Geico266

I went to update the ECM with the Smarty and it said last update cancelled. It tried to reinstall the stock setting, but I get an error message. Now truck won't start.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Text 402 430-6977

John_P

You may need to call Smarty and get them to give you a "recovery code" to reset what has happened. When I had my 2006 Dodge CTD CR Truck, I entered some wrong info (to this day I am not sure exactly what I did)
and I had to get the guys @ Smarty to help me out. If I remember right I think the Smarty Website has "recovery programs" for your issue.

The other alternative IF the ECM on your truck is "locked up" is to have a Fiat/Chrysler Diesel Tech take the Chrysler DRB Scanner and "download" what is there and then re-enter the correct info from your trucks VIN.

Good luck.

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John_P

Geico266

It's headed to the dealer to have them reflash the ECM.
No longer a Smarty fan.

Danderson

I had great luck with an Edge EZ with boost elbow. That yielded 65 rwhp with moderate egt's. I sold the truck, a 98.5 24v after eight years.
I could disconnect it in 20 minutes.
Tough to go back to stock power.

saggonwaggon91

Smarty tech support was very good for me. Friend of mine with a 2004.5 had an issue where he went to change the setting and the smarty froze then went dark with his truck stuck on setting 2. Called smarty, sent it back, had replacement within about a week.

John_P

Sorry to hear you are disappointed with your Smarty.

As saggonwaggon said, Smarty and their Technicians have been VERY GOOD to me also. I can recall an incident here on DTR a few years ago where a DTR Member had another brand tuner and had his 2005 Dodge CTD CR lockup after entering some wrong info. He could get no help from that company and we suggested he call Bob Wagner @ Smarty for help which he did. Bob ended up sending him a "recovery program" from Smarty to clear the ECM from the other company! The recovery program worked great and the DTR member got his truck going again. That told me alot about Smarty and their company.

Geico266

I have been trying to contact Smarty for 2 days, no returned calls, no returned emails. Not a fan.

Geico266

Dealer says the VP44 is not working now. They claim they have a "box" to bypass the ECM to see if the injector pump is working, dealer claims it is not.
All I did was try to use the Smarty (have had it 15 years with no issues) and it won't talk to the ECM. I've not used any other programmer. I replaced the VP44 at 265k miles, currently have 305k.
Any ideas?

AlpineRAM

If they "hotwired" the VP44 and the truck does not run it's definitely the VP44 that's toast.
The "hotwire" gives +12V and Ground to the VP44, and the pump should let the engine run at idle without any other input. (Threre is a Chrysler service tool that does just that with a fitting plug instead of loose wires)
(Bluechipdiesel has a VP44 diagnostic schema on their website)

The ECM talks to the VP44 via a bus, and basically just asks the VP44 to inject a certain amount at a certain timing. The Smarty changes the values the VP44 is asked to achieve, but can not go over what the VP44 will deliver.

The smarty not talking to the ECM can be caused by a lot of factors, very often bad connections like corroded connectors or broken wires in the loom.
(Or a defective ECM or a defective Smarty, but both are rare in my experience)

I hope that you will get it sorted, and that it won't be too expensive.

John_P

Good post Alpine! Let me add that I had issues with the ground wires not making good connections on my 2002 Dodge CTD 24 valve also. That seems to be a big issue as some of my friends have had the same issues.

Geico, send Lary Ellis (Top) a P.M. and see if he can give you Bob Wagner's cell phone number. I think he will be able to help you out with technical advice and suggestions.

Geico266

I just changed the VP-44 30,000 miles ago. How could it die so quick? Don't answer that, its a VP-44.

Geico266

The truck ran fine until I updated it with the Smarty. How could the VP-44 die the instant I tried to update the ECM?

AlpineRAM

Well, that's a tricky question... It is improbable, but not impossible.

Nevertheless, I would ask the tech at the dealer to test the VP44 with the hot wire method.
( I had some troubles with the service tool, ours had bad pins and condemned good VP44s as being bad...)

A possible reason for the defect of the VP44 would be that something electrical went haywire and got 12V on the bus for example. This could also kill the ECM and the Smarty.

What does your smarty do or show when you plug it in? (Even in a gasser 1500?)

Geico266

Well, I finally got ahold of Bob Wagner and get fixed it! Just needed to pull the positive battery cables, let it sit for 5 mins with the key on, and re-flash to stock.
It worked!

AlpineRAM

OK, and no dead VP44?

Dealer diagnosis seems to have been a bit off...