To Flash or Not to Flash
 

Same old question, I am approching 32000 and am wondering if I should take it in for an update before I hit 36000 and she is out of warranty. Bought it in Jan of 04 and it has ran great ever since. MPG have remained somewhere around 17 and nothing that I am aware of is wrong, although the high idle engaged yesterday and it was idleling pretty rough but that could be because of fuel or a dirty filter. OR is that covered in a TSB.

Anyhow, has anyone had problems after updates

What updates do I ask for, is there a list of TSB's that apply to my truck??

Maybe I should leave well enough alone??


thanks guys

I dream of 17 mpg!! You don't have your truck specs in your signature so I really can't compare, however the last load I took to FL was 12k at 65 mph (2K rpm) and the best I could do was 6.5 mpg. I have 11k miles on it now. @ 9500k miles I stopped in SC to change the filter to see if that would help. It didn't.
I tried to get a Dodge truck dealer in Bradenton, FL to reflash the ECM but they couldn't get to it until the following week, so I drove it home, pulling only 10k and it got about 7 mpg.

So, long story short, I got the flash and the weatherstripping tsb done today. BTW A BIG thanks to all the folks here on this board that share such important info. I truly appreciate it!

It'll be awhile before I can hand-calc mpg as I have a 98 aux tank that needs to empty first, but driving it home I see better numbers on the overhead.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope one day I can see 17 mpg!!

Sorry about not having the truck info. It is a 2004 HO quad cab, 4x4 with 4'' exhaust and modified air box

What is the weatherstripping all about??

What flash did you tell them you wanted?? Is it a number or soemthing??

I just got mine flashed at 10k miles. It has made about a 2-3 mpg improvement according to the overhead. The best I could get before, though, was only about 13 combined (mostly city). Seat of the pants tells me that power is at least as good as before - maybe even better, but it's impossible to measure. It also seems like the pinging sound I had before is gone or much reduced.

For me, it was a definite improvement. If I already had 17mpg, I might think twice. BTW, mine's a 3/04 build.

Neil

To borrow a phrase from Nike "Just Do It". I've not heard of any negative effects from anybody but almost everybody is reporting increased mileage. TSB18-037 to resolve white smoke on start-up, improved accuracy of the overhead comp. (doesn't seem to resolve the smoke on startup but from the driver's seat I don't see it!)

Ken

I had the flash done almost 4 weeks ago and am still getting a rock solid 14.2mpg :rolleyes:

Hmmm, that bites. I stand corrected.

mine was getting 16 avg. (best was 17 on long trip). Had the flash done this week, do not have truck back yet, will report when I do.

Engine Build date Feb. 2004

Eric

Is the weatherstrip tsb you are refering to the drivers door?

There are some other posts on here about the weatherstripping. Seems the front doors, where they meet the bottom of the A pillar, are tearing the weatherstripping as you close the door. Again someone, I forget where I saw it on here, was kind enough to post pictures of the exact location and damage, right behind the outside mirror. The number for this repair is TSB 23-008-04.
The tear on the driver's door on mine was barely visible. The passenger door was much more obvious. Dealer replaced both as per TSB.

I had the TSB done that was supposed to increase mpg and improve accuracy of the overhead computer. The indicated mileage went up about two mpg's but hand calcs show no increase. O/H now says about 1 mpg more than actual. I calculate every tankful and have averaged 14-14.5 for 13000 miles.

The flash is great, I would advise everyone to get it. My mileage jumped 2 MPG, and the overhead is now only off by 1 MPG (lower than hand), vs 3-4 before the flash

Just had the truck flashed and enabled the high idle today. Mileage seems better. It also seems to shift better in to 4th under moderate acceleration. I will have to see how it smokes in the morning. We are going to have a low around -5 sunday morning, that shoud be a good test. High idle works perfectly.

I've got a 2004 2500 with a build date of November 2003 and I'm getting 18 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway with no load and 14 mpg with 7k load on the highway without a flash yet, what's up with the low mpg I keep reading about?