Hello all, I just joind the site, it looks to be very informative. Im a member of the ford truck site also, as I have both a 03 ram quad cab hemi, and a 03 superduty diesle.
My question; I let a friend of mine take the dodge down to NJ, from Vermont to pick up a late 60s Harley. He said that on the way back up, while on the highway with cruise on, the truck kicked off the cruise and the throttle warning light came on. Said he stopped at a buddys house in NY for the night. I asked him to check it to see if its still there after shutting truck down, he said it went away. I asked him to un-hook the battery to clear the computer, (not sure if this will do anything but what the heck). I hope to hear back from him in the mourning. He should be home by tomorow if all goes well. If not Ill have to hook up my trailer to the ford and go get him.
The dodge has 120k miles, never a problem that was major. This totally blows my mind!

 

I cringe at the thought of a ford having to haul a dodge. I hope that it is nothing though... it could have been something with the cruise control and how it works with the drive by wire throttle on the newer rams. But I have a question for you... I tried looking at some of the ford forums but was unable to find anything: my buddy has an 04 150 with the 5.4 and is getting a bunch of exhaust work done (intake and exahust from the engine back) and told him to reset his pcm just like us dodge owners would do. But he didn't know how and I was unsure. I remember from my confused days as a ford owner (93 ranger and 01 ranger) that you unplugged the battery for awhile, pluged it back in, turned off all fans and radios, let it idle for a min or two and then kick on the A/C for a minute... it was actually described in the owners manual for reseting the "fuel trim" as it was put. Is that the same procedure now or has it changed? Thanks for the help in advance. (Sorry guys for asking a ford question on a dodge site... I had a brief moral conflict with it....)

 

Resetting the computer in any vehicle is a waste 99% of the time. You have no way of knowing if its default values are any better than its current state of tune. It doesn't learn or adjust any faster after a reset. Sure, it'll clear CELs but that's it. The ECU will adjust to your new mods just fine without resetting anything.

Is the throttle warning light off? Does it drive ok? If so, I'd clean the throttle body and call it fixed. You can always re-calibrate the throttle too.

(borrowed from chargerforums.com)

1) Insert ignition key and turn to "ON" (not start).
2) Wait for all idiot lights to go out. Check Engine Light may remain
on.
3) Slowly depress the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor.
4) Slowly release the accelerator pedal until it's all the way back up.
5) Turn the ignition key to "OFF".
6) Start the engine.

This is good for any Hemi owner to do. Most people pick up a lot more response afterwards. I know it made a noticeable difference in my truck.

 

What is the whole thing with the peddle supposed to do? And I am sure there will be a few people on this site that will argue resetting the PCM is part of routine care with the rams.

 

On the Ford, pull the ECM fuse for about 1/2hr and it will relearn the drivers driving style, but it is not needed to do the mods, it is a MAF system like all new vehicles should be. I don't know why dodge uses outdated MAP sensors in 2008.

 

Hey folks thanks for all the good info.

FFmedic; I have read and done that very procedure on my 6.0. Its just like you said, everything off for a few min, then with a/c, then your regular driving.

John M; I will call my buddy and relay that info on relearning the throttle. I have noticed recently that there seems to be a dead spot just as you start to touch the pedal. I give my wife a hard time about hitting the throttle hard, till I noticed that even I couldnt come onto it gently.

 

The recalibration does exactly that - it restores proper response of the throttle pedal, particularly at the beginning of its travel. After reading about it on the Charger site I checked the 03 Ram service manual and it is listed there as well.

Resetting the PCM is right up there with shaking Polaroid prints for "faster development". You're doing something so it must be better than doing nothing.

A cleared PCM has to start somewhere. It typically has some middle of the road baseline value that then gets corrected right back to where it was within a few hours of driving. If your truck drives better after a reset, it means either something is broken or a sensor is bad. Nothing in the PCM programming is set to "drive like crap till reset".

For example, if you've got more timing advance after a reset, it means you are getting actual knock or the knock sensor is too sensitive (broken). That's what you find and fix. A reset only masks the symptoms; it doesn't fix the problem.

Our PCM doesn't run a Microsoft OS. There's no benefit from a scheduled reboot.

 

Pull the throttle body and clean it with carb cleaner....after 120k miles it definitely needs it. The throttle blade is probably sticking causing the light..

Edit: NM...John M. already said it

 

Hey everyone, just thought i would up date you all on my throttle issue. I had buddy do the "re-cal" to the throttle, it took right care of it. He said he had no more problems the rest of the way home (about 200 mi)

Soon as i get the chance I will put the cleaner to the throttle body to help the butterfly vlv.

Thanks again for the help.