[Sam W]

I am new here, so please bear with me. We have a 2002 5.9l quadcab. We bought it used 2 years ago. Love the truck, Power for me, small enough for the wife. Her daily driver. 2years ago, about 4 months after we brought it, the PCM crashed. Had it rebuilt, all good. Now, almost 2 years to the day, PCM died. Purchased a plug play from Flagship 1. Was good for a week,, now having issues again. My mechanic, who I trust, tells me Mopar had issues with the Dakota PCM. Design fault. Really? I am working with FS1 on diagnosing and maybe another PCM. But,I need to trust this truck. What could be causing the issues. Never received a code. I cannot believe needto change the PCMevery 2 years. Short somewhere? Electrical is not my thing....

Took it for a drive today, about 1.5 miles in, the truck dies. 3 attempts to restart while coasting, it fires up. Hurry home, shut it off, now no fire, just cranks. No codes, no "No Bus" just cranks. Crazy....

Thoughts?

 

[immattj]

I have an '03 5.9 & in '18 I had to send my PCM out for repair myself.

I did read a post on a Dakota forum that I pasted to a word document & kept for future reference.
It reads:
"I have been studying the ECM's that come with these vehicles. I have found out that it is very common to have a couple of circuits fail in them. The coil driver, voltage regulator, IAC motor IC, step up transformer that gives you the "NO BUS error" and the EPROM. All of these issues are caused by broken solder contacts on the board. If you are good with a soldering iron you can fix the ECM by re flowing the solder contacts."

I don't know how much validity there is to this, however.

 

[Sam W]

So, is it that I have had bad luck? We are looking at possibly 3 computers in 2 years. I planned on having a backup, just in case, but every 2 years is excessive.

 

[immattj]

So, is it that I have had bad luck? We are looking at possibly 3 computers in 2 years. I planned on having a backup, just in case, but every 2 years is excessive.

Sam, your guess is as good as mine on that.
I read about everything, on this Dak board & another, that I feel may in someway and someday be applicable to me, & one thing that I have noted is that there is a whole shit load of suspected bad PCM posts. I am following one, at the moment, of a guy with a '02 4.7. His shuts down after about running for 5 minutes & then after a period of time it will start & run for 5 minutes. We've gone through some stuff/checks & I think it is his PCM, but he's a tad reticent to go that route yet.

The thing about a backup is it that it would cost a lot without a core to return, & of course it would have to be flashed for your VIN, but I kind of see where you are coming from on that.

I do remember before I sent mine out for repair I was watching YouTubes on the subject. I remember one YouTuber saying he didn't trust remans at all -- he had so many shoot craps that he said he'd rather just go out & get one from a boneyard & have it flashed. But I am kind of thinking it might be tough to find any yards anymore that have any.

If you come up with any thoughts or ideas on this, update the thread. This is a subject that has me interested in being as how I have had a PCM failure & going by your experience may be about due for another one.

 

[immattj]

On that other thread I am following, I was relooking at some of the links that were provided by OP & going following the subthreads from one of them, I came upon this, which I found interesting, & it also might be relevant to your situation:

Basics: Contact Enhancer vs Dielectric Grease vs ?

So there is this Dodge van guy on another forum who started a thread on this topic on 07-01-2010, 09:31 PM And he came back 4.5 years later to update it to share what he learned in the interim. Bottom line is this for us with 15-20 year old vehicles: Our electrical contacts are oxidizing...

www.dakota-durango.com

 

[DADDYODODGE1]

According to chapter 8 section E, in the 2002 Dodge service manual, a number of different things can cause this.
Relays, assorted solenoids, bad connectors or if you have the skim key system, the ignition switch or column wiring,
or the skim key itself. Any of these can your problem.
Good Luck, Daddyododge