Some of the newer 2nd gens (00-01s) came straight from the factory with it. Mine definitely had the DF but there are no stickers anywhere that I'm aware of.

I was also thinking about this today. I can see how retarding the timing would cause the pinging to stop, but how does that cause the loss of oil to stop?

And also, even after tuning my truck out of the DF, I still don't lose oil? Just a little confused.

 

It doesnt. It just covers it up, to seem like it doesnt burn oil.

 

Well I'm 99% sure mine came from the factory with the DF. It didn't lose/burn oil with the DF, and it does not lose/burn any now either (at least not yet?)

 

HERE IS THE DEAL:

Look on your PCM, if you see something that says "Dealer authorized software update" then you have the death flash.

THe cleanliness of your engine compartment HAD NO BEARING on the plenum. That is enclosed in the engine. It is the bottom of your intake.

If you have 83K miles...you have a bad plenum. ANd that does not mean you LOSE oil. It just gets in the intake and either recesses back into the engine, or it goes through the intake. You might burn 1/4 quart in 600 miles, so it is not noticeable.

 

 

Edit:

Thanks CPTA. That answers my question.

My 95 had a bad plenum too obviously, but it burned quite a lot of oil..so when this loses an extremely trace amount (or none), I was confused.

 

yup, 2001 rams have the death flash. I could spin tires in my 1996 5.2, but not in my 2001. But my 1996 had more mods (compare in sig).

Get shorty headers and a SCT. Sure it will set you back about $1000. But it is well worth it. And whatever else you add, you can use the SCT reprogram your PCM. Especially if you pass a racing gas station with 106 octane


--Dan

 

Actually my comment meant that the engine was well taken care of, (ie new fresh fluids, right levels, good maintenance records, etc) but the aesthetic appearance of the engine is clean too.

I am planning on doing the plenum gasket replacement, just trying to gather as much information as I can about the work before I dive in. This will be the most advanced work I have done on an engine before so I want to be prepared.

 

So is there an easy way to get rid of this "death flash", or is it an expensive fix. How do you reprogram it out of the PCM? I am pretty sure that my truck has this.

 

Once the new software has been added or if it came from the factory with the "upgrade", I don't think you can remove it. You can reset the PCM by disconnecting the negative terminal from the battery and turning on the ignition switch for about 10 seconds. You should do this after you fix the plenum or replace any sensors. The PCM then starts to "relearn" but it doesn't get rid of the so-called death flash any more than rebooting your computer gets rid of Microsoft's so-called upgrades.
You can buy a chip that overrides some of the PCM functions but somebody else is going to have to chime in with info on chips because that's way beyond my feeble mind.