Took my 04 Durango HEMI Limited into the stealership to have them address 3 issues: 1. A/C TSB (blows hot when engine warm) 2. Exhaust drone TSB and 3. Hesitation (but never stalling) when turning after a dead stop.
They claim they:
- Re-flashed PCM and ordered parts for the TSB (parts on B/O, no clue as to delivery.)
- Ordered parts for exhaust drone TSB (parts on B/O, again clueless.)
- Cleaned throttle body per some TSB (supposed to be necessary only after 50K miles. My D has about 11K miles)
So, I pick up the truck and it feels weird. None of the HEMI guts. Dismissing the mental picture of half a ham sandwich in my throttle body, I figure maybe the flash requires the PCM to learn some new sensor settings, so I hit the highway bound for my next call. Accelerating up the on-ramp, pedal to the metal, I'm trying to slide into a spot between a couple of semis, and as the throttle hits 3700RPM it's like the engine isn't running. Tach is oscillating between about 3500 and 4000RPM but I'm not accelerating, so I steer onto the shoulder to avoid becoming a hood ornament for a Kenworth.
As I reduce throttle, I feel things return to normal about 3500RPM. Since the next exit is 11 miles away and I'm reluctant to waste a few hours getting towed, I wait for a nice big hole to merge into the slow lane. Things seem fine again, so as I get near that exit, I punch it. The tranny kicks down, the HEMI revs up, and at 3700 it does it again. Bouncing between 3500 and 3900.
So, I figure I can limp to my appointment, as long as I keep my foot out of it, but I decide to call the Service Mangler at the stealership. I share some of my best "Golf Words" with him.
Finish the customer call, and return to the truck. Try the 3 keyclicks, no codes! Do the accelerator fly-by-wire throttle reset. Truck runs great. I find a good chunk of road and the HEMI bolts like a HEMI should.
So, I call the Mangler back, and tell him I have fixed the problem. (I think he was still pissed that I had questioned his parent's marital status at the time of his birth. ) Now that you have read all this, you're probably waiting for a punchline better than "So, Bob's your Uncle!", right?
Sorry, but the only punchline is that this highly qualified and factory trained Service Manager at a Five Star Dealer had never heard of the accelerator reset gimmick. I guess the moral of this loooooong story is to do this gimmick whenever you are forced to turn your D over to a service dummy.
Anybody got any ideas about this problem? Guess I need to find another joint to do the in-warranty work. Seems like the SM might be connected........