The 2010 Express Van That Was A 2004
I get a call from a guy from out of state. He tells me his driver is stuck in Salt Lake City and needs to get back to Oregon. He tells me his Van just needs a reprogram but he has a backup computer just in case. I tell him that the symptom sounds more like and electrical issue but I would come and check it out. When I get there, I hook up to the vehicle. I am able to read codes. I find one for the 2-3 shift solenoid and one for the TCC solenoid. I call the owner and tell him the issue is electrical and unlikely a computer failure. He wanted me to go ahead and try programming their used PCM. We plug in the used PCM and I start up with SPS2. I type in the VIN from the door panel. SPS2 cannot connect. I ask the driver what the real VIN is. He points me to the one on the dash. It comes up as a 2010. The computer did not look like what I would expect as a 2010. I finally get out of the driver that they had installed a 2004 powertrain into a 2010 vehicle. What to do now? Well, I looked up a 2004 Express 3500 in the for sale ads. A VIN was listed. I found one with the correct engine and transmission. I then typed in that VIN to SPS and it worked. I could start the vehicle. What now? Same codes are in vehicle. Now they have got to wait on the shop to diagnose and repair. I let the closest shop know the issue and they were willing to look at it tomorrow. Likely a transmission internal cable, solenoids or wiring between transmission and PCM. Gotta love those Frankenstein vehicles.
Just another example of the customer thinking the more information they give us the more it will cost to fix the problem.
Another great Post/Story Mike…thnx for sharing. Guess i dont have it so bad after-all….lol
“I call the owner and tell him the issue is electrical and unlikely a computer failure. He wanted me to go ahead and try programming their used PCM”. The customer is ALWAYS WRONG, this isn't a restaurant! :-) Happy New Year, Mike.
Why in the heck would someone NOT listen to the input of an highly-regarded expert that they themselves called for assistance? I know this happens to many of you and it just boggles my mind. Maybe they'd start listening if they received the ‘I-told-you-so’ special charge on their invoice (j/k). – Dave
Worse, are the clients who insist on a used unit, and it has either the same issue, or different ones, and they want to blame the flash, or me…
Tim, Yesterday, I put an AM starter in a Q56, It sounded like an old GM starter that you needed to shim “zing”. It is a 2 hour starter. I recommend a dealer starter. BUT NO, he wants to try another aftermarket, says he “thinks we just got a bad one”. Two and a half hours later, ZING. (by the way has anyone heard of this on a Q56?) The moral of the story. You can lead a horse to water, but…
Timothy Mitchell, In the case of ECUs, I would rather deal with used than reman 100% of the time and used over new about 50% of the time. Even the OEM reman product seems never to be right. Just my observation over the last years. In some cases the new replacements are more of a hassle than used. For instance SBEC, JTEC and NGC Chrysler controllers.
I won't argue with you there…however, I have seen the same false code on three JTECs (used) in a row. That said, these days, the supply of decent units is dwindling rapidly, so we're getting near the bottom of the barrel. There's no serious demand, and there is a diminishing future profit margin. Your capabilities with the inside of an ECM is way over my paygrade. I just never saw a reason to…
If they changed the engine it went from a 58x to 24x crank sensor. It may have had dod and vvt , some came with a 4l80 or 6l80/6l90e , is there and other codes? The 4l80 was known for case plug leaking on internal harness, so if they used all 04 engine trans, wiring, and have no communication codes , id say case harness failure or a wire to the ecm from transmission, i made a manual shift…