PLEASE HELP....Bad ECM?

[Turbo Kidd]

In previous posts I have asked several questions regarding my bad APPS (Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor). I was getting the code P0122. I broke down and bought and new (APPS), and I'm still getting the same code P0122. As you can imagine I am very upset and confused right now. I have spent a lot of money over the last 7,000 miles on my truck (New High Performance Trans. , APPS, and the list goes on). Instead of selling my baby, I decided since the truck is paid for, and it looks like new @ 97,000 miles that it would be worth spending the extra money and keep her on the road. I am very anal with my vehicles, and when I say the truck looks like new, I mean it look like it just came off the lot. When people see my truck they always think it is new.



Now, I want to say "Thanks to all of you members that have offered advise, comments, e-mails and phone calls. I am just amazed at how awesome this site is. The knowledge base here is ten time of any dealeship!"



So, now I'm going to ask you experts for some more help. I am at a loss here gentlemen. I want my truck fixed and I want it done right. Does anyone have any ideas of what I should be looking for now? Do any of you members live in the Chicago area, and would you be willing to help me? I'm not asking for a handout, I am willing to pay..... I'm just tired of throwing good money after bad. I'm fairly good with engines and mechanics, however, I'm not a mechanic... . I'm a Civil Engineer.



I also have one more question... . Is it possible that my ECM is bad? If so, how much are new ones? Can I get a used one, if so where and how much?





Respectfully & Sad,



Karl (TURBO KIDD) :{

 

[JJPage]

Does it have any symptoms, or is it just throwing the code?



Buy a Smarty from Bob Wagner, and it will read and clear the codes, and re-program your ecm. It has been the best tool I have ever purchased.



Jess

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Does it have any symptoms, or is it just throwing the code?



Buy a Smarty from Bob Wagner, and it will read and clear the codes, and re-program your ecm. It has been the best tool I have ever purchased.



Jess

I actually have a Smart JR, and I agree with you... . It was a GREAT purchase. The only symptoms I have had is, my truck will over rev and not make a shift every once in awhile. Also, yesterday my trcuk just didn't want to go anywhere. I started it and pressed the gas and it was like it was in neutral. I shut the truck off and restarted it and it drove fine.



I must admit that all of these problems strarted after I got my new transmission. However, I have had it in thier shop several times and they have checked evrything.



Sine the trans mission was installed i have been getting the APPS P0122 code? Is it possible it is something with the Trans or PCM that the APPS doesn't like?

 

[F-15I Ra'am]

Several questions? Did they actually rebuild your old transmission or just take it as a core and put one in that they allready had built? Were you havin any problems with the old transmission before the rebuild? When you installed the new APPS did you calibrate it right? Have you checked all the electrical connections and grounds {I would take em apart, clean them, put some dialectric grease on them and re-attach}. I doubt you need a new e. c. m. . Most likely a noise filter or better yet a D. T. T. shift enhancer would take care of your issues. So before you throw any more parts at it I would call Bill K. {even though it's not one of their trannys} and see what they say.

 

[GaryOwen]

As F15I suggested, check APPS connections and calibrate your APPS again. If you bought the APPS from Dodge, it is covered under a 12 month parts warranty. I took one back a few months ago with no problem (bought a timbo APPS special for a spare since then). I wouldn't be surprised if it is a bad APPS.



Gary

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Several questions? Did they actually rebuild your old transmission or just take it as a core and put one in that they allready had built? Were you havin any problems with the old transmission before the rebuild? When you installed the new APPS did you calibrate it right? Have you checked all the electrical connections and grounds {I would take em apart, clean them, put some dialectric grease on them and re-attach}. I doubt you need a new e. c. m. . Most likely a noise filter or better yet a D. T. T. shift enhancer would take care of your issues. So before you throw any more parts at it I would call Bill K. {even though it's not one of their trannys} and see what they say.

I will answer your questions in order:



1. ) The shop I used for my trans, rebuilt me existing tran, per my specifications.



2. ) I personally did not do the instal of the new APPS... . I did however, provide the shop the information for the installation which also included the isrtuctiond for calibration..... I will call them on Tuesday to make sure they did in fact calibrate it.



3. ) I did not check all the electrical possibilities... . I guess I'm a little challennged in that department. However, my trans builder clains he checked everything... . Again, I will call them on Tuesday.





Could you enlighten me on what a noise filter and D. T. T. shift enhancer is?



Thanks for your reply!



Karl

 

[JLandry]

Karl,



Don't give up... it's probably something small and simple.



The problem could be an intermittant loss of APPS signal between the ECM and the PCM caused by a wiring fault. The APPS signal is read by the ECM, then that signal is passed onto the PCM (located on the passenger firewall under the hood).



You need to careful go through the trouble shooting steps for a P0122 DTC found in the Dodge Powertrain Diagnostics manual (relevant pages attached). If you don't feel capable of doing this yourself, then have a reputable shop do it. You note that a P0122 DTC can be caused many things other than a failing APPS. Replacement of the APPS is actually the last thing to do after eliminating wiring faults. Without access to a code scanner (such as a Chrysler DRBIII) which can differentiate which computer (either the ECM or the PCM) is generating the P0122 DTC, you'll have to go through all the trouble shooting steps for both computers.



To be able to follow all the trouble shooting steps, you'll need a multimeter and a copy of the Dodge service manual so you can figure out which pins on the ECM and PCM connectors to probe with the multimeter.



Best of luck to you...



John L.

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Karl,



Don't give up... it's probably something small and simple.



The problem could be an intermittant loss of APPS signal between the ECM and the PCM caused by a wiring fault. The APPS signal is read by the ECM, then that signal is passed onto the PCM (located on the passenger firewall under the hood).



You need to careful go through the trouble shooting steps for a P0122 DTC found in the Dodge Powertrain Diagnostics manual (relevant pages attached). If you don't feel capable of doing this yourself, then have a reputable shop do it. You note that a P0122 DTC can be caused many things other than a failing APPS. Replacement of the APPS is actually the last thing to do after eliminating wiring faults. Without access to a code scanner (such as a Chrysler DRBIII) which can differentiate which computer (either the ECM or the PCM) is generating the P0122 DTC, you'll have to go through all the trouble shooting steps for both computers.



To be able to follow all the trouble shooting steps, you'll need a multimeter and a copy of the Dodge service manual so you can figure out which pins on the ECM and PCM connectors to probe with the multimeter.



Best of luck to you...



John L.

Thanks John..... I wish you lived closer, maybe I could just drop the truck off by you... LOL!



Thanks Again,

Karl

 

[EArp]

Turbokidd, does your transmission seem to rev and not go anywhere when you first crank the truck in the mornings? The reason I ask is because, I know it's common for our trucks to do this after not being driven for several hours until the pressure in the transmission builds up. It's like you put it in drive and hit the gas and it doesn't go anywhere. On mine, I usually let it idle in neutral for about a minute before I put it in gear to drive and this works great. My dad's truck does the same thing. I have spoken with a tech about this and he said that this is normal and pressure has to first build in the torque converter before the truck will move.

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Turbokidd, does your transmission seem to rev and not go anywhere when you first crank the truck in the mornings? The reason I ask is because, I know it's common for our trucks to do this after not being driven for several hours until the pressure in the transmission builds up. It's like you put it in drive and hit the gas and it doesn't go anywhere. On mine, I usually let it idle in neutral for about a minute before I put it in gear to drive and this works great. My dad's truck does the same thing. I have spoken with a tech about this and he said that this is normal and pressure has to first build in the torque converter before the truck will move.

Thanks for the reply EArp.



My truck does exactly what you are describing too. However, my truck just started doing this after I got my new torque converter last week? During the previous 97,000 miles it never happened..... Is this possible? Maybe, this explain some of my troubles..... The only time my truck has acted like it was in neutral while actually in gear is upon start-up and take-off. Once the truck is running, it is fine with that issue.



It appears as though my truck may have multiple issues, and this may be one I can experiment with and eliminate as an issue. However, I still have the P0122 code to deal with along with the P0700 code. Maybe a noise filter or a D. T. T. shift enhancer would take care of my issues?



Can someone elaborate exactly what the noise filter and / shift enhancer does?



Thanks Again!

Karl

 

[raychem]

It appears as though my truck may have multiple issues, and this may be one I can experiment with and eliminate as an issue. However, I still have the P0122 code to deal with along with the P0700 code. Maybe a noise filter or a D. T. T. shift enhancer would take care of my issues?



Can someone elaborate exactly what the noise filter and / shift enhancer does?



Thanks Again!

Karl

Karl,



The DTT shift enhancer and the noise filter will not apply to you. Your truck is an 03 by your signature. If that is correct your truck has a TV cable which you can adjust. The DTT shift enhancer is for the 05 and up trucks with the electronic TV actuator (TVVA) so that we can calibrate the accutator to work "more like the adjusable cable works" to make it easy to understand. The DTT noise filter is mostly for the 2nd gen trucks with the apps sensor that had many ground(negative) problem. I have never personally used one on a 3rd gen truck.



To answer your second question; yes the symptom that your experiencing at startup when cold is converter drain back. As with any built transmission, you should let your truck idle 1-2 min at startup or run the engine at idle in neutral for a min. Failure to do this can cause a premature failure of your transmission since there is not enough fuild volume in the trans to fully apply your clutches. So if you let it idle like i stated above it should take care of your problem.





Hope this helps.



Richard

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Karl,



The DTT shift enhancer and the noise filter will not apply to you. Your truck is an 03 by your signature. If that is correct your truck has a TV cable which you can adjust. The DTT shift enhancer is for the 05 and up trucks with the electronic TV actuator (TVVA) so that we can calibrate the accutator to work "more like the adjusable cable works" to make it easy to understand. The DTT noise filter is mostly for the 2nd gen trucks with the apps sensor that had many ground(negative) problem. I have never personally used one on a 3rd gen truck.



To answer your second question; yes the symptom that your experiencing at startup when cold is converter drain back. As with any built transmission, you should let your truck idle 1-2 min at startup or run the engine at idle in neutral for a min. Failure to do this can cause a premature failure of your transmission since there is not enough fuild volume in the trans to fully apply your clutches. So if you let it idle like i stated above it should take care of your problem.





Hope this helps.



Richard

Richard,



Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me. I feel much better about this issue / problem. However, I'm still worried about the two codes my truck is getting. :{



Thanks Again!

Karl

 

[rbattelle]

Karl, have you checked this?

Ryan

 

[Turbo Kidd]

Karl, have you checked this?



Ryan

Ryan,



Thanks for the heads-up on this. I will take a look at this as well. I plan to spend some tiime on my truck this week.



Thanks Again,

Karl

 

[GShail]

As far as getting another ECM goes, you should be able to get one from a salvage yard for around $200, dealer wants mucho dinero.