I am re-powering my '03 Expedition with a 4BT Cummins and M5R2 manual trans. I had a 5.4L 2v and 4R70W trans. The M5R2 bolted directly to the stock transfer case. I am done with the mechanical stuff and have it running, but have may now reached the hard part. The whole saga and pictures are documented on the 4BTswaps web site:

http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/showth...ord-Expedition

My problem is that my PCM is not talking to any (well maybe some?) devices and appears to be "dead" or incomunnicado.

I took apart the transmission and engine harnesses, removed all the sensors I would not need such as the O2 sensors, knock sensors, MAF, etc. I cut the wires about 6" from the PCM connection and put a piece of shrink tube on the cut ends and tucked them back in the convoluted tubing.

I kept the oil pressure sensor, CHT sensor (now in the water jacket), crank postion sensor (crank pulley/dampener machined with 35 notches) and the TPS. Some of the posters at the 4BTswaps site suggested I needed to have the cam position sensor too. I reconnected this and have one notch on the dampener to give this one pulse per rev of the crank. On the 5.4L it got one pulse for every two turns of the crank.

Now I see that I should have taken the wiring harness apart and put the sensors I want to keep on the 4BT engine, and leave all the others connected but dangling. This would have made it easier to figure out what the PCM can live without.

I am looking for recommendations on a diagnostic tool that can communicate with the PCM so I can begin sorting this out. Or of course any other ideas are appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

CR

 

No one on the swap forum has a clue either?

Your transplant recipient is a gasser....
Your putting in a diesel.....



You are going to need a miracle worker......
And
I'm being polite about it.

Your best bet would've been to get the computer out of the donor vehicle in which the engine was found....

If you do get the 5.4 pcm to communicate there may be a pats issue also....

Nibble on that for starters.

 

I appreciate your politeness. This post could invite some "you idiot" flaming.

The diesel engine is from the pre-computer era (mechanical injection) It only needs a throttle cable. So it runs and drives.

I am hoping to get the PCM where it can ignore the missing sensors or re-connect them so that it will function with error messages.

 

Ok then good.....the diesel is mechanical....
You may try to talk to or contact some of the tuners found in my signature.....and....if they do figure out away you might have to purchase a programmer to do the reprogramming.....

Bill@PHP might have some ideas try to contact him.

 

Thanks. I will take a look at those vendors and send Bill a note.

 

As long as you use the expedition sensors for the dash I don't see why it wouldn't function. You'll need a massive tune to turn off a lot of equipment. I don't see why it couldn't be done with a competent tuner.

 

That swap sounds really awesome! But I'm with 88, call Bill and some of the other tuners to get their opinions on what they can do.

 

CP, you could try and contact Bigreen2(Jesse from FarmboyFabrications) and ask him, he may be able to help you out. He did a 4BT Cummins conversion in his '97

 

cant see the pictures because im not a member, but cool project!!

 

Thanks for the tip Gator, I will give Jesse a call.

Str8t six-- you are correct; you need to provide an e-mail and password to see the pictures on the 4btswaps site.

Took it for the first drive last night. No speedo, ABS, or alternator to run the lights, so I had to keep it short. But this is AWESOME! I rolled down the passenger side window just so I could hear the snorting, rumbling and turbo whistle. Holy cow, this thing is a torque monster. It has about the same max torque as the 5.4, but it starts right above idle. Very cool. Now if I just solve my PCM problem all will be good.

 

can you get a video?

 

My dad has a Dodge inline 6 T/D and its a beast for pulling, but the shifts are slow because the throw is is long.
If its anything like his I bet its a brute too.

The cover on his say's 140HP (yeah right) and 400Ftlbs of tq.
but it has a bit of work done to it, so I think its quite a bit stouter.

 

I can make a low-res one. Is it possible to post videos here? What would you like to see in particular?


I tried to call him at 910.367.8762 and got a "temporarily out of service" message. I sent Bill at PHP a note as well today. Hopefully he can help

 

You need a wiring diagram to see the damage you may have done bu cutting back the wires. I posted in your other thread but it bears repeating. What did you do with the injectors 02 sensors and COPS? The MAF, Injectors, IAC and Cops share a common 12v source. Depending on where you cut the wires you may have cut off the red power wire going to the MAF. Check fuse #34 20 amp in the Central Junction Box inside the cab. It powers the red wire for these circuits.

 

Thanks for the ideas Jean. I have a pretty good wiring diagram, a Ford DVD purchased from Taylor Automotive. I would not have started the project without one. You could be right about a wire going to a sensor that also supplies a pin on the PCM. I will take a look at that tonight as well as the fuse you point out.

Here is the text from the other forum where I answer your question about the COPs:
I left the COPs and injectors on the 5.4 and cut the wires on the engine harness about 6" back from the connector which plugs into the PCM. Then I covered the cut ends with shrink tube and put them back inside the convoluted tubing. These are outputs from the PCM and not sensors, so my thinking was that the PCM can turn these on and off all day and since there is no feedback from them, it should not matter.

The O2 sensor wires are also cut. The sensors I don't have connected are: O2, MAF, Intake Air Temp, Differential Feedback EGR, and knock sensor.

The sensors that are connected are: oil pressure (it is actually a switch, not a transducer; the dashboard gauge for this works), Cylinder Head Temp (the dashboard gauge does not work), TPS (presently not rotated, just connected), crank position, camshaft postion, power steering pressure switch, and fuel tank pressure.

I'm thinking I have three options at this point-- maybe you have more?

• I may be able to get some help from the guys that make the chip tuners to write some software to ignore the missing sensors.
• I can re-connect the sensors that I took out and find a place under the hood for them to ride along and do nothing.
• I could get one of the electronic engineers at work to help design a small circuit board to give the PCM some dummy values that it is looking for so that it will think everything is ok and then communicate with all the other devices. My manual give a list of the typical PID values the PCM expects at various conditions. I would likely use the idle condition.

Thanks again for your input!