Hey Guys, New to the Forum, but not new to Cummins diesel trucks. I limped my Cummins home on idle as this is all it would do. 2002 Dodge Cummis 4x4 6 speed manual. Basically stock, except for Smarty programmer and Airdog 100 fuel pump along with pillar gauges to monitor. 

 

Host of codes showing up when I read them off my Smarty programmer. I swear I have a bad ground or something of that nature, but I don't know where else to look. I'm almost at my wits end!

Things I have already done:

Cleaned battery terminals both batteries.

Replaced APPS with Timbo

Replaced MAP sensor-Factory Cummins part

Replaced IAT sensor -Factory Cummins part

 

Truck will not rev. up. If it does it will only rev. for a few seconds then "cut out". Rough idle like never before.

 

CEL light lit up along with temp. gauge going "crazy" right to 240 degrees at "start up" then goes back to "zero" back and forth. Then "Check Engine " light comes on and goes off.

 

These are the codes I'm pulling:

 

P1488-Aux. 5 volt too low

P0606-ECM failure

P0575-Cruise switch failure shorted

P0342- Dont know what this is?

P1286- Don't know what this is?

P0562-Charging system too low 

P0117-ETC sensor too low

 

I don't know where else to look or do? I think I have a bad ground somewhere? Please help. Thank you!

 

 

Mostly identical to my ECM failure. Have to agree with the others on a new being needed.

Countyguy- I got my ECM from Flight Systems Electronic Group. They rebuild these ECM's 100% and stand behind them with a 1 year warranty and unlimited mileage. Here is their website https://www.fseg.net/

 

They have been building electronics for Aerospace programs for 40 years according to their website. No other ECM rebuilder even comes close to these guys. They charge $800 for our 2nd generation ECM's.

 

They program it for your truck so you don't have to go to the Dodge dealer to get your new ECM flashed. It truely is "Lock and load" ready to go right out of the box.  

On 4/5/2017 at 9:29 PM, winch_warrior said:

Countyguy- I got my ECM from Flight Systems Electronic Group. They rebuild these ECM's 100% and stand behind them with a 1 year warranty and unlimited mileage. Here is their website https://www.fseg.net/

 

They have been building electronics for Aerospace programs for 40 years according to their website. No other ECM rebuilder even comes close to these guys. They charge $800 for our 2nd generation ECM's.

 

They program it for your truck so you don't have to go to the Dodge dealer to get your new ECM flashed. It truely is "Lock and load" ready to go right out of the box.  

This sounds like good news. Did you send yours  in ?, a direct swap ?. Details.details. I have read many a horror story involving the repair of these units and hopefully this company is better.

 

Dave

Just an update to all. Thanks for the help. I ordered my Ecm from Flagship One out of NY. Installed last night and all is good. My alternator was rebuilt by a local rebuilding shop called Fondy auto and electric. It was the reason my Ecm went bad. Good luck to all keeping our trucks on the road 

Thank you for posting up the information I'm sure it will help others. 

Well Ecm is working as normal after day 1. Except cruise control doesn't work. When switch on steering wheel is pressed to turn on the cruise, light in the odometer doesn't come on the company I bought the ecm from says that is not an issue with the ecm because cruise control is a function of the pcm. I have looked over the wiring diagram and found that pin #22 from the ecm goes to the cruise control circuit. And pins 5, 6, and 11 from the pcm also go to the cruise control system. Any help would be appreciated so I can have some firepower if I need it. I will be sending them an email tonight with this information. The cruise even worked when my Ecm was failing. I am planning to install my junk ecm and see if I can verify this. 

Edited April 13, 20178 yr by Countyguy
Information

I went the rebuild route about 7 years ago. Bad experience, the first did not work at all and the replacement worked. All but the cruise control. My light stayed on all the time but the cruise did not function. Drove it like that for a year until that ECM failed. Put in a reman from Cummins and all was and is still well. The PCM  might have something to do with also but the ECM has a big hand in it too. I am not electronically savvy enough to know how they interact but a proper ECM brought mine back. I would say if you put the junk one and the cruise works, they have a problem. I just hope that "they" dont try and stick you with it.

 

It is possible that they may be thinking of an auto tranny. As I remember the autos might all run off of the vacuum system where the late model 2nd gen manual trans are fly by wire. Not sure on that but someone here knows for sure.

It's a function of both units. Being the PCM creates the control for throttle but the ECM has to receive the signal.  Like @dripley points out if the ECM isn't setup right it will cause issues. I've seen this before with a few others. It's still a ECM problem that causes the cruise issue.

I have not signed in here for a couple of years but I can tell you that P0606 code is NOT the death of your ECM. I had exactly the same code plus P0123 for the APPS voltage. I bought a junkyard ECM  and had Northland Dodge in Prince George install it. There were no ECM's in ALL of CANADA! The mechanic, Dave,  told me there was a problem programming my VIN into the junkyard ECM but I had an Email from Bob Wagner at Smarty the day before. I had been considering a Smarty to do my own software VIN update. Bob said there are two copies of the ECM software in EEPROM  and when you do a "Recovery Procedure " on the ECM it will take the factory VIN from the ABS braking module  and and join it with the backup image and write it into the "Operating image". There was  "Bingo" in mechanic Dave's mind when I told him this and he did it and it made the junkyard  ECM work that day. Dave owned an identical truck to mine so I was confident with him and the service counter let me talk to him freely. By the way our software tools at the Dodge dealer is two generations old now and many are being sold off by dealers.

 

Two weeks later and I have the same code INCLUDING  P0606  which everyone here said is a guaranteed death of ECM.  Not so.  The OEM APPS unit is   an active component with 4 operational amplifiers that appears to take the average of four physical wipers on the potentiometer (I am surmising by what I saw under the seal). I lost the hermetic seal on the APPS  and frost formed on the thin film pot surface  and electrically  put the ECM 5 volt supply into current limit and set the P0606 code. The ECM had it's 5V supply dragged down by the APPS and set the P0606 code in my mind as I am an electrical engineer that used to design microprocessor boards.  I changed to a simple Timbo APPS (which is really just a WILLIAMS passive potentiometer, no active solid state components ) and no further problem.  I still have my original  perfectly okay ECM sitting beside me as I write this but the junkyard one has cold high idle which I prefer so I keep original ECM  as spare. No further problem for last two years.  By the way, by luck only my Cummins engine number was only about 200 diference from the donor ECM - pure luck.

Edited April 13, 20178 yr by balsip

I would not disagree that the 606 is absolute no more than a 216 is positive death of a VP. If it shows and you have other symptoms of failing ECM it can be pretty definite. Never hurts to do some diagnostics though.

 Odd thing for me when mine went I had no 606 code. I had many other high and low voltage codes for almost every sensor in the truck. Timbo apps do not help either. The truck was undriveable on a public street. The first rebuilt ECM i got did not work but it did spit out a 606 code. The replacement did work for a little over a year and then it died. So in my case no code but a dead ECM.

Absolutely agree with above.  All I am saying it is so difficult to have a hard and absolute rule that a particular trouble code means an absolute particular hardware failure.  Often it can be incidental as I have learned the hard way when I have written diagnostic software myself. I absolutely think this is best diesel site  with Michael so dedicated to teaching and advising us on how to handle diesel truck problems. I  only bought a vacuum pump and gauge set for HVAC  problems because of Michael's excellent write-ups. Paid for itself several times already.

One of the biggest things I have learned here is that most codes are not absolute. They point you in a direction but it is still up to the end user to see where it takes you. With help from the members here I have been able to solve most of my problems and some just on my own. My truck runs HAPPY!!!!

Another update. Truck ran fine with new Ecm. No cruise control. Company admitted to sending an Ecm for an automatic transmission truck. 

That is probably the issue I had with my second one. Are they going to send you another one that matches your truck? 

They are sending a new unit. Talking with the mechanics I work with they think it should have been able to be enabled through the programming but they are not sure on this particular application. 

This is what turned me against internet rebuilders. My experience was bad. Took me  a while to pull the trigger on the ECM being the problem. Then when I did I got a piece of crap for a replacement not to mention they told me my core was no good and I lost that money. When the first one did not work I had to wait 6 weeks to get one that did. In the mean time I am renting a car. It just sucked and I hope yours turns out much better than my experience.

 

On top of waiting for the second one, it only lasted about 13 months and I was back to square one.

Edited April 27, 20177 yr by dripley

I couldn't find anyone in Wisconsin that rebuilds ecms. I have found out that this particular Ecm is prone to the processor going bad. I have been searching for someone to fix my old one so I can have a spare. Seems I find lots of negative comments about anyone I find on the internet. I am going to go to the local cummins shop and see if they know anybody in the area. 

 

Flagship One is the company I am working with right now for my replacement will see how they treat me through this process maybe I will give them a shot at the rebuild if the price is right. 

Edited April 28, 20177 yr by Countyguy

1 hour ago, Countyguy said:

I couldn't find anyone in Wisconsin that rebuilds ecms. I have found out that this particular Ecm is prone to the processor going bad. I have been searching for someone to fix my old one so I can have a spare. Seems I find lots of negative comments about anyone I find on the internet. I am going to go to the local cummins shop and see if they know anybody in the area. 

 

Flagship One is the company I am working with right now for my replacement will see how they treat me through this process maybe I will give them a shot at the rebuild if the price is right. 

If you don't mind me asking what does a replacement ecm cost?

Edited April 28, 20177 yr by abner99

Mine started out at $500. Then they refused my core, + $200 more. Then the first one did not work, + 5 or 6 weeks of a rental car. Then the second died and left me on the road. $100 tow bill + $1400 for a Cummins rebuild and programming + $100 for a core since mine was no good. That's $2900 plus the rental car which I have long since forgotten what I spent. Thats my story. Went thru all of that because I did not want to pay the dealer $2500 for one. This was almost 8 years ago.

 I cant tell you who or how to pick a rebuilder but be very careful. Find out all you can about one and hopefully others have had good experiences with whom ever. @Countyguy might be on to someone just have to wait and see. He is having some similar problems to what I had.

Part of the problem is these companies can pay to have their customers reviews edited. Take out the bad put in the good.