01_Cummins_4x4

I just got this 99 Dodge Cummins QCSB 4x4 Laramie SLT with an auto transmission on November 24th, and I drove 640 miles round trip that day to trade my 99 GMC Sierra SLT 3 door lifted short box 4x4 for it. The 320 mile drive home was harsh with shitty 305/70R16 tires, worn out steering stabilizer shock, and cruise control not working. I did find out that the pickup has a Redhead steering box, BD Diesel Performance adjustable track bar setup, aftermarket boxed trailering arms, and a Skyjacker lift in it. It had no CEL or any other lights warning lights light up on the test drive at the car dealer's or on the drive home. The only light that stays on, is the seat belt light blinks when starting the pickup, and then after a bit when the seat belt is buckled, the light stays lit up solid. The next day it had the ABS and brake lights both come on at the same time, but the brakes were still functioning great without any issues. Shut the pickup down and the lights would be off until some random time later that they would come back on again. I replaced the rear ABS/VSS sensor as that is usually the cheap and easy part to replace, but that didn't fix it. The pickup had 3 worn out Falken Wild Peak A/T tires, and then 1 BFG M & S tire with more tread than the other Falken tires on the rear. I figured that since the BFG had more tread and was taller than the Falken tire on the other end of the rearend, that maybe that tire was essentially rotating a tad bit slower since it was taller than the worn out Falken tire, which would make that axle spin slower compared to the opposite axle shaft. I replaced the tires with a brand new set of 285/75R16 Continental Terra Troopers, and now the ABS/brake lights only come on once in a while now. I started getting the dead pedal on it and just replaced the APPS with a brand new Timbo APPS and it hasn't had a dead pedal since. Last week I put in two new matching batteries in the pickup and cleaned all the terminals very well. The pickup has a delay boot up for the ECM with the WTS light and triggering the lift pump to start the engine. Sometimes the delay is 10-15 seconds and sometimes it's less than 10 seconds waiting for the WTS to come on. I haven't had much time yet to check the clock spring to see if it's bad yet to fix the cruise control not working, but I plan on checking that here fairly soon. The engine seems to have a very slight noticeable intermittent flutter at idle at times, but it is not synchronous as in it does not happen every 10 seconds. I don't notice it when driving at any speed down the road though. The 47RE is completely painted gold with a blue pan, so I'm assuming that someone has been into the transmission at some point in time, but it doesn't have one issue when heavy acceleration or WOT use - the trans will shift from 1st to 2nd and then when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd, it immediately revs up 300 to 500 more rpm and then it shifts into 3rd, and then it will shift to OD. It does not slip at all when it does the weird shift from 2nd to 3rd and then like it shifts back to 2nd momentarily and then shifts to 3rd again. The trans fluid is up and looks fairly clean and does not look or smell burnt. The trans has a slight torque converter shudder in OD under slight acceleration, but doesn't do it under hard acceleration, so is this a mainline fluid pressure issue causing this, and which part in the trans needs to be replaced to fix this? My good friend that is the IT guy and also works in the R & D Department at Diamond Eye Manufacturing hooked his Pegasys comprehensive scanner tool to it this evening, and this is what we got from the ECM/PCM; 1. Trans code # 1694 2. ABS codes # 37, 75, 78, 81 (pickup only has rear ABS) - does the tire size being taller than stock which makes the speedo off by 4 mph, cause these codes? 3. PCM module hardware malfunction or "Communication Failure or no Controller Available error. At one point it seemed like his Pegasys scanner could not get any real time data from the system either, so should I be looking for a 99 Dodge Cummins auto trans PCM now? If so, does anyone here have a 99 auto trans PCM for a decent price? What PCM part number do I need to be looking for? I bought a 99 Cummins ECM from him (ESN # 56602445, P/N 3942336, S/N 2153549, D/C 06/16/99, ECM Code J90269.05) for $50 but haven't had time to swap it into the pickup yet. I know the ECM has been changed before I got the pickup because the VIN on it does not match the VIN of the pickup. The pickup VIN is 1B7KF2369XJ553768 and the ECM VIN is 1B7KC2368XJ503078. The only real difference between the two is that the ECM VIN is from a 2wd pickup and not a 4x4. I can't wait for @Chris O. to get his custom DRBIII tool available, because it seems as I will need one of them to help me get these things fixed on my pickup. Thanks, Doug

It varies. Sometimes it's right away, and if I shut the truck off and go to start it again, I have to wait for the WTS light to come on again before the engine will start. Sometimes it's like a 10 second or so delay.

My VIN of my pickup is 1B7KF2369XJ553768, and the ECM VIN is 1B7KC2368XJ503078. I ran them both, and the ECM VIN is a 99 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins, SLT, with all the same options as my pickup, except the ECM truck was 2wd, had a posi, and it didn't have a security alarm. Mine is 4wd, has a security alarm, but doesn't have a posi.

I just got this 99 2 weeks ago. My other 99 never had this seat belt light issue. Is there a cruise control fuse somewhere on these Cummins pickups, and if so, which fuse is it and where is it located?

@Chris O. I had my friend's Snap-On SOLUS Edge scanner hooked up to my 99 Dodge Cummins this evening and I told it to automatically ID my pickup, which it did. But the VIN on the ECM is different than the VIN of my pickup, so I need to get the numbers off the ECM that is on the motor. I'm thinking that this ECM is my issue with the WTS delay, cruise control not working, and my seat belt light staying on even after I've latched the seat belt. Will your tool be able to change the VIN on the ECM and install the appropriate software according to the VIN?

I'll double check the ABS, but I believe that I only have rear ABS on this pickup. I haven't checked the AC noise from the alternator yet, but I will this evening.

Please let me know! I'd like to get my issues resolved ASAP. Thanks, Doug

@Chris O. - Congrats on making an awesome tool for troubleshooting our Dodge diesels and other OBDII vehicles!!! I just got back into diesels last Friday when I got a 99 Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab short box Cummins 4x4 pickup, otherwise I'd have been all over beta testing your tool for you before now. My Dodge is having a delayed wait to start issue and I just replaced the AIT sensor, but no change in the wait to start issue. My ABS and brake lights will come on every once in a while, and I just put in a new rear ABS sensor in the rear end, but it's still happening. It doesn't have the bad ECM code, but I'm still leery that it could be the ECM. My auto transmission is painted gold with a blue pan, so someone must have been through it, but when it shifts from 1st to 2nd, then it shifts up to 3rd and then it shifts again really quick and disrupts the normal acceleration, and then it shifts into OD. It's not slipping at all, but it is annoying as hell. Would you by chance need another tester to help improve your tester tool by providing all the data that I can get from it? I was the person on the Toyota forums that did all the testing and diagnosis for the Limited 4Runner multi mode 4x4 system, and I helped saved many Toyota owners thousands of dollars by testing the sensors of the 4wd system, instead of replacing the transfer case that the Toyota dealers were quoting them at $2k a pop. I'm an IT guy anyway, (network administrator) so I enjoy the data logging, diagnosis, and resolution of issues. Please let me know ASAP if I can be of assistance in helping improve your testing tool. Thanks, Doug

I just rebuilt my hydro boost with a seal kit because it was leaking power steering fluid. I carefully separated the halves of it and just replaced the one oil seal that sits around the piston, and then the figure 8 seal. My hydro boost was acting normally except for the P/S fluid leak up until this point. My hydro boost is not leaking power steering fluid anymore, but now when I start the pickup or I'm moving slowly, it acts like the brakes are self applied without pushing on the brake pedal, because I can give it throttle pedal pressure and it takes more power to move the pickup now. I understand that this is most likely caused by a plugged/restricted return line from the hydro boost, but is there something that I did to cause it when rebuilding the unit? Thanks, Doug

One thing that I noticed on my 99 and on my friend's 02 Rams, is that the inside of the vacuum lines can get plugged up from the rubber hoses deteriorating over the years and the vacuum line gets plugged up. We took a blow nozzle on an air hose and blew each line out until we could feel air coming through them (with them disconnected from the vacuum switch on the transfer case, as well as, them being unhooked from the actuator on the front axle. Now my 4x4 kicks in so much faster than it ever did before, and the light kicks on just as fast now.

I just took my 47re auto trans out of my 99 Cummins 4x4 and installed a NV4500. I have all the cooler lines still as I took them all off with caution because they weren't leaking and I bought the longest one from Dodge for $151 a year and half ago. Which lines do you need? The only lines that I cut were the two rubber lines that head to the trans cooler in front of the radiator on the driver's side. Let me know.

Power wise, it's like driving a different pickup. I do have a 99 ECM from a manual Cummins 3500 if I want to go through the hassle of programming my VIN into it and testing it out. Everything worked like normal before my auto to 5 speed swap, and the only wiring I did was the auto neutral safety switch 3 wires - two outside wires to 5 speed reverse light switch, and center black/white tracer wire up to one side of the CSS, and the other wire from the CSS to ground. Has anyone just used the auto PCM and not had any issues after the swap?

I just swapped out my good non-slipping 99 4x4 47re trans and installed a brand new South Bend clutch/flywheel kit, rebuilt NV4500 trans, and changed the input shaft on my 241DLD t-case. My friend entered my VIN into the PCM so there would not be any VIN mismatch codes thrown. I swapped out my auto PCM with a 99 Dodge Cummins 5 speed PCM, connected the two outer wires from the auto trans NSS to the nv4500 reverse lights switch, ran the black/white tracer center wire up to the CSS, and then grounded the 2nd wire on the CSS to the left side under the dash where there is a common ground point. I'm still using the factory auto instrument cluster and the auto trans PCM wiring harness. I pulled out my instrument cluster and removed the PRNDL shift indicator and installed the manual trans blank that goes in that spot. The only issues I have are the seat belt light goes out after starting the motor, but then it comes back on and stays on while the pickup is running. My cruise control works fine like it should, decel, accel, and set, but the cruise light on the dash does not come on now except it does come on when initially turning the key on. I haven't swapped the steering column out, still using the auto column with the shifter removed. The cruise light worked before the swap, and cruise control itself works after the 5 speed swap, but the light does not light up now on the dash.

I just got a second email this evening saying I'm in the lost member category....just thought you'd like to know.