I own a 2002 T&C mini van and have gone through what it looks like many others have already. First Check Engine light comes on. Go to garage figuring no big deal and get it diagnosed. Turns out the PCM is bad.

My local garage says that Chrysler will have to put in a new computer at $1000 dollars. My disbelief and shock set in amazed that I will have to pay $1000 dollars, in order to get a van inspected that is only 7 years old and is running fine other than the computer having bad ROM..(Error code P 0601).

So being that we are a single income family of 6 streching every dollar to get our kids a good education, and that I think this is a ludicrous predicament for owners of these vehicles to be put in I am grabbing at every straw to try and save some money. I have 2 questions.

1. Has Chrysler done anything about a Good Will Warranty on these items and at least partially covered the repair cost? From researching I am finding that there PCM's do not have a fair longevity and are often going bad. If you have any suggestions about who to contact in such instances I would appreciate that.

2. On a popular auction site there is a very highly regarded seller of refurbished PCM's that he will pre-program with the VIN, Milage etc. and send to you. The cost is around $200 and his feed back is plentiful and almost all positive. Is this possible?My local dealership is saying that on the 2002 T&C if a used computer is put in it will lock up the car and the car will basically be a junker at that point. Sounds like scare tactics to me but I would like some confirmation on my research so far.

Thank you in advance for any guidance or info you supply.

 

Just a follow up to this. I would still be interested in answers to question #2 on my list but I did get some satisfaction on my first question.

I called Chrysler Customer Support corporate offices which you can find on their web site by going to owners and then going to the "recalls" section. They were willing to reimburse me half of the cost of the repair as a "good will warranty". My milage and age of vehicle were probably factors as it has 84,000 miles on it.

I would suggest anyone who has similar repairs to make or has already made such repairs and has a reciept to get in touch with them and see if they can get reimbursed for at least partial of the repair. I hope this helps someone else out there. I would be interested in knowing how others made out with their efforts in getting reimbursed on their PCM.

 

In answer to your second question, it depends if your van has the security chip in the key. (the gray key). If so, then a special procedure will have to be done in the vehicle with a DRBIII scan tool to program the computer to accept the codes in your keys. Obviously dealers can do this, but there are aftermarket shops with the same tool and information available to them that might be able to install a rebuilt PCM at a lower cost. Anyway, it looks like you did alright with getting it done for $500, so it's probably not worth the effort looking around to maybe save $100.

 

KVDA, I appreciate what you are doing here.

My PCM was diagnosed with a code too, but we continued to drive it for YEARS with the SES light on, and it ran like new and got over 20 mpg. During that time I bought an aftermarket PCM (giving them all VIN data), and installed it. The SES lite came back on, but otherwise is still ran fine so i took out the aftermarket PCM and kept it for a spare.

Now I am getting a vehicle shutdown symptoms from a faulty security system signal. In essence, the car thinks its being stolen, and the red dot comes on the dash. It starts, runs just 2 seconds and then shuts down. After a few attempts, it wont even turn over. I you leave the car for 5 mins to 12 hours, it may restart fine, or may not.

This PCM stuff is totally unacceptable, and the company should warranty it. My van has 130k miles, and is the best car we have over owned. I dont want to drop the $950
that the dealer says i now need to replace the PCM again, when i know from my spare that the PCM is not the problem.

Do you have any more current knowledge to share? The dealer is to call me back this afternoon to discuss repair options.

 

what are the codes for the light being on

 

The dealership told me that they have a code 0601. I sent you a separate email on this, but you can answer me here if you wish. Thanks.

 

yeah 601 is internal pcm failure nothing to do but replace it.

 

But is that 601 code causing the vehicle security problems? I think that the 601 code has been there for years.. the security problems just started a few weeks ago. Can I ignore the 601 and continue diagnosis for the security problems?

 

yep go ahead

 

Not sure how you were able to get them to cover yours, but they will NOT cover ours. We replaced our PCM in Sept of 2003, now in Sept of 2011 the PCM broke yet again!! We are also a one income military family and Chrysler was extremely RUDE to us, the person we talked to was "Mitchell" and his NIC# is: MP1155 and he told us we were screwed! There is nothing that Chrysler will do for this issue. For the life of me I cannot understand why we would need to buy a new PCM every 3 years for our vehicle? I can tell you this, if Chrysler does not solve this issue and fast we will not be purchasing anymore vehicles from Chrysler.