I have towed with my truck for 17 years with the Mopar P pcm in it and never had one issue with it, just use 91 fuel and you will be fine. Your pcm is not going to respond to its max with those parts, it will run fine but not at its full potential. From what I have been told 96 is part OBD1 and part OBD2, this is the main reason I will not use a tuner on my truck, to many 96's have fried there pcm that way. The pcm does not take two days to learn more like 1/4- 1/2 an hr.

 

How is the mopar computer going to perform with the initial advance in the timing already ground into the cam? I always run premium feul already. I have never heard the valves pinging which further adds to my suspicion of the dealership doing the death flash on the computer without telling the previous owner which was my stepfather who bought the truck new.

 

No problems here as far as timing goes. It should have the sticker if the DF was done to it, look on the rad cradle or on the pcm itself or the firewall.

 

There is a right way to tune OBD1 Mopar PCMs (not perf pcms), but it requires the PCM to be disassembled, and the ROM to be hooked up via serial port, a extensive procedure...

if you can find a Mopar Perf PCM that would be your best bet, and second would be MegaSquirt, if you are interested in that PM me and I will give you some pointers about that...

It's not a good idea to have a OBD1 PCM "reflashed", half of the time it ends up frying the PCM...

OBD2 started in late model 1996 trucks. Early model 1996 trucks still had OBD1. Granted, that some of the early late models (like mine) had a OBD1/OBD2 mix, it really was a OBD1 computer with a OBD2 interface...

 

Would that explain why the 96's didn't have torque management installed?

 

Yes, the early JTEC computer didn't support that, so most 1997 PCMs didn't have it yet either, it primarily came along with the 1998.5 change, when they also introduced the new PCM. As far as tuning it goes, the 1998.5+ PCM is the easiest and allows the most options, some guys I know actually converted a 96 to aa 98.5PCM, it did work, and they were able to finally tune it...

 

So with my truck having been rolled off the line in July of 98, that would make my rig a 98.5, right?

 

If you have the newer interior, yes. If you have the older interior, no. This is the most accurate way to tell the PCM type. Date of MFR is not an entirely accurate way of telling.



If your interior looks like the above, then you are a 98.5 (if gasser, of course).

If it looks like below, you are not.

 

What will the sticker say that I am looking for?

 

I'm fully familiar with the differences between 97 and 98's, but considering Dodge introduced the Quad Cab in 98 along with a new interior, I don't see why they would have had two interiors for the same year.

And my door panels are different. Round speaker hole, not squaretriangle-ish.