Hi. New member.

My truck is a 1994 Dak with 5.2 v8, 5spd manual, and 2WD.

The original PCM has died. A rebuilder has tried to repair it already and given up on it. (The truck has 300,000 miles.) I need another one.

Is there a difference in these things between automatic vs manual trans? The repair shop says their PCM source/rebuilder has not been able to find one for a manual trans combo.

I don't know what to do about the problem from here. Any help would be appreciated.

 

The coding is slightly different; the auto PCM controls the torque converter and overdrive, the manual will light up the UPSHIFT light (if your truck has one!) to signify you really SHOULD upshift.

You can run the auto PCM to drive the truck; the only real difference is the programming in the ROM/EPROM/whatever. It will just flag some errors and light the CEL.

Have you tried hitting up car-part.com or hollanderparts.com for one? Or if you have the original part number, Googling for it? The parts lists here say it's a 56028263 if that helps any.

(Good news! It's the same PCM 2WD or 4WD.)

Best of luck in finding one.

RwP

 

Thanks for the feedback.

I've tried both of those sites. No luck for a 318 + 5spd. Seems like kind of a rare combo in a Dak.

At this point I wouldn't mind running around with a CEL and some code-logging as long as the truck runs fine again. (But that needs to be the end of it. I don't mind if the computer is mistakenly giving me warnings, but I do mind if the computer starts acting on that idea and causing tangible problems. No running in limp-home mode. No reliability problems. No burning up other parts.)

The truck's engine & trans are still surprisingly decent for the mileage but it's worthless without a PCM. It's been parked for over a month now. I need to either get it fixed or scrap it.

 

PCM for an auto will be reasonably happy running a V-8 manual. The only things electronically controlled are TCC, and O/D... So, it'll whine about those, but, that'll be the end of it.

Have you tried Solo PCM?

 

Solo's website search thingy only stretches back to 1996.

 

RwP

 

Does the full size truck use the same PCM?

 

It's a different part number; how significant it is, I don't know.

It MAY be worth 10mb's time to try one from a RAM 1500 for 1994, though.

Another choice would be a 1995 Dakota PCM, which has a different part number but should fit and work (the Performance ECM was the same for both 1994 and 1995, so I bet it's a minor tweak to the calibrations, no a works/doesn't type difference. But I don't KNOW that ... )

RwP

 

[QUOTE=10mb;3489550]Thanks for the feedback.

I've tried both of those sites. No luck for a 318 + 5spd. Seems like kind of a rare combo in a Dak.

At this point I wouldn't mind running around with a CEL and some code-logging as long as the truck runs fine again. (But that needs to be the end of it. I don't mind if the computer is mistakenly giving me warnings, but I do mind if the computer starts acting on that idea and causing tangible problems. No running in limp-home mode. No reliability problems. No burning up other parts.)

The truck's engine & trans are still surprisingly decent for the mileage but it's worthless without a PCM. It's been parked for over a month now. I need to either get it fixed or scrap it.[bbbbb

 

No limp mode on OBDI. That was more a trans thing, than anything else, it all it really did was stick you in second gear, and leave you there.

I would be real tempted to try a PCM from a full sized truck with the correct engine/trans combo...... It might be programmed slightly differently, but, it should still run just fine.