Hobinator1

Yeah the additive drop out will typically look very dark brown and splotchy even. They typically don't look sandy and solid so like you said sometimes a picture can be a little indecisive, or somebody actually put sand in it... I have seen some very strange things in my ventures... LOL!!

That is a fantastic question. When you get into micron levels of filtration things start getting a little more complicated. You could have a 2 mic nominal filter with and absolute rating of 10. Meaning that it will catch some stuff down at the 2 micron level but all stuff over 10 microns. That is obviously dependent on the rating of the exact filter you are speaking about. These ratings can vary per filter application per manufacturer and even internally a filter can have two different mic levels of media in it (one main and one bypass to prevent 100% plugging). Although, there are not a tremendous amount of companies who make the media inside different filters there are tons of different distributors of the finished filter product so you really have to dig to find out what is inside them sometimes. You are also very correct in saying that a dirty filter catches more debris simply because the more clogged it gets the smaller the pores get and the less debris that can go through it. On the part of what I was saying earlier is that some additives are more soluble than others. When they are very well mixed into the fluid they are at a very small micron level therefore allowing them to get to surface areas and not get caught up in filters ect. Over extended amounts of time where an oil has sat on a shelf or in a barrel in some warehouse undisturbed these additives will congregate together and fall out, but one pass through the oil pump, or the filter in some cases with a little heat will actually shear them right back into solution. That is why if you were to see stuff on the bottom of an empty oil jug, try and get it into the engine/trans to get it sheared back in to the bulk fluid.

This was very likely the additive that had fallen out of the oil. If you ever do see this, pour a little more oil in from another jug, shake it up good and then pour it into your engine and or transmission depending on what your filling. This crud is the stuff you WANT on the inside, without it you are playing with fire. Base stock oil used to make engine oil and transmission oil is very pure and additive free. This is good for a base, but terrible against wear and tear inside an internal combustion engine, or a transmission. Without the additives that are blended into every engine oil and transmission oil on the market today, the oil change intervals would have to be hundreds of miles instead of the thousands that we currently see. Always shake your oil before hand and you will avoid this possible problem. It is inevitable that the additives will fall out over time. This is simply because some of the additives are never actually solubilized in the oil. They are a second phase liquid that kind of floats around and when rejoined with enough of there like counterparts, they become too heavy and just drop to the bottom. Inside your engine and transmission this never happens because you have gear pumps, vane pumps, all kinds of shearing devices that keep the oil well mixed. Moral of the story, always shake your oil bottles no matter what. As for prefilling or not prefilling your oil filter, in my opinion it is very much up to the individual and what makes them feel the most warm and fuzzy inside.

Awesome!! thank you so much!!! I looked everywhere for that... Well, apparently not everywhere... LOL!! Thanks again! that is exactly what I need!

Can somebody help me figure out where to find the base flash for the V2 software upgrade? I have Windows 10 all figured out from the excellent thread that Me78569 put together but I can't seem to figure out what base tune to flash? In the instructions from the other thread there were links to a base V2 and a Hard Fuel V2 flash but that was changed since the video came out and I am a little confused on what I am supposed to use as the base flash? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Great! I'm gonna do the ground mod now that I've verified my numbers are good. My buddie is gonna go ahead and grab a diode set from the sight here then we'll do his ground mod.

Okay, I was able to get my hands on a very nice meter tonight and these were my readings. The first pic is my truck the second pic is my buddies truck. I thought my readings looked good but was wondering if my buddies was borderline? Thanks again for all the help!! Dripley, I tried two meters before the one pictured above with no luck at all. I'm not sure why but the cheaper meters just don't read the same.

Okay, so I got a meter that would read mV AC but I am not sure about variable frequency. It was one from home depot that I borrowed before buying it and the readings were different than above but fluctuated from 0 to 30 ish. I am thinking that was still related to the cheap meter and maybe the lack of variable frequency? Is the variable frequency the feature I am most likely missing?

Okay, thank goodness! Ill get a better meter and report back.

Okay, please tell me I did something wrong here because if not, no wonder my ECM couldn't handle this! This was my ac reading I just got!!

Thanks again for such great information! Looks like I'll definitely be doing the ground wire upgrade and testing my alternator for ac current to see what I'm putting out before I destroy another ECM. As you know, those things aren't cheap! Ironically, I replaced my alternator about 6 months ago for charging problems. I can't help but wonder if it had a diode issue out of the box helping this issue along... I'll update what I find. Thanks again!

That makes great sense why I would not have any codes. Geez... Not sure why that never dawned on me. I am still wondering why my ECM would not boot up if it had the right voltage going to it? That still points back to an intermittent ECM issue, right? Or am I still missing a piece to this puzzle?

Mopar1973man, thanks for sharing that amazing thread! That was so nicely put together! I hope I didn't buy an ECM just because I have a crappy ground in that conjunction of a ground wire cluster that Chrysler did there. OMG! My ECM is actually working now after 2 weeks of a no start condition. It's been a couple times that it just randomly shut down driving down the road. I checked for voltage to my ECM and it checked out even when it wasn't booting up like you mentioned. I've never gotten a single code either. The thing that made me decide to go ahead with the ECM was the fact that during diagnosis I cut the key off, then fuel psi stuck on for like 10 seconds, I heard the ECM click and fuel psi dropped. That was after the earlier symptoms I listed.

I'm not sure about the exact why my ECM started acting up. It's been very internment for a while now. I just assumed it was from age. The truck has right at 200k on it. I've read about alternators causing issues. I've changed/cleaned most of the grounds. The actual problem my ECM was having was it was hanging the 12 volt signal to pin 5 on the VP pump. That's the signal to turn the pump off, in turn not allowing it to start. I was also losing voltage to my lift pump as well as not having a signal to my wait to start light. Is there something else in particular I should look for?

Thanks for the input! I went ahead and got it programmed to the original settings of the truck since it seems like there is a difference. I will update what happens when I get the new one in and tested. It is supposed to be here tomorrow. Thanks again!