Hi folks,
I hope to find help in this forum!

Four weeks ago I drove a gravel road with about 35 mph, when all of a sudden I saw a huge muffler on the road! A huge semi-truck came from the front, so I could not change lanes and even a emergency brake did not help, so the muffler hitted the bottom of my van three times!
The engine died after the first hit and I could not get it started again after that. The dashlights worked, but there was not even a click from the starter.
So I got towed to the next Dodge dealership and I called the insurance company, because it was an road accident.
After a few days and trys the mechanics found out, that the ECU went and it has to be changed to get the van back running. (975 $ + tax + labour)
Now the appraiser tells me, that he canīt see any logical explanation between hitting a muffler with the bottom of the car and the ECU in the top of the car!
Is there anybody out there, who can help me, explaining this guy that the ECU has been damaged by the accident?!
The van is very well maintained and there where no issues to the ECU or the starting of the van before this happened!
I would be very happy, if there would be somebody, who gives me a hint, how I can explain to the appraiser that the accident killed the ECU and that it should be covered by the insurance!
Thank you.
Walter

 

emergency brake? there is NO such thing.... I'll bet you think the PARKING brake is an emergency brake... well there is ZERO benefit from doing that and infact is dangerous as it can lock the rear wheels circumventing the ABS system thus causing a loss of control.
It is IMPOSSIBLE for the computer to be damaged. it's located next to the battery several feet from any chance of impact with the bottom of the car. the starter is totally isolated from the computer system. you can remove the computer and still have the starter engage.

 

By any chance did the muffler come apart in piece's? If it did,The piece's could have hit the inside fender well on the driver side and impact shorted circuit board in the PCM/ECU.

 

@Sapporo: Sorry, sometimes my english is not good enough, I think (I came from Germany one year ago). I wanted to say, that I stopped the van as soon as possible and hit the brake pedal with all my might!
If you think it is impossible for the computer to be damaged with this accident, how come that it is broken exactly at that time?!
(there have been people who lifted their computers only a few inches and dropped it and after that it was broken!) And donīt tell me a desktop computer or a laptop are completely different to a computer in a car, just because they have a harddisk or a monitor!
And by the way, I asked for help with this and your quote did not help in any way! Thank you very much and have a good day!

 

@master tech: In fact, it did! I found the muffler (box?) behind the car and one pipe (about 2,5 feet long) at the drivers side and one pipe (about 4 feet long) under the van. I took only the muffler (box?) with me, to show it at the garage, but left the pipes at the side of the road.

 

Based on your first post, I had NO clue English is a second language for you.


the computer is located next to the battery. for it to be physically damaged by something going under the car is impossible.

home computers dropping vs. automotive computers is NO comparison. hitting a pothole is even more jarring than running over a muffler. Go to a Demolition Derby. Most cars are fuel injected and they are smashing each other a lot harder than your incident.

I can say this because of all my years in the collision business. I've seen just about everything.

But since you already have the van at a shop and the shop says it needs a computer because of the incident, then the insurance should believe that 'expert' if they do not want to replace the part said to be damaged from the incident, they you need to contact an attorney and sue the insurance company.... that's your BEST recourse.

 

the computer in your car is QUITE different than the computer at your desk.
the one on the car has no moving parts(soild state) and your desktop has quite a few moving parts.

its a one in a million but anything is possible.

 

About the only thing UNDER I can think of that would cause your problems is the wiring harness that runs around the transmission pan and up around the center engine mount. Then there are the O2 sensor wires that could be shorted together. Those are the only vital electrical that could take down the PCM communication. I think someone needs to look again. The diagnosis sounds a bit suspect but of course i'm not there to see it so....

.......IF you're referrring to manually jumping across the relay.

 

I unplugged the pcm and the engine still cranked with the key.

maybe the insurance company should just total the car so I can buy it cheap from the insurance auction

 

There ya go. I almost had a shot at a 2007 a couple months ago. Lightning Struck!

OK, if that's the case and it DID crank with PCM unplugged then>>>>

(if you cant see the pic....the PCM grounds the hold in side of the starter relay. It shouldn't crank...hmmm