Hi, new to the boards here. I have been trying to no avail over the last year trying to get my car to pass inspection. Here is some general background info: It is a 96 2.0 5 spd Avenger with 138k miles. The engine was rebuilt at about 125k when the timing belt snapped, but I'm not sure if thats relevent.. More importantly, I bought the car about four years ago. It had 109k miles and a few mods which I left on. These include: short ram intake, and apparently homemade headers and catback exhaust. The quality of the exhaust is actually very good, and the headers have held up well, but don't look especially well designed.. Anyway now to the meat of my problem:


When I first got the car it passed inspection fine. This was probably in late 02 or early 03. Last year I tried to get it inspected at Jiffy Lube and they told me I was getting a "No Response" from too many systems to pass inspection. Since then I have been to a half dozen garages seeking advice. I've driven the standard "50-100" miles (it varies from mechanic to mechanic) more times than I can remember  after the ECU was supposedly reset. This never worked. A diagnostic revealed a Service Bulletin, so I took it to my local dealership. I've always gotten a shady vibe from them, and other mechanics I know have told me horror stories about their reputation for hustling people but I don't really know enough to pass judgment. They told me they flashed my ECU..more driving.. a month or two later it still wouldnt pass. I called them yesterday, and now they look at the record and tell me the flash didn't take. They read the Service Bulletin to me and it was exactly the problem at hand: some kind of error would cause a "No Response" of OBDII systems. But they told me it won't take and I probably need a new Powertrain Control Module. I probably would have been happy to just have them replace this, but then they tell me first they'd need to return everything to stock. I pretty much hung up on them at this point, not because I particularly love my exhaust, but I know they would charge me a couple grand to do it. I asked why it passed when I first got it, and they said it only got the exhaust probe, and the OBD requirement is recent.

Does anyone have any insight or experience to this problem? Is there a particular aftermarket part that would cause this problem? How much would a new PCM cost, and what are the odds that would solve the issue? I really get the feeling they are trying to screw me about the extra stuff on my car. I don't understand why, if its the PCM that won't take the flash/service bulletin, it makes any difference what other parts are on my car. This has really been driving me crazy for over a year. If it doesn't pass inspection by April my tags will be revoked.

Thank you and any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks, I just got a quote from the dealership for a new PCM... $349. As a broke college student I can only spend that money if theres a very good chance it will fix my problem. Please let me know the results - it is greatly appreciated!

Try a scrap yard or search on the internet. Dealerships usually wanna overprice you for anything they can, and then hit you with outrageous labor costs.. If i come across one, I'll leave a post and tell you how much I can get it for..

the terms tend to get interchanged sometimes.
the pcm is the powertrain control module . controls the transmission, sometimes called the tcm.
you need the ecu. that controls the engine. sometimes called the ecm.

i don't know where it is located on the i4 though.

Even if they told me specifically I need a new PCM?

I know where the ECU is, I'm just confused as to whether or not the PCM is part of it, or a separate module.

Okay, thanks for the clarification. I have already tried to have it reflashed and the dealership told me it would not accept a reflash. This seems a little bizarre in its own right, as long as its working at all it seems like it should be able to be reprogrammed...

I take it then, my next step should be to obtain a junkyard PCM, install it, and then have a dealership try to reflash it (again) ?

What are the odds a junkyard PCM would also not take the reflash, simply because its old and broken too? It seems like the only way to be sure this isn't the problem is to obtain a "new" one from the the dealership (I take it they are refurburbished). 

Yeah, sorry I didn't post sooner, I kinda forgot.  He ended up taking it to a dealership and having the flash upgrade done on his PCM.  It seemed to solve most of his problems and then he replaced his injectors and that took care of the rest.  I would suggest taking it to a dealer and having them reflash it.  If one dealer gives you hassle about the aftermarket stuff, call a different one.  The First dealership Chris went to tried to give him a load of crap, the second one took good care of him.  Hope this helps.

Sorry, I ordered one in and it was wrong... it came UPS and had been opened and our application listing was wrong.   He took his original to a dealership that told him they couldn't flash it until he fixed his fuel injector that was leaking or something because if he disconnected the battery it would wipe out the update.  That is total horse puckey (or bull $#!%, whichever you prefer) so he took it to a different dealership and it took the upgrade.  I would try another dealership first and see if they can get it to take, otherwise you will most likely have to get a new one.  You can try Mitsubishi or Dodge, they should be the same but you will need to match the numbers off of your old one or it may give you problems.  Good luck.