Hey,

 

ive got a 2001.5 2500, 6-speed truck.

 

intermittently my tach/oil press/water temp gauges will stop working. Typically when this happens my engine also has a quick “kick” to it like it shuts off and jumps right back on. I never get the “nobus” message on my cluster.

 

if I check my codes I have p1693, p1694, p1698. Also randomly a p0501 code and ABS light.

 

I replaced my ECM for this issue 1-2 years ago but it didn’t change anything, but I used a reman one so not sure if it’s quality. The issue never went away though.

 

was hoping someone could help guide me through what wiring to check, or really just help me determine what my issue is.

 

I believe I’ve monitored my RPM with my zedge before and when my tach is dead the RPM still works on there as does Oil Pressure, but the Water Temp just stays in one spot until the gauge comes back to life on the dash.

 

any help is very appreciated, oh and I have no access to a DRB3

You did an admirable job testing. Most mechanics would've starting throwing expensive parts at it from the beginning. 

22 minutes ago, Great work! said:

You did an admirable job testing. Most mechanics would've starting throwing expensive parts at it from the beginning. 

Lol I threw an ECM at it once hahaha but I tested before that too, just not as thoroughly. Think I just got a badly rebuilt ecm. On the bright side I now know a lot of the wiring. I’ll definitely keep this thread updated on outcome

Oh and it’ll probably be a few weeks before I send it out, need to pick up another door and a nice dark grey interior for the truck restoration progress.

Bit of a detour to the plan, ran across a deal I couldn’t pass up a 2000 2500 Cummins shortbed with the gray interior I was looking for, guys asking 3500 so going to be picking that up probably for 3200

Then I found a Smarty s-03 for $350 and contacted smarty who said they can provide me a file to reprogram that 2000 auto ecm to a 2001 6speed ecm.

 

So once I have both here I’ll swap the ecm over and see if it fixes it. Fingers crossed that it does, then I’ll just get any ecm and flash it to the 2000 truck and steal its interior and turn it into a farm truck.

 

if it doesn’t fix it I’ll ship my pcm out to ACS and go from there

 

feel like I need to start a build thread.

12 hours ago, teknic said:

feel like I need to start a build thread.

You can if you wish.

Small update as I’ve been dealing with random stuff, acquired the necessary file from Smarty to flash an ECM with my trucks factory files. Anyone interested in it you contact sales@smartyresource.com and they’ll help you out. Price is up to $150 at the moment.

 

bought the 2000 truck, registering it on Saturday and then get it home and hopefully swap the ecm and see what happens.

 

will update when there’s news

Truck sorta fell to back of my list, still planning on updating this but so far I have done nothing new

Yeah I get it. When you get caught up let us know.

Ok guys so it’s been ages but I’ve finally got an update…. And it’s one I didn’t expect.

 

with first nice weekend weather I decided to finally replace my Tappet cover which has been leaking for years and finally got bad enough that I’d lose multiple quarts in a drive.

 

did the whole job, following a guide here, installed a Keating Billet Tappet cover and bypassed my OEM fuel filter that I hadn’t used in years.

 

since finishing that job my tach and other gauges began working. Thinking it was probably just random I didn’t pay much attention to it. However today the CEL went off by itself and I realized my gauges haven’t died in about a week. It’s never made it more than a day.

 

so, knock on wood, I may have fixed it. The exact cause no clue, possibly oil getting into ECM? Oil misting into connector and messing with signals? Maybe just disassembling, cleaning and reassembling that area? Who knows, but I’m actually hoping it’s finally solved.

 

wanted to be sure to post here in case anyone else is going through something similar.

 

thanks for all the help, here’s hoping it’s actually fixed!

Thanks for the update; now let's keep our fingers crossed that the gremlins stay gone. 

I’m thinking this will be the final update. After my most recent post the issue reoccurred in the next few days but only when idling for a bit and it would go away quickly.

 

at this point the tach hasn’t stopped working in over 2 weeks even when idling. 
 

my only thought is oil was wicking thru the harness and into a connector enough to confuse the system. Now that the leak has stopped and it’s been driven a while all the oil is gone and no longer causing me any issue.

 

when I started diaging this I never would’ve thought of this conclusion.

 

thanks for all the help!