Like the title says I've got a 99 2500 been chasing this issue pretty much since I got the truck almost 2 years ago. Long story here I've dug and dug into research on it. Looked at other forums, looked at other pages, seen what worked. I even fixed a few when I worked at dodge by relocating the ground across the radiator. That's what led me to this site when I found out about the alternator AC issue. It made perfect sense seeing as my ECM has a bad microprocessor also. I tried all those bogus tricks. Nothing can seem to fix my truck short of a $3000 manual swap. Only one that really helped was cleaning and replacing bolts on battery terminals for about a week then it came back. I recently changed the diodes having 0.016vAC. I did the wiring mod in the process. I noticed a huge improvement. I'd say 95%. I'm still getting it after I set the cruise it'll do it only once right after vacuum grabs throttle and usually if I accelerate moderately from say 45-55 or 55-65 it'll kick out a couple times. Light throttle won't do it. Feels like same amount of throttle amount every time. Monitoring on scan tool the TC solenoid output in the PCM is still dropping out so I know it's not TC or solenoid. Tps volts look normal on the graph also. I have no doubts the tps volts is filtered so I may not see any system noise but if it lost voltage I'd see it on the graph. I'm wondering if I have an actual APPS issue. If so are aftermarket ones any good? Their electronics are usually junk

I'm not sure either. It's one of those things dodge doesn't like to tell us and star doesn't know most of the time if you make a tech case. I'd assume throttle, engine speed, veh speed, actual gear, trans and engine coolant temps. Possibly battery voltage too.

 

It's almost to the point I'd like to do a 5 or 6 speed swap if I could even find manual trucks in the yard much less a diesel or v10 with a manual

Edited March 25, 20205 yr by Recian426

Just looked at the ESM. That list is accurate the only thing I didn't list is engine vacuum is also included as a signal input. Not sure on diesel if it's still monitored as strongly. I also noted in the diag tree it says "3-4 shift occurs immediately after 2-3 shift" and lists pcm or tps issue. I do know my 1-2 is a little slow to where rpms climb and engine starts to run out of oomph for a couple seconds before shifting which I remedied this by adjusting TV cable. 2-3-4 happens pretty quick. I'll check more tomorrow. I know it's Not necessary  "immediately" . Truck likes to pull like a SOB once 4th and lockup are in. 1-4 no lockup it doesn't pull nearly as strong

Edited March 25, 20205 yr by Recian426

If your truck is still in stock trim, other than trans, power down low leaves something to be desired. Not sure what you are working with.

Just now, dripley said:

If your truck is still in stock trim, other than trans, power down low leaves something to be desired. Not sure what you are working with.

Yea I'm all stock. Haven't pulled the trigger on a $800 tuner yet. Wanted a juice with attitude. my ECM has a processor failure that I've seen before on other trucks. Last one I saw he made a good 60k miles before it completely failed. I know it's on its death bed and it's a matter of time. I need another $900 ecm before I commit because itll be married to the tuner once it craps out I'm kinda stuck

My wife's 1998 Saturn will leave me in dust off the line with a 4 banger under the hood. Dont last long though.

Funny, @Wet Vette little Hyundai whips the 1996 Dodge no prob... 2002 not happening...

Edited March 26, 20205 yr by Mopar1973Man

Bicycles beat me of the line until I pick up a couple of gears.

 

- John

4 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Funny, @Wet Vette little Hyundai whips the 1996 Dodge no prob... 2002 not happening...

RV's and a Comp with an untapped pump does not equal a rocket. Thats for sure.

6 hours ago, Recian426 said:

Yea I'm all stock. Haven't pulled the trigger on a $800 tuner yet. Wanted a juice with attitude. my ECM has a processor failure that I've seen before on other trucks. Last one I saw he made a good 60k miles before it completely failed. I know it's on its death bed and it's a matter of time. I need another $900 ecm before I commit because itll be married to the tuner once it craps out I'm kinda stuck

Am I reading it right that you have a fault in ECM ? If so  I'd expect the ecm to be getting all engine related inputs first then sending whatever is required to pcm via canbus.... this is a guess based on the cat equipment I work on, I wonder if ecm is the problem ? You could always do the IBMobile tc lock mod. Also as far as a tuner... get a quad

5 hours ago, wil440 said:

Am I reading it right that you have a fault in ECM ? If so  I'd expect the ecm to be getting all engine related inputs first then sending whatever is required to pcm via canbus.... this is a guess based on the cat equipment I work on, I wonder if ecm is the problem ? You could always do the IBMobile tc lock mod. Also as far as a tuner... get a quad

You're right. I for some reason thought the apps signal was wired to both the ecm and pcm but what I'm seeing is ecm only. That's odd because that noise filter others try to sell only attaches to the 5v supply to the trans solenoids nothing to directly do with the TCC

4 minutes ago, Recian426 said:

You're right. I for some reason thought the apps signal was wired to both the ecm and pcm but what I'm seeing is ecm only. That's odd because that noise filter others try to sell only attaches to the 5v supply to the trans solenoids nothing to directly do with the TCC

The wt mod does make a huge difference to tc lock problems as you've seen, the noise filter not so.

It did help drastically there's no denying that. I did some TV cable adjustments and I'm going to see this afternoon if they help any. I may start looking into replacing that ecm and probably do the APPS as well. Tune would be great but I've had my eyes open for a year and have yet to come across anybody selling a used unmarried one for pre common rail 24v. The apps you guys mentioned is cheaper than aftermarket ones and nobody has said anything bad about it

Regarding a tuner.... get a quad, fitted mine about 2 months ago. I've got a 47re with no mods as far as I know so taking it really steady as I don't need trans probs as here in the uk that would be ££££££ but it has totally changed my truck, it is smoother, its in LU more, just a little bit more power makes all the difference

If it makes you guys feel better I drive this when I want something faster than my 15 altima. With that 2.5 and slushy CVT this truck beats it bigtime. However there's No comparison to the MPG of the altima, smooth, quiet and all the bells and whistles being a SL lol remote start with steering wheel and seat heaters on those cold mornings is great

50 minutes ago, Recian426 said:

It did help drastically there's no denying that. I did some TV cable adjustments and I'm going to see this afternoon if they help any. I may start looking into replacing that ecm and probably do the APPS as well. Tune would be great but I've had my eyes open for a year and have yet to come across anybody selling a used unmarried one for pre common rail 24v. The apps you guys mentioned is cheaper than aftermarket ones and nobody has said anything bad about it

Unmarried tuner??

21 minutes ago, Royal Squire said:

Unmarried tuner??

I do alot of work on hellcats so I'm more familiar with diablo and how it marries to the car but I've read some of the diesel tuners do it as well once you tune a pcm/ecm it's married to it. They put the original software as a backup in the tuner and you can't just take the tuner and flash another vehicle with it unless you return the first one to stock. I could go buy a tuner, tune my truck and sell the tuner to somebody afterwards but they wouldn't be able to do anything with it. 

I believe smarty is the only 2nd gen tuner like that, but it can be uninstalled. At least that’s my understanding. 

I haven't been on in awhile since my last repair (adjusting the TV cable) seems to have corrected the issue. It also shifts while there's still power rather than letting the engine run out of steam for a second before shifting. I've been driving the truck for awhile wanting to make absolutely sure that it has fixed the problem before posting back. In these few weeks I have yet to have the issue return