Reflash ECM

[CTD 600]

Would it be worth going to the dealership and getting the ECM reflashed? What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? I have not had my truck reflashed so I don't know what it might do. I realize there is a TSB out for the 04. 5's. I am just thinking why fix it if it works?

 

[JStieger]

Would it be worth going to the dealership and getting the ECM reflashed? What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? I have not had my truck reflashed so I don't know what it might do. I realize there is a TSB out for the 04. 5's. I am just thinking why fix it if it works?

I've had 2 reflashes done on my truck. The first one was for the C02 safety recall reflash due to the cruise control not disengaging for some early '03 rigs. The second reflash was when I was having tons of fuel system problems. I wanted to take any ECM issues out of the picture in terms of diagnosing the fuel system so I had the dealer reflash the ECM. The reflash took and - voila! - I still had the fuel system problems, but it definitely ruled out the ECM!



I have no regrets about doing this because:

1) I ran a Bully Dog Power Pup before this and it reflashes your ECM with a new program and "allegedly" retains your stock program. Apparently, some people on here and DTR have found that this may not be the case and that the BDDL had its own generic stock program. So one can either take this with a grain of salt or one can believe it. I just wanted to take this out of scope of diagnosing my fuel system.

2) The reflash makes my fuel gauge come up instantly after a fill-up instead of taking 5 minutes to register full. This was a small "win"!



So in short, if everything is running fine, I wouldn't mess with it (unless it involves a bigger turbo, clutch, more power and/or some feature you want such as high idle via cruise control )

 

[klenger]

My mileage went up 1-2 MPG after the reflash for mileage. Now that it's loosened up some more, I'm currently getting around 20 MPG around town.

 

[BGlidewell]

a funny thing happened on the way home from the dealer.



I had the truck in to replace the CSPS and asked about a re-flash to fix smoke on my 05. Service manager said, "nah, theres nothing like that for your truck. "



My truck used to smoke really bad at 3/4 to WOT, so bad I put a turn-down tip on it to keep it clean. Now there is absolutely NO SMOKE even at WOT. :idunno:

 

[CTD 600]

So I take it I should get my truck reflashed?

 

[MChildress]

Had mine done almost a year ago no regrets and milage came up a little.

 

[Dieselhed]

I agree. Had mine done and glad I did. I had the smoke and rough idle problem though. If you don't have that, don't do it.

 

[sarj]

So I take it I should get my truck reflashed?

yes.

.

 

[BHolm]

I had an early '05 that was eligible for the same milage/white smoke reflash. I never had it done, drove the truck 30k miles without incident. Towards the end I was getting 17-18mpg empty. There were a few that felt they lost power after the flash. My truck was running great so I didn't chance it. On the other hand, lots of guys seemed to pick up 1-2mpg, your call.