My PCM is failing (the dreaded P0601 code.)

I found a place on ebay that will sell me a refurbed PCM coded to my VIN, mileage, etc., for $150. Not too shabby.

My problem is this: Although the check engine light is on, the Durango still runs fine for the time being with a bad PCM, and I need it to get back and forth to work every day. So whatever mileage I tell them to program into the new PCM, by the time they ship it to me, the actual mileage is gonna be higher.

So the question is... will this cause something to lockout or other problems if the mileage on the new PCM doesn't match the odometer?

Or is the PCM the only place the mileage is kept? For that matter.... what if I just told the PCM coding place to put 0 miles on the new PCM, wink wink nudge nudge. Is there anything to stop me from that type of rollback? (Just asking out of academic curiosity, of course.)

 

I wouldn't do that. It's kinda illegal to try to roll back the odo. That said, it's gonna mess up the pcm. How much do you drive daily? Ask them how long it will take them to ship the refurb pcm to you. Average out the mileage and add a few miles just in case. If anything comes up, you can have documented proof that you tried to make the swap as legit as possible if somewhere down the line you would want to sell(blasphemy!!!) the D. JMHO.

 

I have no intention of doing any kind of illegal hanky panky with my odometer, I'm just trying to understand how the PCM works. The issue is that I have to drive the car to work every day or I will lose my job, so I can't guarantee that the mileage will be perfectly in sync with the new PCM by the time they ship it to me. I could do as you suggest and come up with an arbitrary extra mileage amount, but what if I'm on the freeway when that mileage amount rolls over... I don't think I can guarantee that it will be a precisely perfect match. I need to know if this is ok and the system will sort itself out, or if I'm going to have major problems with modules locking out and whatnot because they think I'm trying to do something inappropraite with the mileage.

 

As long as your odometer shows the correct mileage and you have a record of the PCM replacement, there should be no issues. The issues are when the odometer has been replaced with a lower mileage vehicle's and people do not have access to a computer to read out the original PCM's mileage. It is when they take it to a shop and find out later that they have been had thinking that they bought a lower mileage vehicle. That is when there is an issue.

 

I wasn't saying to use an arbitrary number off your head to fill in the odo milieage. I was suggesting you average out your daily driving miles and multiply it by the amount of days you think or got from the seller when the shipment will arrive at your door for replacement and ADD a few miles into that equation to cover any overage you may experience.

 

Don't forget if you do the above it needs to go on the day received. So you may want to figure that in.

 

Just get it close.....IMHO


As for the refurbed, don't do it! You can get a brand new one with a lifetime warranty for $200 on Ebay.

 

So it sounds like what you guys are saying is, the PCM mileage doesn't really have to match the odometer at all. (It might raise questions if I ever go to sell the vehicle, but as far as just getting it back into running condition with no check engine light, it doesn't matter.) My actual mileage is about 90,000... but I could have the PCM set to 91,000 or 89,000... or for that matter, to 0 or 500,000, and it wouldn't have any negative effect. Is that right? If so, I'm not gonna worry about this... since I'm not planning on selling the truck until it falls apart into total scrap, and it's only worth a couple thousand bucks trade in right now anyway... I'm not gonna lose sleep over what theoretical value might be lost if the PCM doesn't match the ODO.

Next question... I have seen people say that they drive just fine for years with a P0601 code and no working PCM. What's the practical impact of running with a bad PCM or no PCM? If it doesn't really affect anything, maybe I'll just save my $200?

Finally.. I'd appreciate the names and/or websites of the places that sell good quality PCMs. (This is for an '02 5.9L.) The only one I found on ebay was from Auto Computer Exchange (ACE) in Florida, and it sounds like several folks give them a thumbs down.

 

allcomputerresources is a good one on Ebay but there is no new ones right now and I don't know if they sell New or not. Hell for that matter as long as you have a lifetime warranty who really cares.....LOL

 

the problem with running this pcm which is dying is that you dont know when it is actually going to die, and when it does, so does the truck (it stops running since the PCM controls everything that keeps it running) and since you are getting a CEL you would not pass any emissions testing in your state (or at least not where i am since ANY CEL is an automatic fail on inspection)