1996 B2500 (5.2 318ci)

I was reading yesterday about reflashing your PCM in Dodge vehicles which were built in the early days of On-board Diagnostics II (OBDII). I am curious to know if there is a true upgrade to the software in the PCM. Has anyone on here had it done or know about the process? Benefits?

 

Only takes a few minutes.... once they get it in, but, as for 'benefits', that's debatable. Some of the software updates were to reduce pinging, they did that by dialing back timing, which REDUCES power. If you want a better tune for your engine, talk to Hemifever tuning, or Flyin' Ryan performance. Their tunes actually ARE improvements.

 

We can't do '96 flashes. Only '98 and up for some time now.

The Legacy flashes take a full hour or more to do. The only beneficial one was from a few years ago, some of the older PCMs weren't completing monitors.

 

Hemifever still supports the 96-97 PCM's.....

 

Is an update recommended for my 1994 B250 Ram van with 318 motor????

 

Nice. (:

Glad we don't hehe. I really don't even like doing up to the end of PCI BUS years. I'm talking the old Chrysler flashes. I might be off subject here....

 

Yours is OBDI, so, not flash programmable. You are golden with what's already there.

 

Please explain your comment. While I under "flash programmable" I don't understand "golden...".

I plan to do extensive "boondocking" in the California Mojave desert. For fear that my 94 Ram B250 Van may well decide to not start up when I'm 20 miles off road, I plan on purchasing a pre-computer pre-OBD1 van, meaning one that has vacuum controls as it were. I really have no faith in this computer controlled sensor stuff and am seriously looking at a 1984 van with a 360 motor and without a computer.

 

In all reality, the electronic stuff if pretty reliable. Carrying a few key spares sure wouldn't hurt you though. These systems seldom fail without giving at least some warning that something is about to go wrong. (though I admit, there are occasions when it just craps out, and yer done.) I take my fuel injected vehicles (and I have had several...) into some truly stupid places, including 'swimming' them across rivers/streams, (up to about 3-4 feet of water) The only time one has left me stranded was two days after I got it, and it was because the battery died.....

As for 'golden', that means you are all set. The obdi computers can't be reprogrammed easily. They need to be physically disassembled, and the ROM chip changed...... There is a whole industry for such things for the older GM computers, but, I have not run across anything like it for the older dodge systems.