Hi guys, I'm looking into picking up a Mopar performance computer for my 94 5.2 NV3500. The problem is I don't think they make a PCM for a manual tranny Dakota anymore! Can't find one anywhere...

So, I was wondering if anyone has experience using a Mopar PCM designed for an automatic transmission in their manual trucks? I did a little digging throughout the forum, and it seems that the auto PCM will throw codes because it isn't detecting the tranny, but won't turn the engine light on?

I was wondering if there are any other adverse effects from using this PCM on a manual transmission truck. Will the PCM go into limp mode? Or are these codes something that's just safe to ignore?

Let me know!
Nathan

 

As I recall there were no electronic controlled transmissions in '94 so there's not much going on between the computer and the tranny. About the only code you should see is for the lock-up torque convertor not engaging, and that should be informational only. That one could probably be fooled by grounding out the signal.

I'm fairly certain about this, but not 100%. You should double check, hopefully someone on here can verify or correct.

 

You would get a check engine light that there was no signal from the speed sensor which the computer uses to determine when to go into lockup and then overdrive. When the connection was lost on my 93 it didnt run any different just kicked on the cel and of course no lock up or OD.

 

Thanks Ragged, that makes sense. I didn't think there were many sensory inputs from the tranny.. should be fine then I guess.

Steve, the speed sensor on our 4wd trucks is on the transfer case, not the tranny. The PCM gets a signal from the speed sensor with both auto and manual. I can't see why that would be an issue?