Had the aggravating flashing WTS light this morning. Just drove my truck home last night to use for work today. ACS just rebuilt the ECM three months ago. I bet I don't have 300 miles on the truck since having it rebuilt. Not sure what to make of this. Prior to installing the rebuilt ECM I did the ground mod and upgraded the ground wire size. I haven't contacted ACS yet, but I will definitely be sending the ECM in for testing. Fortunately I have a spare ECM from a 2001 I can use but I just won't have a working oil pressure gauge. I am considering buying a used ECM.

 

Does anyone think moisture has anything do with it? When the ECM went out it was raining and this morning there was a a lot of dew. 

Call ACS on warranty. Then you might get a clue on what to test for or look for.

And apparently I posted this in the 3rd gen section................so please move to the 2nd gen section.

Moved as requested...

 

Sent ACS an email.

 

Definitely an ECM issue. I just threw the 2001 ECM on the truck and drove back to work.

 

Can't read codes from the old ECM since there is no communication. Only PCM codes are P1694, P1693, and P1687 Guess I'll wait to here from ACS.

Edited July 27, 20195 yr by gipperkid

I'm wondering about the wiring harness? 

5 hours ago, pepsi71ocean said:

I'm wondering about the wiring harness? 

I've been driving the truck on the 01 ecm for three days now. 

 

I am getting worried about ACS though. Emailed them Thursday morning, called Thursday afternoon and the guy said "Yeah, I got your email, our techs have been busy. If you don't get a reply by the end of the day you will in the morning." No email or phone call yesterday. I just see this going the wrong way and ACS saying they won't warranty the ecm.

They will take care of you. Keep being persentence. 

 

My experience is they wont take care of you

My truck runs , have a good ecm

Sent spare one in for repair , got it back , they said they replaced a lot , including main processor

It didn't work , still had codes locked in it , wouldn't clear ,wont start

Sent it for warranty , they sent it back with a tag unrepairable , reason main processor , no offer of discount on replacement as warranty clearly says

E-mailed them , they never contacted me again

Easier for my blood pressure to forget it 

They are no different

Reply from ACS:

 

After reviewing your file, your Unit tested Good after repairs were complete.  Communication documentation attached.

 

Per Tech Notes -  "There is a short in Vehicle, must check and repair before installing repaired or replacement unit".

 

Repairs performed:

• New Flash Chip
• Replaced App and Lift Pump Circuit
• Reflowed CPU and Processor 
• Flashed with latest updates

There must be a short in the vehicle still.  This is why you are able to run your vehicle with a spare unit, over time the short in the vehicle will damage the spare unit as well if you do not repair short.

 

This is not covered under Warranty.  We can repair this unit again (at a prorated charges of $75.00 + Shipping) or you can purchase a replacement unit ($699.99 with the exchange of your old core).  However, you will have the same issue if short in vehicle is not repaired.

 

ACS

 

Attachments area

 

 

 

On 7/27/2019 at 2:31 AM, pepsi71ocean said:

I'm wondering about the wiring harness? 

Based on ACS's reply, I will check the harness, but I think they are trying to find a way out of a warranty claim. What and how on the harness do I go about checking/testing?

4 hours ago, gipperkid said:

Based on ACS's reply, I will check the harness, but I think they are trying to find a way out of a warranty claim. What and how on the harness do I go about checking/testing?

 

I had a Chrysler 200 I puled the wiring harness out of the car. I stripped it out of the case and found an area where two wires were rubbing together.  I'd seek more clarification on which circuit is going bad, then pull the harness and start checking the wiring with a volt meter.

possibly an ohm meter, and a helping hand to wiggle the harness....may take a while to locate, but doable

Yes, definitely will be a task. But it would nice if ACS could tell me what circuit is bad and I could just start there. But I honestly don't see how I have a short. I have put another 110 miles running on the spare ecm and there are no issues.

 

Just because my ecm bench tested fine after repairs, their repair could have failed. 

On 7/30/2019 at 7:36 AM, Stormin08 said:

possibly an ohm meter, and a helping hand to wiggle the harness....may take a while to locate, but doable

 

I've tried that, it rarely works that way.

Shipped my ECM back to ACS yesterday. They will have it today. Hopefully they can at least give me some idea what happened. I still say it's possible their repair failed. But I'm sure I'll still end up having to pay for a prorated warranty repair. However as luck would have it, I came across an ECM with my same ID number.

On 8/2/2019 at 11:29 AM, gipperkid said:

Shipped my ECM back to ACS yesterday. They will have it today. Hopefully they can at least give me some idea what happened. I still say it's possible their repair failed. But I'm sure I'll still end up having to pay for a prorated warranty repair. However as luck would have it, I came across an ECM with my same ID number.

 

Keep me posted. I'm curious to see as well.

 

 my brother developed a really bad voltage issue when one of his grounds failed. The instrument cluster was getting like 5 volts, the car would die on bumps and the ECM would shut down.

 

Fixed bad ground and cluster was back to 12v and the ECM was running fine. It was really odd how the car still managed to run when it was grounding through the motor mounts!

ACS emailed back with their findings:

 

"We received your unit and it is blown again. 

 

There is a short in (vehicle) that is causing "Wait to Start" flashing.  Possible causes; short in PIN 37, wrong programming or low voltage upon crank.  Repairs are not covered under Warranty.

 

We will again provide the following repairs for a discounted rate of $75.00 + shipping; new Flash Chip, replace App and Lift Pump Circuit, reflow CPU and Processor and flash with latest updates.  If you repair or replace this unit and have the same issues, it will not be covered under warranty.

 

If you decide not to have repairs done from ACS, we will give you a discounted Test fee of $35 + Shipping.

 

Please advise as to next steps.

 

Thanks

ACS"

 

Does this seem possible? I'm still running on the spare ECM. Regardless I'm going to have my ECM fixed again.

Does sound sketchy, but anything is possible. Sorry no good answers here.

10 hours ago, gipperkid said:

ACS emailed back with their findings:

 

"We received your unit and it is blown again. 

 

There is a short in (vehicle) that is causing "Wait to Start" flashing.  Possible causes; short in PIN 37, wrong programming or low voltage upon crank.  Repairs are not covered under Warranty.

 

We will again provide the following repairs for a discounted rate of $75.00 + shipping; new Flash Chip, replace App and Lift Pump Circuit, reflow CPU and Processor and flash with latest updates.  If you repair or replace this unit and have the same issues, it will not be covered under warranty.

 

If you decide not to have repairs done from ACS, we will give you a discounted Test fee of $35 + Shipping.

 

Please advise as to next steps.

 

Thanks

ACS"

 

Does this seem possible? I'm still running on the spare ECM. Regardless I'm going to have my ECM fixed again.

 

We'll I'd pull the instrument cluster and then check the wiring between the cluster and the ECM. Then I'd look at the cranking voltage and see what it gets down to when cranking. I'd pull the vp44 relay in the box and crank it over. 

 

I'd wonder about that. Either could be an issue, but so could be ac blow by from there alternator or the grounds being dirty better the cluster and the passenger side battery where the ECM ground is. 

Gipper,

 

I hope you find it.  I am pretty sure they can tell too much amperage flowed through pin 37.  Here is the wiring diagram for an 01.  That wire goes through three junctions and goes near the steering column. so good potential for issues.  It is a computer output going to a driver, so it should only see a small amount of amperage flow.

 

Disconnect the ECM and pull the cluster and check to see if you have continuity to ground on the orange/black wire.  If you do, its in the wiring.  It will be harder to troubleshoot the cluster itself.  hope that it is in the wiring.

 

GL

 

Hag

2001 FSM Ram 8w-30-34.pdf