[trekbkr03]

Ok to start off with the problems...

1. I had been having high EGT's all the time and couldn't get over 24 pounds of boost. Previous posts about this.. But I ended up replacing my fuel delivery pump.

2.. About a month ago I had my guys at Line-x pull my Bullydog monitor off and send it in to get refurbished. When they were pulling it off they didn't tighten my batteries all the way back up.. the next day I had 20,000 pounds behind me and my truck died in the middle of the road. Pulled the hood and where they had left it loose my battery cable had been sparking and fried my passenger side battery (literally burned a hole in it and almost caught my truck on fire). I took my jumper cables and put them on the good battery and then hooked it up to the starter solonoid to be able to get the truck off the road and unloaded. Had to drive about 30 minutes like that.

After this my truck started acting really crazy. Passenger side lights were staying on all the time.. had to pull the fuse.

3. I took it to my local diesel shop and the money began just falling out of my pocket.. 5 weeks later and nothing has been really delt with. We replaced both batteries, replaced fuel filters, replaced fuel delivery pump. Each time they would think they had it fixed.. the check engine light would be off after they cleared the codes and then you go out and actually get into the truck (ie 2500+rpm) and wala check engine light is back on. OR it would just come on while your driving down the road. After replacing the fuel delivery pump they decided I was having computer issues. During all of this I had my bullydog pulled and sent off to get refurbished. I had it reinstalled but not programmed.

4. Took it to the stealership about a week ago and had it flashed. Holy cow, it was a new truck, pulled great, ran great.. it had never had that much power except right when I had bought it. I decided I didn't want to program it but I wanted to see what kind of boost I was getting. Plugged the monitor in and everything looked good.. building 30+ pounds of boost etc. 30 minutes later check engine light back on. Unplugged monitor. Light stayed on for the next four days. I decided what the heck its not going off but I wanted to know how my boost and EGT's were doing while driving. Plugged it back in and then ALL of my dash lights came on, Parking brake light, ABS light, Security light and check engine light.

Today... I am so ticked off that I broke down and took it to the dealership here in Lexington. The tech I spoke with thought it was my ECM. He said he has seen a bunch of trucks in there that had there ECM fried from BD stuff. I JUST SPENT $100 for a new monitor and WTH it just fried my truck. On my way to the dealership I couldn't even get my truck over 55mph.

My questions...

Could this by my ECM?
If it is ECM can I buy an aftermarket one?
Could I have an injector pump that has gone out?
What should I be looking for?
Has anyone else ever had something like this happen? Frustrated as all get out.. I have spent more time and money in the last 6 months on the most expensive truck I have ever bought in my life.. that just doesnt make sense to me...

 

[trekbkr03]

Truck info.. 2006 Ram 3500 DRW 4x4 with 108K, manual trans.. BD TD with outlook (PO$) monitor

 

[trekbkr03]

Just got off the phone with the stealership and apparently none of my modules (abs parking brake etc..) are communicating with the ECM. They said that they think it is a short somewhere and they are going to start tracing all of the wires back before they want to replace an ECM... She said NOTHING is communicating though. Could my BD have made this happen?!

 

[cerberusiam]

Yes, it could be the ECM.

Yes, it could be a short.

Yes, the Bully Dog could have messed things up.

Yes, you can buy an ECU form someone other than a dealer and have it programmed for a lot less the dealer wants.

 

[trekbkr03]

BD gave me a new version on the monitor.. would that have caused some of this? I mean it was a brand new monitor!

The dealer is going back through everything right now to try to figure out where the short is.. I have a feeling this is going to cost me an arm and a leg!

 

[cerberusiam]

If the monitor is bad or the cord is bad and you plug it into the data port and short something, yeah it could have.

The mechanic is right though, been a few of the ECM's just crapping out for no good reason.

FYI, I hold my breath every time I plug into the data port with anything.

 

[trekbkr03]

Any idea where I can buy a good ECM from, if it comes to it? I have found a bunch of "refurb" sites but idk.. always sketched out about buying stuff with no credentials. For some reason I haven't been able to get the search function on the site to work in the last 24hrs...

 

[steelhead01]

the best will be new from Dodge.
the refurbs are all risky, many suffer main 12v batt supply damage which weakens solid state devices on the board.
the refurb companys only do short burn in test period.

 

[07Bighorn]

Yes it can be the ECM, send a PM over to Les (2007 5.9) he had the same thing happen to him when they were testing a BD system on the dyno in the shop, he can help give you some pointers of what needs to be done to get the original ECM to get all the proper codes from the TIPM, and the ABS and the ECM...
CANBUS is a Biotch!!!

When Cummins6speed and I swapped trannies we ran into similar issues.. but got things resolved without having to buy new ECM's

 

[Cekkent]

I'd like to point out that Chrysler never intended for people to buy and plug in random "black boxes" to improve the output of the engine. Therefore, Chrysler has never released interface specs for their electronics, other than what the CAN bus specification lists, and because of this it's difficult to create an unknown black box to modify engine parameters when you don't know the electrical specs of the system you're interfacing to.

Has anyone had ECM problems where they DIDN'T have arbitrary junk plugged into their truck's network?

 

[trekbkr03]

part of my problem

So I heard back from the stealership today AND...

Apparently when the Dodge dealership here in Somerset flashed my computer they entered in the wrong VIN# into my ECM. Hence creating problems on top of problems but this was part of the reason it was not talking with any of the modules in my truck. So they had to completely reprogram everything.. from head to toe..

Next problem, my fuel pressure release valve had blown..

Next problem, my #6 injector was down...

Next problem, my clutch and flywheel were going out ( I already new this but I know I can get many many more miles out of her!arty018

The bill without fixing my tranny came to $1,958 That is on top of the $1,500 I have spent in the last 5 weeks trying to figure this dang thing out.. I have been quoted on a new HD pulling tranny for $1,500 so I guess that will be next months truck expenses at this rate..

So we have deducted that my problems probably rooted from a combination of things..
1. My BD shorted out when I had it plugged in and spiked the ECM and fried it.
2. When my batteries shorted out it screwed something up in my ECM
OR
3. The dealership messed up my ECM by putting in the wrong VIN number

 

[trekbkr03]

SON OF A $)(*%)($%*_)*

I Just got a call from the dealer and it turns out that after they replaced my #6 injector the truck was running good untill it got hot. Turns out the injectors are returning to much fuel so now all 1-5 injectors. They are saying that this is directly linked to my Bully Dog programmer.

It's $3600 for all the injectors and labor.. BUT at this point I am not for sure what to do. I am so dang sick and tired of spending $$ on this junker.. I know I can drive it but will I not just over time burn up the #6 injector? Who has the best deals on stock injectors? Am I better off to go with stock injectors or try to find some 50hp injectors? I will be keeping the truck BONE STOCK after this event..

I was looking at Industrial Injection and they seem to have some good deals.. any thoughts?

 

[cerberusiam]

The Bully Dog did not do that, crappy fuel and lack of filtration did that to the injectors. Delaers will look for any excuse to blame the wrong thing.

Offhand Industrial Injection, Source Automotove, DDP are 3 big names. Scheids can get you what you want also.



Sorry for your luck.

 

[trekbkr03]

Next question... would my truck be OK with running 50-60hp injectors? I have intake/exhaust but I won't be running a chip on it anymore. Or am I better off just sticking with stock injectors? I have read that it's ok to run it up to 90hp injectors with a stock setup like mine BUT I want to make sure that info was right.. the last thing I can afford is to break something else...

 

[cerberusiam]

I would stay with 50 HP or less if your looking for mpg and longevity. Even if the bug bites later a set of 50's are good for over 600 HP with supporting mods.

 

[trekbkr03]

Ok well I guess back to square one.. after spending almost $2000 at the stealership they swore up and down that they had my electronic issues figured out and the only thing left was my injectors... That was Monday. Truck ran ok after picking it up but not great. Went out to start my truck at 5am this morning and my passenger side running lights were on as well as the cab lights (they did this sometime in the night by themselves!). The truck ran lowsy as crap. I could barely get it over 60mph. After like an hour of driving she got a little better and I could cruise at around 70 fairly easy. So I am thinking electronics are not fixed and my injectors are still messed up.

On my way home the truck ran great, better than even when I picked it up from the dealership, it had good power, set the cruise at 80 and she purred the whole way home. Running lights were still on but here's the kicker, you could see them almost flickering somewhat on and off while the truck was off. So that leads to me think I have a short somewhere OR could this be caused by a bad ECM? I feel like maybe my injectors might not be that bad because a month ago I got my truck flashed and it ran like a new truck after that.

Heres one other question for power loss. When they replaced my fuel delivery pump about 3 weeks ago they found a black almost coffee grind like substance on the pump. The guys at the shop cant remember if they drained the fuel or not BUT could this be algea or some type of bacteria? If that is getting through my filter could it be causing a clog in my injectors? Pardon my technical ignorance but I have seen no good answers so far so I am just trying to think outside the box to figure this out... I can't keep spending $1000/week right now.. it's about to kill me

The main power cable connecting both batteries is also staying hot while the truck is off, which worries me pretty bad. Stopped at Thoroughbred Diesel on the way home.. dropping the truck off there on Monday.. hoping these guys can figure something out