt one online with a lifetime warranty, from a ECM exchange place for under $700 bucks.
If you can politely educate me, I just want to be clear this is what I need with the problems I have had:
Three months ago, my pass battery died, so I just unhoked it and used my drivers side with absolutly no problems.
Fact: Payday is a ways off, then you get lazy since "everything" is running OK. Maybe this was part of the cause??
Early last week, my truck stumbled and then came back within a few seconds and ran fine. I had thrown a code (P2146) for the injector circuit. Fact:Never was able to clear it, did not have a code reader. Everything was fine so I got lazy again. maybe this was leading to my demise??
Thursday: trucks volt gauge showed 8. Gauge was not working (like when the truck is off), and a multimeter showed 11. 5 at the battery which SHOULD have told me something deeper was wrong, but what the heck, I am a mechanic, and KNEW everything would be unicorns and rainbows once I changed the ALTERNATOR, and there was no need to TEST it first, just replace it.
Fact: I was in too dang much of a hurry to "fix" my truck that I should have had my alternator tested FIRST, I KNOW BETTER, WTH is wrong with me?? I guess all I was thinking of is "man I have gotta get back to work, I cannot afford to be down right now!!"
Fact 2: I should have looked here first, OK I did'nt, and found out in my 911 post AFTER the fact, what I SHOULD HAVE NEVER DONE with a old school backyard test, and how to properly diagnose these newer diesels. Maybe I fried the ECM, maybe I get to confident, but the point now is I need to make sure I am doing the right thing now.
So I am ready to accept my idiot actions that probably caused this, face the facts with an expensive lesson learned & plop down some $$ to get an ECM, and have it overnighted to me.
Does this sound like the right direction? (I don't really trust the dealers word). I have searched & found on this forum a way to check the power and grounds for the ECM, but it was for a '03 truck. Is the pin locations the same for a '05? The fuses are all fine, the fusable links "look" fine, all the other accessories in the truck work, except I blew the low beam headlights, (they were on) when I pulled the battery cable off trick while the truck was running, & none of the gauges work as well as I cannot pull any codes with the KO/KO cycle. The "C-code" in the instrument cluster all seems to check out fine too.
One other thing to mention, when I was pulling the ECM off the engine, the larger of the two connectors seemed to be "loose". Not that it was falling off, but the bolt holding on seemed to be easy to back out with out the ratchet and I pulled it right off, whereas the other plug was on pretty tight and took some wiggling to get off. Do you think there is any possability that this could have started the whole problem and the arc from the cable being pulled off the battery just finished it??
Sorry for the long post, but it helps to vent as well. This is an expensive mistake, and if it helps someone in the future here, then it is worth it.
My truck, 2005 3500 4x4, will not start, no lift pump activation, nor grid heaters. After towing it to the dealer, according to them, the ECM will not respond or communicate to the scanner. OK, I have searched another forum, read a long post about how the ECM CAN be made to respond etc, but time is not on my side to go back and forth with the dealer and trying to "educate them".
I need to have this truck running ASAP, it is how I make my living in the Oil field. No truck = no paycheck. OK, past that. The dealer wants $2300 for an ECM. I can't do that, so I have found a rebuilt one online with a lifetime warranty, from a ECM exchange place for under $700 bucks.
If you can politely educate me, I just want to be clear this is what I need with the problems I have had:
Three months ago, my pass battery died, so I just unhoked it and used my drivers side with absolutly no problems.
Fact: Payday is a ways off, then you get lazy since "everything" is running OK. Maybe this was part of the cause??
Early last week, my truck stumbled and then came back within a few seconds and ran fine. I had thrown a code (P2146) for the injector circuit. Fact:Never was able to clear it, did not have a code reader. Everything was fine so I got lazy again. maybe this was leading to my demise??
Thursday: trucks volt gauge showed 8. Gauge was not working (like when the truck is off), and a multimeter showed 11. 5 at the battery which SHOULD have told me something deeper was wrong, but what the heck, I am a mechanic, and KNEW everything would be unicorns and rainbows once I changed the ALTERNATOR, and there was no need to TEST it first, just replace it.
Fact: I was in too dang much of a hurry to "fix" my truck that I should have had my alternator tested FIRST, I KNOW BETTER, WTH is wrong with me?? I guess all I was thinking of is "man I have gotta get back to work, I cannot afford to be down right now!!"
Fact 2: I should have looked here first, OK I did'nt, and found out in my 911 post AFTER the fact, what I SHOULD HAVE NEVER DONE with a old school backyard test, and how to properly diagnose these newer diesels. Maybe I fried the ECM, maybe I get to confident, but the point now is I need to make sure I am doing the right thing now.
So I am ready to accept my idiot actions that probably caused this, face the facts with an expensive lesson learned & plop down some $$ to get an ECM, and have it overnighted to me.
Does this sound like the right direction? (I don't really trust the dealers word). I have searched & found on this forum a way to check the power and grounds for the ECM, but it was for a '03 truck. Is the pin locations the same for a '05? The fuses are all fine, the fusable links "look" fine, all the other accessories in the truck work, except I blew the low beam headlights, (they were on) when I pulled the battery cable off trick while the truck was running, & none of the gauges work as well as I cannot pull any codes with the KO/KO cycle. The "C-code" in the instrument cluster all seems to check out fine too.
One other thing to mention, when I was pulling the ECM off the engine, the larger of the two connectors seemed to be "loose". Not that it was falling off, but the bolt holding on seemed to be easy to back out with out the ratchet and I pulled it right off, whereas the other plug was on pretty tight and took some wiggling to get off. Do you think there is any possability that this could have started the whole problem and the arc from the cable being pulled off the battery just finished it??
Sorry for the long post, but it helps to vent as well. This is an expensive mistake, and if it helps someone in the future here, then it is worth it.
