Durango Help

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has experienced a problem such as this: It has happened about 10 times over the last 5 months where my 1999 Durango (5.9L 4wd) will stop running in the middle of driving. This has occured, accelerating on the freeway, getting off the freeway, pulling up to a red light and just driving along a residential street. The car completely shuts off and I have to pull off the road, sometimes it starts back up immediatley and sometimes it takes a few minutes before it will start again. After it starts again, it runs like it has no problems until the same thing occurs again, usually weeks later. The check engine light usually comes on and it reads "nobus" in the odometer area but then the light disappears once the car starts again. I know this message has something to do with "no electrical signal is being processed from module to module" or something, but when I took the car to a mechanic he hooked up the "gun" and the computer would not give a read out of what was wrong becasue the problem was "intermittent". There was nothing recorded from those shut downs. Anyways, just wondering if anyone has ever experienced this with any of their vehicles and if you know of some sort of solution.

coulb be as simple as a bad cell in the battery have it check along with charging system. simalar problem with my D. 98//5.2

what you have is a bad PCM (Powertrain Control Module), I took my 1999 durango into the dealer and first they replaced the BCM(Body Control Module), but the next day my durango died and the same No Bus error popped up. You may have some other control modules that are bad, like I did, but if they don't replace the PCM it will still break down on you. respond if you would like anymore info, this whole thing was a nightmare for me!

Sure looks like the PCM to me. Mine did everything but the dying while stopped at an intersection. Lucky for me, I caught it on the first guess (the PCM)

SLantsixness

Thanks so much guys, you guys could have just saved me a huge headache! Is the PCM the "Main" computer in the truck? Where is it located and what does it look like? Do you guys all feel that replacing the part is the only route or would hooking up some sort of fan or air duct to keep the computer cool (as done on normal personal computers) would solve this over-heating problem? Who is to say that once I replace the PCM, the same thing won't happen to the new PCM? I am also a bit worried about the price, since I am not the first owner and bought the car used, will Dodge still cover this cost since my durango only has 65K miles on it? I did, however, purchase a warranty from the dealer when I purchased the truck, but if I never need to use the warranty, I actually get it refunded to me after two years. How much did the labor and part cost? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for being so VERY helpful and I appreciate it greatly. Any more answers would help! Thanks for the replies. :)

Those are all very good questions, I also bought my durango used and the dealers warranty does not cover any of these computers. The good news is that there is an 8 year 80,000 epa warranty that will pay for the $500 repair. I agree with you, I am a little bit worried that the same thing will happen with the new PCM, so if anybody has any further experience with one that has been replaced. I had to have my BCM replaced and that cost me $500 in repairs and $400 in rental cars :( Hope this helps!

How do I contact the EPA to let them know that my Durango PCM needs to be replaced so that they will cover the cost?

You don't, if you go to a dodge dealer they will handle all of that for you. A sidenote though, you still have to pay for a rental.

Cool, thanks RGRAPER. The issue I'm having now is that when I call the dealer they pretty much are telling me that if the problem does not occur when they are present they are not able to diagnose the problem to the PCM even if I tell them that is the problem. Without the computer recording what happened, which I have found out that when the engine shuts down the computer does not record it in the system, they cannot determine that the PCM is bad. I will talk with the dealer service people more to try and get this resolved but it is really starting to piss me off that they cannot go in and look at the PCM from what I tell them and just replace it. These damn new cars and all the computers and electronic sh*t, what happened to the good old days?

When the problem wouldn't occur for me at the dealer, I just kept the mechanic until the truck started acting up again. It's the only thing you can do. I didn't have this problem, but I had some problems that wouldn't show up when I took it in, so I just had to keep the mechanic. You can do it too.

You have to let the dealer try to diagnose it. Sometimes the tech's are sharp and attentive enough to catch the symptom and repair it.

Believe it or not, there are technicians out there that do really know what's what. Although it's not commonly noted.

I've had to tell the tech's (not the service writer) myself what's been going wrong, and they seem to get it, but the service writers and managers just don't get it, all they see is a broken vehicle to fix and $$$$.

Be sure you talk to the guy working on your problem directly. You can be the greatest aid to a tech, just don't be too annoying and wordy to them, they DO like to think they know everything, as you would expect!

Slantsixness

This was the same problem that I had, the only codes that came up were for the BCM, so they replaced it. I picked up the truck on a Wednesday and left on an 8 hour road trip and about 4 hours into the trip the truck died. I had told them what I thought was wrong(PCM) and the just rolled their eyes. I was able to limp the truck back home and took it back in, and when they checked for codes they could not find any. What they ended up doing is driving it around for about 2 hours and when it finally died on them they got their precious code... it was the PCM. Let me tell you, that service manager did not want to tell me that it was actually the PCM. Slant is right, they will not do anything until they have 100% proof of what is causing it to quit. I would suggest letting them keep it and drive it around for a few days, especially if it is going to be hot, because it fails when the truck gets hot. I can feel your pain, this took 2 trips to the dealer and a total of 10 days to fix.

Thanks again guys. Sounds like I will need to just leave my D-Rang with the dealer mechanic for a while then. That sounds like the only way to get the PCM fixed.

Did any of you think about the idea of inserting some sort of 12-volt fan or air duct that would keep the PCM cool and prevent this from happening? Any thoughts on that idea?
Also, does anyone know where the PCM is located on the truck and what it looks like?

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the post about the PCM, I took the Durango into the shop yesterday and, with a little help from a pretty good technician, he diagnosed that the PCM was faulty pretty quickly. It looks like that EPA warranty should cover the cost but it will take a week. Oh well, at least we will be up and running again thereafter. Thanks a lot to everyone and I hope I can help someone out as you all did for me on this website at some point. :)

Glad you got all that figured out.

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the post about the PCM, I took the Durango into the shop yesterday and, with a little help from a pretty good technician, he diagnosed that the PCM was faulty pretty quickly. It looks like that EPA warranty should cover the cost but it will take a week. Oh well, at least we will be up and running again thereafter. Thanks a lot to everyone and I hope I can help someone out as you all did for me on this website at some point. :)

You can help us now:
What does "fwasilewskilak" mean? :)

My money is on "Wasilewski" is your last name... :)

Lol!

I havent bent over for the dealer yet, I opened the case to the PCM and it is filled with resin. I assume it is a good heat conductor. I am going to try to rig a fan/heatsink and see if it works...anyone else try this. My warranty ran out two months ago.

Thanks again guys. Sounds like I will need to just leave my D-Rang with the dealer mechanic for a while then. That sounds like the only way to get the PCM fixed.

Did any of you think about the idea of inserting some sort of 12-volt fan or air duct that would keep the PCM cool and prevent this from happening? Any thoughts on that idea?
Also, does anyone know where the PCM is located on the truck and what it looks like?

That sounds like an idea to try. I thought of doing that but since they were able to diagnose the PCM being the problem even without the codes, I went for the new PCM, supposedly it is an improved PCM. For anyone having trouble similar to this, let the technician know that you think it is the PCM. Since it is such an intermittent problem that they cannot easily diagnose and the computer does not register these codes for some reason, tell the technician to try heating up the PCM with a heat gun and this should cause the car to fail. The technician then tested all sensors, grounds and connections to make sure that the PCM was the problem. This seemed to work well. The technician did however tell me that they don't never open up the PCM. When it is determined that it is faulty, they just get a new one and send the faulty one back to Dodge. Opening up your PCM may be good but it may be nothing you can fix.

F = First initial
Wasilewski = Last name
LAK = Group of friends

you happy now? :)

Just behind the pcm is a 3.5" square opening in the fender frame, an 80mm case fan should fit there with some brackets. Its a shame they couldnt use the air intake to pull air around this better. Its only 6in. away....I figure even if I do need a new PCM this will keep it happy too.The $10 fan make self destruct under the heat but hmm.. we'll see.

Never give in....until the wife needs the car back.

Let us know how that works out. Seems like a good plan to me!

Thanks "F" that's a long screen name :)

As far as the PCM cooling, why not just use a piece of air inlet hose connected from the air cleaner inlet hose and directing some (lots when moving) air to the PCM directly? Seems like it would save from replacing a fan every 6 months....?

LAK=group of friends? You lak friends? I don't get it but whatever, lol.

I've never heard of anyone having to cool the PCM before. That's something new to me...

Read This thread and you will find many answers to the haunting PCM problem!

Never actually got the fan working, i did buy some memory cooling heat sinks for about $15 and placed them on it. However the wife really wanted the car working, so to the dealer I went :.^(
$635 later the car works:^) Anybody interested in the mounting procedure let me know ive got pics...dont ask about that burning motor smell after I hooked it up. 12V motor car actually runs about 14-16V :^O

Due to the excellent info out here I wanted to post my story in hopes to save others some money since I have benefited the same way because of this thread.

Symptoms: My '99 Dodge Durango started to stall. Usually after a couple minutes on the side of the road the 'no bus' or 'no sub' message would disappear from the odometer and I could restart the car.

I noticed this would happen only when the car was warm. It wouldn't happen in the mornings on the way to work as my car sat in a garage overnight. It would happen on sunny 80+ degree days after the car had been sitting for part of the day on an asphalt parking lot. And the stall would happen within 5 miles from that lot.

I took it to the dealer who for $50 ran some tests. Because the PCM resets itself in this situation they will never be able to pinpoint the correct problem (although the heat gun to the PCM approach sounds like it should do it). The dealer did find a fault in the BCM but couldn't guarantee it would solve the problem. Because of this site I took my car and ran without making that $400 repair. I then put a layer of insulation over the PCM all the way down to the air intake area of the engine. I did this for a couple weeks. It seemed to help the situation as it put more cooling air on the the PCM. I don't know if it would have held in 90+ heat or not. Because of an upcoming vacation I decided that based on this site I had enough info to ask for the PCM to be replaced. The dealer was a little skeptical but based on the info from this site then agreed (of course wouldn't guarantee squat).

It's been two months and there has not been a stall. Of course the PCM was around $600. The BCM would have been $400. Had this thread not been out here I'm sure I would have started with the BCM and then who knows. So somehow I feel good about making a $600 repair to my 6 year old Durango. How did Dodge do that?