Agreed.

 

I have never read , or experienced any issues cleaning the connection . who on here has ever fried their PCM ?

Dodge Ram owners are certainly a different breed from Jeep owners who do this regularly w/o issue .

CM , I have no doubt in your knowledge in this field and I do respect that . Your post , super ! I'm sure your 110% right too , you called my methods crude , I call them effective . Your extensive process , however right it may be , would probably outweight the cost of a new PCM from the sounds of it . What about simply changing the PCM ? From what has been said , it seems like the proper way to do it is replace the harness with the 60 way connecter too .
Yes your right , but , IMO , a little too cautious

All I can say is , well , it works . Don't forget , my first call was a clogged filter or pressure related issue and I still agree tests have to be done to determine and omit some other things first . But , it also won't surprise me either way . I just wanted to share the options that "have" been tried , tested , and worked when everything else failed . Maybe it's not something for everyone but since I have had no issue doing this , I didn't see others with any either , it's just patience and time . BTW , it's also been know to cure the ABS issues as well , 3 yrs after the dealer handed me a $2800 estimate to replace the ABS , I have no light and a functioning ABS system .

Not trying to ruffle feathers here at all

 

Problem solved fella's.. Indeed it was the fuel pump.. $220 part and seems to be starting up just fine with only 1 turn of the key!

I'm sure I'll be back soon enough with a new thing for you masterminds to help me with. Great work guys! Thanks!

 

New PCM is almost 500.00 bucks for my truck vs. one can of cleaner (deoxit) and one can of ESD safe nitrogen (34 bucks with SS nozzle) to safely blow it dry and one 7.00 dollar ESD wrist strap and one 10M ohm resistor for 25¢ is far less than a new PCM.

I went in to get some parts this week and, they tell me it's almost 500 for the PCM for my 96 and, over a GRAND for a new wiring harness.

You can also get the special socket and pin cleaners through places that sell electronic supplies for specialty purposes- not radio hack but, places like Techni Tool, Allied tools, Digi Key etc. For those cleaners though, you will find those under cable and wire harness supplies. They supply those kinds of specialty items in all sizes and aren't too bad as far as cost is concerned.

I almost shat myself on that harness cost let me tell you. I worked for a place that made MIL-rated wire harnesses for 1500 for helicopters for Christ's sakes and that was solid silver, teflon insulated, super premo quality materials along with crap loads of testing to the gills on every cable- 100% quality control along the entire build and larger to boot and it was only 5 bills more? Talk about a rip off. I was thinking it was going to be about 5 bills for the harness. So, about a grand to redo the entire thing- wrong. Forget it. I am rebuilding the harness myself and have parts on the way this week ready for the teardown this weekend.

See, no offense here, but, this is what I was talking about earlier about people not knowing- just because you have never heard about it doesn't mean it doesn't happen and, even if and when it does occur it most likely goes unreported as most don't know what the hell happened anyway. They end up bringing it in or getting the death code in the PCM and end up buying a new one.

It's only if one were to pay someone to trouble shoot it down to component level and find burnt traces, fried diodes, popped wirebonds, blown chip caps and toasted ICs that you would know just what happened. But, the cost of doing that is too costly as it's about 50 bucks to 95 bucks an hour labor cost to have someone do that. It's just not cost effective and far less hassle to just go down and get a new one and pop it in.

I thank you for your positive comments in regards to my post. I don't feel it's too cautious though and I will tell you why. We are in a car driving. It's dangerous to have your PCM malfunction and, since we depend on the PCM to control almost everything in the vehicles these days, from EBS braking systems, to safety airbag systems etc, I feel it's worth being cautious. I would rather take the time to do it right than to take a life or lose my own life due to a malfunctioning PCM that resulted in a fatal accident.

The age old saying goes: It's better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks,

Chris M

 

It's totally crazy what the dealer wants for some parts , these included . Especially comparing them to helicopter parts which are far more technically advanced .

I'm a real do it yourselfer . I scored my truck for $900 so I figure I can afford to "gamble" a little , lol . I also can access PCM's at either of the 2 local u-pulls for about $25 . It is nice to know there are special tools available for cleaning the pins . I will be looking into getting some PDQ . Thx for the heads up

Well Chris , this is definately your dept , so , let's just call my little crude method "a last resort option after everything else has been done fix and you don't have any money left"
lol

I will update my suggestions to include the proper tools , chemicals and methods you've suggested .
I would love to see you do a write up on your idea of a method a guy could do at home , without or limiting damage to the connections .
You rained on me for my method , ok , I understand that , but , the reasoning you agree with , poor connections result in major issues ?
Both my 95 5.2's start within 1-2 seconds of cranking , hot or cold , even after a week of not being started . I never have issues with anything electrical . I really think I owe alot of it to cleaning connections and some sensors . The ABS on my Jeep has been flawless for 3 yrs now after it's fix (BTW is separate from the PCM) . Tell me a better way to fix what is obviously an issue with these mopars , crappy wiring and crappy connections . But I do love em both , lol , honestly , keeps my wrenches free from rust

OP , fantastic , your back on the road
Sorry if I've/we've hijacked your thread