I did a search for the death flash here and came up with many related articles. Much speculation and anecdotal information but little specifics. I only found one posted by Sheriff where he links to TSB 18-006-03. I checked my truck and I do have a sticker that says "Authorized Software Update" but it's on the front cross bar (in front of radiator) not on the PCM. (So just be aware the dealers can stick these stickers where they please.) My question is, does anyone know what the p/n number is of the death flash? On the TSB 18-006-03 there are two p/n's p/n04669020 and p/n04275086AB. On my sticker it reads different. I have p/n 0523( or 7 hard to read)8331AB so it's p/n 05238331AB or 05278331AB so I don't know if there were multiple updates of not? Any ideas?

 

on my gpas 01 ram he has a sticker on his rad support that says authorized pcm update and then its wrote in pen for spark knock

 

Unless you or the original owner went to dealer and asked for a specific flash only of the PCM, you most likely have it.

 

the tsb for the spark knock complaint says to put the sticker on top of the original sticker on the pcm (iirc). I assume i have it, ya'll tell me.

 

I would say so. It does not have to be written by hand.

 

some will have it, some will not i think. my truck is a '95, and i dont have it, but that could be because its older than most

 

You are right, a 95 will not have it from the factory.

 

I am the original owner, and I never asked for any flash update. I just went in because my tranny was slipping (after another Dodge dealer had played around with it) and I got it back with this sticker under my hood. I never complained about any spark knock. What started the whole thing was that when I first bought my truck it had a nasty habit of shifting up or down (I don't know which) and it would make a loud and hard thump. Not being used to that, I took it in and they played around with the tranny, gave it back and told me it was fixed, after I started driving it I found it started slipping. Got fed up with those morons and took it to a different dealer and just told then to put it back the way it was. A thump was better than a slip. My sticker is also hand written, not a preprinted label like Sheriff. Later on reading through ALLPAR I found that many people complain about hard shifting, but its a normal part of Dodge trannys. If the dealer had told me that to start with, I never would have had them screw around with it. Like I said, morons!

That has to be a factory update, and those numbers are different from mine also. I don't know if you have it or if it was just an emissions update for your year. Funny how there are so many different numbers going around.