I'll have to verify the size, but it should be something similar to one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/connector-pin-tool

I'm laying down to sleep (at 1 AM!), so I'm not about to pop out and measure on my truck *grins*

RwP

 

Oh come on Ralph, it's still early!

 

Above and beyond the call of duty, thank you Ralph

I'm gonna order a new PCM tonight. I'm almost certain that's the issue. All the wires in and out of the connector pass the ohm test.

Crossing my fingers on this one and I'll report back.

 

Welp.... I swapped out PCM's and now she fires up every time no problem but runs like sht.

When will it ever stop?

I'm now getting code 27 which has something to do with the injector circuit. I was not getting any fault codes before.

So now there are only a few possibilities.

1) The new computer is programmed wrong, since this was not happening before it could be a possibility. When the truck was running with the old computer it ran like a champ.

2) I bumped something and kinked the wiring harness or God knows what.

3) There was always something wrong but the new computer is now identifying it and amplifying the situation. Is it possible that the old computer simply adjusted to the bad condition?

Anyone got any ideas?

 

Sounds like you were onto it when you noticed the effects of tightening down on the connector. As Ralph noted, you may have worn or loose pins in the connector, or possibly some substance in there that's affecting continuity. As I recall, the computer has male pins, and the connector has the female pins. Clean both out thoroughly with a rag and some WD40, then take a close look at the female pins, checking for broken or spread contacts. The way the symptoms are changing strongly suggests a problem with connection(s), or a ground.

If your replacement computer starts the engine it's programming should be fine. Even if it hasn't "learned" your engine yet, it has default settings that will run the engine fairly well.

 

Ok thanks rag I'll look into that next. It's just odd though that it didn't have this issue before. But it sounds like the computer is okay so that's good to know as a start anyway.

 

Just thought I'd make a final post on this thread to finalize my fix. Sure enough it was the pin connectors. In looking at the female connectors I could see that some of them, about 5, were widened out and pushed back a bit. Using the article posted here: http://www.merkurboys.com/wiki/index...xtraPinInstall I pulled the connector apart and took out each affected pin and with needle nose pliers just squeezed it appropriately to get them back to round and tight.

She's been running like a champ all week so hopefully I nipped that one in the bud.

I guess lesson learned is always suspect the most simple fix first. Of course I followed the diagnostics in the official Chrysler manuel for this truck and as such ended up replacing many of the other parts one by one first. It probably didn't need a new computer in the first place but I'd like to think that she runs better now with the new one

The old one was pretty beat up looking too and the center mounting connector bolt did look cracked a bit. Probably nothing wrong with it but oh well. Now she's got a nice fresh new tune up and should be good to go.

Next I'll need to fix the speedometer. That will be another thread.

Regards.

 

I have been fighting the same thing on one of my 19092 dakotas. I finally replaced the ecm last weekend and it is good so far. It does not seem to run as strong as the old ecm. I opened up the old ecm and saw a lot of cracking in the rubberized sealing compound. There was a little corrosion around some of the pins that I cleaned up. I hope this fixes it finally.

 

What do you mean when you say it doesn't seem to run as strong as with the old ecm? Do you mean the truck doesn't seem to have as much power with the new ecm?

I opened up my old ecm too and saw the same thing. The rubber was all blackened and cracked and corroded. I opened up the new one and it was coated in this amber goo.

 

Yeah, that sealant they put over the electronics does crack and darken, but it doesn't seem to affect performance from my experience. It's similar to the material they put over some marine electronics to seal out water, etc. At least you have a spare computer now.

Ditto on the speedo. Someday I need to figure out what's preventing mine from working.