53 block swap

[Ray Amir]

Hello everyone I am new with dodge cummins and might be little slow of understanding few thing so please be paintent with me. I recently purchased a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 cummins and discovered that the block was 53 and that it was cracked. So I said no problem, and I went and got a 2001 long block for it.

Upon changing over the wiring harness from my 99 to new 2001 I descovered that the 2001 did not have a crack angle sensor. Check on the 01 crank found that there is no wheel for the sensor. Now I know that 99 had a CAS but 01 and on didnot. My question is how do I midigate this problem. Do I change the crankshaft or there is an easier way to do this. Please help.

[dripley]

I am definitely not the expert on this, but if you are using the 99's ECM it will be looking for a signal from the CRANK sensor( I believe that is what you mean). it will get one from the cam sensor and that may be enough for it to run but would probably set a code for the crank. Might be as simple as a reflash on the ECM but that is trip to the dealer. Someone else that knows more than I will be along soon.

[Ray Amir]

Well i know that the wiring harness is different however I have the ECM that came with the 01 block so I don't know if that would be ok with my 1999 wiring harness. I don't have good experience with swapping ecms and wiring harness. It only takes one wire to mess everything up.

[dripley]

You got that right. I think more knowledge is needed, at least more than I have. 

[Ray Amir]

I'm pretty sure it's possible and someone has already done such thing. The only thing is when I took the ECM off of the 2001 it had a writing in the back saying 1999 manual. But I took the engine off of 2001 auto!

[TFaoro]

You will either need to have the entire wiring harness including the ecm from the 01, or you'll have to swap crank shafts.

 

Here's some extra info if you haven't seen it. 

http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/26-engine-systems/460-yankneck696

[dave110]

You will either need to have the entire wiring harness including the ecm from the 01, or you'll have to swap crank shafts.

 

Here's some extra info if you haven't seen it. 

http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/26-engine-systems/460-yankneck696

Does the 01 block even have a hole for the sensor? I don't  think they did so swapping cranks would not work. I could be wrong though. It's been a while since I went through this.

[Ray Amir]

It does. It was plugged. As I removed it I was just going to fit my CPS then I looked in the hole and did not see a wheel so that's when I stopped.

[Ray Amir]

I'm just going to call the place they have a link to in the article tomorrow see if I could get a front mount crank sensor. If I can then i have to replace the cam gear and sensor, according to the article. I appreciate everyone's help I wish they had a kit that you could buy to do the swap. More importantly I wish cummins would man up and recall all the bad blocks they sold to public. This is a shame. I worked for a dealership before and I was a tech I know how cheap manufacturers could be and cummins and dodge are not an exception.

[Me78569]

sell what you have and get the right block?  That seems like the easiest way to go about this.

[Ray Amir]

I wish it was that easy getting diesel parts here... I live in the middle of no where.... Lol. I got to make this work. It's not a big deal if I have to I swap the crank and cam pully. I have done it on many other engines before. Should be simple as long as all the clearances are good. Plus I would have a fresh bottom end.