I have a 2018, 3rd Gen Durango, 3.6 L, AWD with 213,000 miles. A couple of years ago I started having this message pop up. It has been looked at by 3 shops and one dealer. First, said could not find any code and did not see the message. Second, said got a new scan tool, which said communication ECM or PCM. They cleared it. It came right back. 3rd was a dealer, that said they could not get the error message to come up and there were no codes stored. They recommended $600 in service that might be the cause of the problem. When that did not do anything to fix the problem, I got into it with the service manager, who told me after several nasty emails back and forth that it was the way I was driving, (I was less than a mile from dealer sitting at a red light, had not even gotten over 20 MPH) and that I should not bring my car back to them for service. Guess where after buying a car and a truck from them, will never buy a Chrysler product from again. 4th, today 9/29/23 first said there is no dash message or stored error codes. God bless America, listen to me very carefully, I have explained this so many times, I am out of breath. If you start the car, DO NOT take it out of park, wait 3 minutes and 15 second, it will come up. If you start the car, move the car and put it back in park, it will not come up. If you start the car and drive it, You will have to drive it 15 to 25 miles before message will appear. When you turn car off, it resets it. Of which they said oh, ya, it is a U0401-00, but we have no way of diagnosing it further. This started Spring 2020, Pandemic started and I stopped driving for Uber, Since then, Wheels have been changed from 20 inch factory rims to 18 inch factory rims, same size tire just higher profile. TPMS have been changed twice, Now has Autel TPMS. Radiator, water pump and rear heater core have been replaced, Transmission fluid level has been checked twice by 2 different shops, differentials both front and rear have been serviced, Brakes both front and rear have been done, wheel bearings and drive shafts have been checked, alignment has been checked. Mopar trailer wiring harness with new fuse box, Mopar receiver was added before message started, but no wiring was done at that time. There does not seem to be any change in drive ability, just an annoying ding, message and then a skidding car symbol. I bought a Ram truck, now I need to sell the car, but need to fix this first. Please help, How do I get someone to listen to what I am saying and not try to rebuild the car and still not fix it? Or figure out what it is, and fix it myself. Thanks

 

I don't know about the 2018's, but my 2013 has a switch to allow to turn off the ESC in case of deep snow to allow for more wheel spin than the ESC typically allows. Has anyone looked to see whether the switch is intermittent or has a bad connection?

 

Since I've seen so many strange things happen with modern cars as the batteries age, it may be worth the investment to replace the battery and see if that has an effect. Since you also now have a Ram, it might be worth it to you to invest in a Bluetooth OBDII dongle and AlfaOBD (if you have an Android smart phone) as well so you can check for codes when the message pops up. With AlfaOBD you can also read out the version of software in the ABS system and possibly find out if that's the latest version.

-Rod

 

When the error message is not on, the ESC button seems to turn on and off just fine. I don't think that is it. I think if it had a faulty button, it would not be so predictable.

 

I have driven with my OBD II scanner plugged in and running when the message came up. No codes came up, Did a data freeze and looked over data, but did not see anything that seemed wrong. I won't rule out ABS system, but there has never been an ABS light on. The car has original batteries in it. If one or both of the batteries were weak, with the auto start stop, I think it would have died completely by now.

 

Update to this thread. Took it to a different Dodge dealer, Fitzgerald in Hagerstown Maryland, who listened, including service manager, to what I said and this is what they wrote "Found DTC U0401 Implausible data received from PCM. PCM out of date. Technician found active DTC P2588 Electronic vacuum performance". Replaced Pump air. $850 for diagnostic and replacing of pump air. After 2 years, 2 shops and 2 dealers. We are good to go.