i got a 2005 grand caravan 3.8 and i was told the pcm is bad. i really dont doubt it, the dealer i use seems to be very reputable. the cost of this part is like 650.00 and there are many on back order thru dodge. my question is: can a pcm be purchase either aftermerket or can i get one from the salvage yard and have that flashed? the reason im being cheap(lol) is because it has 247,000 miles on it, and i love my van. i kept it in good condition, never any tranny problems just normal maint. any help or advice will be appreciated.

 

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Someone just posted he got one for an 03 for $200 with a three year warranty from Autozone. Your 05, however, uses the Next Generation Computer which combines the PCM and TCM into one unit so yours might cost a bit more. It's still called a PCM by Chrysler. I've seen them elsewhere on the net for $250 and up.

What's the problem with the van?

 

thanks for the info ...... i did find out autozone can sell them they are aprox. 300.00 so i may go that route.

 

btw, to tell you the symtoms of my car, i had a check engine light that was flashing, codes were 0300 and 2302 i think, i replaced plugs, and coil, but that didnt seem to help. repair company had it for a whole day said they found computer wasnt firing cylinder 1 and 4, or wasnt sending signal something like that. i have read that many had similar issues. problems ranged from broken valve spring to cam sensor,crank sensor, etc. my question is, can the pcm actually do that and cause the coil not to fire properly??

 

Yes, unfortunately it can. The PCM is what supplies power to the coil pack. It also switches the individual coil grounds on and off via internal coil driver circuits. It's called a coil pack because there are actually three coils in the coil pack. Each individual coil fires two cylinders. In your case, the middle coil in the coil pack fires cylinder 1 & 4. The coil driver circuit in the PCM that fires the middle coil in the pack apparently is bad.

A mechanic can easily detect this using a test light. At the coil connector and with the engine running he will touch the test light probe to each of the driver circuit output contacts. All three should make the light blink. If it doesn't blink, doesn't light up or stays lit, that coil driver circuit is bad and the PCM needs to be replaced. The only caviot there is if the light didn't light, he would then check for continuity on the wire involved from the PCM to make sure the wire wasn't broken. To sum it up, if this is what they saw then it's pretty cut and dried. You need a new PCM.

Since you've lost spark on cylinders 1 & 4, I would expect to see codes P0301, P0304 and probably P0300. A little background on the code:http://www.obd-codes.com/p0301

BTW-you may be covered under the 8yr / 80,000 mile EPA emissions warranty on PCMs.

 

update: no one has a pcm for my van....NO ONE..... seems there are alot on back order, from dealers, to aftermarket or remanufacter im am going to salvage yard next to hopefully find one exactly like mine, my last resort is taking to dealer to re-flash my pcm and it hopefully works. someone may want to post a sticky that dodge, autozone, advanced auto, etc. do not have these pcm's. weird!!!

 

A junkyard one would work just fine as long as it has the exact same engine and options. It must be from the exact same type of van.

 

update: i did locate a pcm from a salvage, according to a dodge dealer, same part #. when i pulled the original pcm out, it was a different part #. but i went ahead and took a shot on the one from the salvage yard. had it install by a dodge dealer so they could flash it, and new skim flash. everything worked, only problem i have is engine light is still on, dealer said that the vehicle that the pcm came out of was equipped with an egr vavle and mine doesnt have an egr vale. so i have to live with thet. but im ok with it. so just want to give an update. thanks to all that helped me with this problem.

 

That's called making the best of a lousy situation. Got a little chunk of black electricians tape? The light will "magically disappear". Thanks for posting the fix.