My son has a 2001 Ram 4x4 5.2L. It stalled on him the other day and would not restart. I showed up with a scan tool and tried 3 times, but the tool could not communicate with the truck. When you turn the key on, the check engine light would not illuminate.

Called the tow truck and when I turned the key to the run position I had a CEL so I tried to start and it fired up. Towed the truck home and tried to restart at the house. No Joy.

I have a call into a PCM guy. http://www.hemifevertuning.com/ I need to call back on Monday.

A couple of questions for now.

Does this sound like the PCM is on its way out. I think it is.
Which PCMs are the same box for these 2nd Gen trucks.
Would a 2001 5.2L, 3.55 gear Junk Yard PCM bolt right in and work if its not junk too.

Thanks

Are the grounds and connections to the pcm clean and free of dirt and corrosion? I`m thinking that a replacement may need to be programmed to the truck. I`m sure others here would know more about it.

Sounds to me like a wiring issue. In my experience, a pcm either works or if doesn't. They aren't usually intermittent. If you do replace the pcm, it will have to be programmed, usually by a dealer.

give the PCM a slight love tap, an intermittent problem might show up and let it start, if not, you need to trouble shoot, make sure you have all the proper powers and grounds. usually there is a corroded wire in the harness that causes this problem. there is a wire that branch off into 3 or 4 directions, that splice corroded and you loose power wire to the the ads relay.

OK real good guys. It just happened and I had to leave town for a while.

There are actually quite a few places that do PCM programming. Of course you need to find the right one.

Thanks

move the connectors on the controller while somebody cranks it over.... or if it runs, move them and see if it dies. Wouldn't be the first time I saw that scenario.

It is the PCM. I put a different one in and code reader talked to it and it fired right up.

Now I'm sending the JY PCM in to these guys for a flash. Should be about $100.

http://www.bgperformance.com/

This is the place that I had talked to and not Hemi Fever, which I posted before.

Glad you found the problem. Thanks for letting us know.

Ok, the problem is not fixed. It was the PCM and I had a reflash done. The trouble is that the 2 PCMs that I picked up were/are junk. I even picked up another today as I drove by the JY but it was junk too. I talked with a guy at company near me that rebuilds PCMs. He told me that with a OD OFF light and a Trans Temp light the PCM is "irreversibly" broken.

These are the guys that repair PCMs/ECMs.

ECM repair

The trouble is that they do not send out "new" PCMs.

Do you guys know of a good place to find one?

Several years ago I bought a rebuilt one from Autozone. I had to provide my VIN, mileage, and some other info that I can't recall at the moment. They ordered it and it took a few days to come in.

http://www.autozone.com/engine-managemen...reVehicle=false

That's what I ended up doing. It came in one day and the truck runs fine.

Thanks

Avoid Hemi fever and BG for performance tuning. Their tunes suck. I've had PCMs tuned by both, and now use flyin ryan performance. He is way better for performance tunes.

Glad to hear this issue is worked out though. Was going to also point out that a bad Crank Position Sensor can short out the pcm and cause a no-start, no code, no data communication problem. I had that happen to me once. A wire on the CPS was pinched and eventually shorted to ground. Whole truck went dead. Tried pulling codes, swapped to my spare PCM, nothing. Found the pinched wire, ungrounded it, and the truck started right up.

a friends dad owns a junkyard--he tells me the computer is almost always misdiagnosed----he always chats up the computer buyers---when they come back to get some other component they usually confess---no refunds

Hey thanks for the Flyin' Ryan tip. I don't plan on doing a Perf tune on anything, but I'm keeping his website in my favorites.

I did a Crank position sensor on a '96 recently and it really sucked. I pulled the inner fender cover and still had to do everything by feel.

Does anyone know where to find a new rubber CPS grommet?