Is there anyone in Tucson that could maybe stop by, I need some assistance. I really need my truck working.

I have a 2002 Ram 3500. Didn't seem like it was getting power to the ecm. Did all the grounding mods and that fixed the problem. Went to start the other day WTS light came on and then shut off a couple of times then went off for good. Now it's the same problem.

Edited January 19, 20214 yr by Cal556

I’m located in Tucson. Although I’m not too sure I can help. It seems like an ecm problem with the WTS light. Did you make sure you tightened all grounds after w-t ground wire mod?  I had the same issue with my ecm because of AC noise from the alternator. By the time I got a new one and did the ground mod it was too late, I got a new one from https://arestechnologies.com. They also repair them I believe. 

Any codes?

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how to troubleshoot to make sure it is the ecm, don't want to spend that money and it's not fixed.

 

Diagnosing an ECM failure is not any fun for sure unless you have an 0606 code for a failure of the ECM. Mine failed with a large number codes but not the 0606. I looked at the link that @ColoradoColtposted and they seem to offer a grace period where you can send it back if it is not the problem. That almost seems to good to be true though. One never knows.

 

I would go back over the connections you made and be sure they are all still good. And if you did not go over the rest of your electrical system at the same time, you should. All of them are just as important as the ones you did in the ground mod. You have WTS light problems which point to the ECM failing but a neglected electrical system can do funny things.

5 minutes ago, dripley said:

Diagnosing an ECM failure is not any fun for sure unless you have an 0606 code for a failure of the ECM. Mine failed with a large number codes but not the 0606. I looked at the link that @ColoradoColtposted and they seem to offer a grace period where you can send it back if it is not the problem. That almost seems to good to be true though. One never knows.

 

I would go back over the connections you made and be sure they are all still good. And if you did not go over the rest of your electrical system at the same time, you should. All of them are just as important as the ones you did in the ground mod. You have WTS light problems which point to the ECM failing but a neglected electrical system can do funny things.

Other concern I have is when cutting away that gob of tape when doing the W-T wire harness mods, the knife gets awful close to severing the wires. I wonder about that too. Both my second gens had so much tape it was almost impossible to be careful not to slice a wire with the knife. It took me forever to get that carefully out of the way.

Edited January 16, 20214 yr by JAG1

I only use a small harbor freight box cutter. Take your time and slowly work the knife through the layers. Take your time and you'll get it opened up so you can get the wires exposed. I've done like a dozen of these mods now about an hour job to do.

Just wanted to say thank you for all the help and support! Checked the grounding Mod and everything was good to go there, changed out battery connecters and crimped all lugs. Fully charged batteries and still wouldn't start. Then tried the kiss method. Turned key on went to engine compartment and started jiggling all the wires and connecters! Wouldn't you know found the issue. The two big connecters on the driver side firewall coming from the pcm, one has a white locking lever, well that was partially unlocked enough for the plugs to separate and cause the intermittent fault. Learned a lot checking everything else plus all the info you guys shared with me. Thanks again, Paul.

You got to love the simple fixes. Good to hear.

Good to hear... Tidbit for the future... P0381 code is for WTS light. If the circuit is broke or the light is bad it will trip a code.