Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Factory ECM has fast idle option in cold weather

[stephen bolger]

Want dealer did he buy his truck from. Mountveiw dodge or Bridgecity. I pass through lethbridge alot.

 

[pete b]

I just spoke with my dealer concerning TSB 18-019-01... he claimed that it is not covered... so I must pay... what did you do to get it paid for?

thanks

pete

 

[stephen bolger]

Ihad to pay $42. 00 cdn so it should be about $25 usd for you.

My dealership said the same because it is an option.

 

[David_VT]

Was covered and truck out of warranty

After I showed the service writer the labor part number from the TSB that I printed from Dave Fritz's site, he entered it in the DC computer and it accepted it. I was not charged for the 1/2 hour labor.



I assume it was against the engine warranty and that is why the computer accepted it.

 

[DFormstone]

Flash under warranty provided?

I had mine done in Edmonton with no charges. It is covered under warranty provided you have some of the "Bumper to Bumper" warranty left. In other words 60,000 Km or 36 months whichever comes first.

Hope this is of some help.

 

[JyRO]

Worked yet...

Has anyone's idle up feature actually worked yet? Please let us know. Thanks.



- JyRO

 

[Amianthus]

Here's the scoop. It IS covered under the engine warranty. If you print out the TSB from Fritz's site, you will see the accounting information at the end of the TSB. This is the information the dealer needs for reimbursement. Unless you are out of the 100,000 mile (160,000 km ) warrantee, YOU SHOULD NOT PAY FOR THIS RE-FLASH. One exception to this is if your engine ECM warrantee has been voided. Then you might have to pay. But other than that, it IS covered. No matter what the dealer tells you. If you've had it done and you paid, call DC and get your money back.

 

[Mschevey]

MPG after reflash

Here are the numbers I get as far as MPG befor and after This reflash.



Before , Normal 15. 5 , Highway 17. 6

After , Normal 16. 3 , Highway 17. 2



These numbers are from manual calculations at fuel fillups. I have 4. 10 gears. (not sure if that is in sig. line) All driving was with no load or minimal load.



If you want more details let me know.



Here is one thing regarding milage, if the feature activates. You WILL use more fuel idleing! Especially if the 3 cylinders shut down. Any time you increase the RPM or make the engine work harder it will use more fuel. (3 cylinders working a little WILL burn more fuel than 6 cylinders with no load. )

 

[pete b]

Free???

I only have 7000 miles on the truck and the dealer still claims

that I must pay. He claims that it is not covered unless the truck has a problem. Any ideas? I don't mind paying, but I am tired of dealers that know nothing, and offer everything at a price.

 

[JStemann]

Same problem here





I made my appointment today. I've got a little over 7k on my truck, they would only give me an appointment if I gave them a problem. So, I read from the TSB that my problem was "varnish and oils condensing on the valve stems which was leading to stuck valves and damaged valvetrain components. "



This is the 2nd time I've been into the service area @ the DC dealer where I bought the truck. If I had known how the service dept was, I probably wouldn't have bought at this place.



Anyway, I'll let you know if they do the TSB or come up with some more excuses.



jeff

 

[David_VT]

Survey on this upgrades functionality

Please post to this survey regarding your success or not with the high idle feature:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27249



Hopefully someone will report that it works for them!

 

[Texas Diesel]

Someone here posted something about DC having to "enable" the ECM update AFTER they reflash it. Perhaps that is what not getting done... Any more info on that?

 

[JStemann]

Ok, I got the flash done today. Covered under warranty. Now I just have to wait for the cold weather to get here.



They didn't want to do the flash for me at all. Finally had to complain of rough idle and no idle-up when cold. Then they reluctantly did the TSB.



Now, if it will just work

 

[Ron Moss]

I had it done cost me $77 at my local dealer,has'nt been cold enough to see if it work's. My truck is a 99 with 43000 miles,told them it should be covered under enginr warr. they said no so i payed,complained still had to pay. Where is the best dealer in central Michigan?Mine is not such a good dealer Who do I talk to about getting my money back?

 

[DFormstone]

Cold enough but no work

According to my o/head console temp reading it was -3 deg C, my truck had been sitting overnight so engine should have been cold enough. When I started it the idle stayed at 800 rpm. Texas Diesel mentioned something about activating the software is there anything to that?

 

[JyRO]

I'm waiting...

Howdy!



Sounds like a cool upgrade, if it would actually work. I haven't heard of anyone's working yet.



Maybe I'm overly paranoid, but couldn't DC be holding a carrott in front of our faces in order to get us hard core Cummins owner's into the shop so that they can use information that they get from the ECM's on our trucks to use against us, in case of future warranty claims? Or maybe they're uploading some other sneaky programs onto our ECM's that we are not aware of.



Generally I'd think that they are only uploading information to the ECM, but since (so far) nobody's high idle is working. Could DC be up to something? Just a thought...



- JyRO

 

[Texas Diesel]

I talked to a friend that works for a DC dealership and he said he thought the update was two step process, reflash AND seperate software enable. He will check it out and let me know for sure early next week.

 

[David_VT]

Nothing from Cummins on this yet

I sent a message to the cummins email address (via their website). In the past they were quick to respond.



I wanted more info on the process since mine (and all others) still don't seem to be functional yet.



Nothing heard yet and that was over a week ago.



To those having to pay for the upgrade, I noticed that someone called DC and was being sent a refund from DC. Perhaps that is a way to pursue it?



I guess I will wait for a very cold day and take the truck down to the dealer for the mechanic to investigate. The problem is that this is so new I was actually giving him 'how to' information that should have come to him from DC.



Ah nothing like the 'bleeding edge'.....

 

[RATTLINRAM]

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS,,,,,

After 3 trips to the dealer and 3 unreturned phone calls, I stopped by there yesterday and they said they had the software finally. I asked if it was covered under warranty and the reply was NO. I didn't have the TSB with me so I called them when I got back home and read the last page to them with the labor code. The answer was "Give us your phone number and we will get back to you when we find something out".

After hearing about other guys having it done and so far, NOBODY has reported it working, I'm leaning more against doing mine. I think I would rather spend the money for one of the high idler kits on the market than get this flash that might not work and maybe even cause problems in the future that can only be serviced by a dealer. ( You can't make adjustments on the ECM with a screwdriver & hammer can you??)

At least you can take an aftermarket part back off if you think it might be the cause of a problem down the road. Oh well, I really thoght it was a neat idea when I first read about it.

 

[Dave Fritz]

Texas Diesel is correct. From the TSB:



"NOTE: ONCE THE VEHICLE HAS BEEN REPROGRAMMED TO THE PROPER SOFTWARE LEVEL, YOU MUST USE THE DRB III TO ENABLE THE 3 CYLINDER IDLE FEATURE. "



Instructions for how to enable the idle feature is included in the bulletin, but you have to have the scan tool to do it.



Dave - Still waiting for my dealer to get their software update installed.