You are not!!!!

So, I took my van in for a break in ride. I had some business to do in JAX so I decided a 500 mile round trip would be good for the van.

The van ran good to JAX. Last night, I was on my way home. I was traveling 70MPH and enjoying the ride. Out of now where, the van shut itself down totally. I coasted up an on ramp here in Daytona, only made 1/2 way up. Dead - no runno. I put on the hazards, and tried to start it again. I was only there for about a minute when the FHP pulls beside me and asked me "what the hell are you doing?"

The patrolman pushes me off the road. So now I am there dead. I initiate the key dance and I get code p0351. I look it up on my phone and see it is a primary coil failure. A co-worker of mine was about 10 miles ahead of me. I call him, he picks me up. I went to Autozone and picked up a new coil. We drove back to the van where I proceeded to put a new coil. It didn't change a thing. Still dead. Just cranking and cranking.

Now I am thinking I am really up the creek. I go back to autozone and return the coil. I ask Patti if she knows a good shop. Well, luckily, her husband is a mechanic here in Daytona and specializes in electrical/emissions. I have towing insurance so I call the tow truck and have my van towed to ABC Auto here in Daytona. I get a hotel room, go to Winghouse and call it night.

This morning I call ABC and explain my situation to them. Nicely and graciously, the owner Louie, says he will get Patti's husband to do diagnostics. Lunch time rolls around and I decide to call to see what is up. They are confused. They were still diagnosing, but havent found anything definitive. They tell me to call back in another hour.

I call back in another hour, they come to the conclusion my PCM died. They can't find anything else wrong. They ask if they want me to order a PCM or try to find a used one. They tried, but couldn't. So here I am still in Daytona, needing a PCM. I find a company in Davie via eBay and now I am having a new one flashed and sent to ABC. Problem is it wont be there till Monday -- oh well.

I had my wife and kids drive up here and we are staying another night since I have more business in Orlando tomorrow. I agree with the shop that the PCM took a hike to la la land. I just hope it works.

I have really noticed something wierd in the past month or so. When the van drops into closed loop mode (hot), I was losing a little bit of power. Not enough to worry about, but to a trained person, it is noticeable. Also I didnt notice some wierd actions from the check engine light last night. Once it flashed and then after that, it didnt come on anymore when you first turn the ignition to ON. It sounds like it died.

I put so much work into this van and I thought I was done -- WRONG! I almost feel like this emoticon --->

Pray with me I can get the van home Monday. Thanks!

 

Sorry to hear you are battling with Mopar electronics. We should put a Sticky at the beginning of the Ram Van Forum advising all Noobs that whatever price you paid for your Dodge van is really just the down-payment.

There's always more expense to remain properly sorted & reliably on the road.

 

Yes I totally agree. My wife and I actually budgeted and extra 3k for rebuild after we bought the van. We now are over budget with this little number the van decided to pull. Not bad though, but still wow the shock of feeling I was done with the rebuild and then it dying with no hope of recovery bit bad!

I still love the van and will continute to refubish it. I like the ease of working on it, I like the Elk Conversion (which you cannot get anymore, and I dont think you can get a conversion van anymore period) and my kids love it. I grew up driving around in a van and I want my girls to experience the same thing This is a form of transportation and an era that is dying today...

Everything will work out - I know it will. I have had dozens of cars and trucks so I am not shocked that a van with 120k needs a lot of work. Its just things like that happen at the weirdest time. I can say --- thank God that this happened to just me and I had someone to give me a ride. I would hate to be in the Everglades with my family @11PM and have this happen. If you want to say stuff like this happens at the right time...well it kind of did

 

Another thing I forgot to mention -- I actually carry a spare PCM with me in the van as insurance against what you are (unfortunately) facing this weekend. Not sure if that says more about me or about the van... but it is worth noting just the same.

When you really get to know a vehicle it's not uncommon to carry a few spare parts with you, especially on a long trip. Once upon a time this was reserved for owners of vehicles by British Leyland with parts marked Lucas. Mopar has oficially joined the party.

 

I don't know how all versions of our vans are, but I think that if ours did not have the PCM hanging out above the engine, right behind the radiator, at the highest point of our overheated engine bay, like a pig roasting over the fire, our PCMs might actually last a decent amount of time.

When I replace mine, I am going to make some sort of arrangement to have cool outside air flowing over the PCM so it is not constantly frying to death.

 

Someone else mentioned this before (or maybe it was you on another thread) and I agree it's rediculous. I was thinking maybe an extension could do the trick too. Like get a set of the PCM connectors and then wire it up so you can move the PCM to a less deadly location and anchor/ground it there...

Just a thought.

 

Just for the heck of it once they get you back up & running, pop the back of your PCM off, (6 screws I believe there should be), see if the gel is burnt/dissolved over some of the circuts or around the sockets.
I have done 2 of these & found both to have different degrees of burnt or dissolved gel. It will take less than 5 minutes to remove, inspect, & place back on if it is needed for the core.
If your's is the same, we may get enough to offer some help to others to try & avoid so much money many seem to spend here trying to resolve this type of issue.
All Computer Resources, Inc out of Miami for under $300 you get one all ready to plug & play, no flash needed & offers a lifetime warranty. The one I bought for a 5.9 engine was $260.00 & I had 14 days from the time I recieved my new PCM to send in the core back to them in order to activate the lifetime warranty, & the return UPS fee is paid by them, so put the old in & drop it off to UPS, that easy.

Thanks & hope they get you running & out the door without to much $$ damage

 

I generally agree that the best place for the PCM is probably not directly over the engine, but I think these Mopar computers are just JUNK regardless. The original intention was probably to put the computer in a location out of the way of splashing water where there would also be some cooling airflow while the van is rolling along.

But heat is not the only enemy -- remember, there are many of us who have had cold-related problems with these stupid computers as well.

Like using a hair dryer in January to heat the PCM enough to get the engine started only to have cold air coming thru the front grille cool off the PCM again just a few miles down the road which is enough to kill the engine.

Now where do you plug in your hair dryer?

 

Enter propane torch, stage left.

 

HI all --

To just update you all on what has transpired. My van ended up at ABC Auto in Dayona Bch FL. I am glad it was there. There are master techs there and were very familar with my van and its issues. After it was all done, they charged me 150 for a coil, CPS and installation of a new computer. (I bought the computer). The van runs good -- except now I have a lifter that collapsed. I will show you some pictures of that soon...( I tore it down this weekend and I am almost done fixing that) I just wanted to let you all know that the people at ABC were better that I could have ever hoped. They got me going, and didnt shaft me. Really, really good people there.

There will be a new thread to follow up on my collapased lifter. I installed 12 NEW lifters and had one fail on me good times....