Hey Everyone,

After about 6 months of no problems, my truck decided to act up again last weekend (after someone PM'd me about similar issues--oddly enough, same day too ). I went to start the truck and I got the loss of communication (or something similiar) on the H&S Black Maxx, and couldn't do anything with the truck while all of the electronics decided to take a vacation, even the radio wouldn't work and wanted me to input the security code. The EVIC displayed Trailer Brake Controller Requires Service (or something to that affect). So I disconnected the integrated trailer brake controller hoping that would fix it...and it didn't.

After about 10-15 minutes of cycling the FOBIK and disconnecting the batteries, then cycling the FOBIK again, the electronics woke up and I was able to start the truck and get the kiddos home. The only code that showed up on the BM was for the Integrated Brake Controller, which may or may not have been because the controller was disconnected when everything finally returned to normal.

Fast forward to today, I was able to hook up the AutoEnginuity ScanTool to pull all of the codes stored and to my surprise, there were a lot more codes than I anticipated, so I was wondering if any of the mechanics on here familiar with these trucks would take a look at the codes in the PDF at the link below to see what step I should take next: dealer, TIPM, trade-in or just clear the codes and press.

As mentioned in the last line above, I have not cleared the codes in case it is best that I take it in or if there are any other things I could try to isolate the problem. I just ran out of warranty, so the more I could do to troubleshoot, repair, etc, the better.

There is history of stuff like this happening with the truck. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time it displayed Loss of Communication and unable to start the truck until it woke up. Other issues have been with the Instrument Cluster dinging and resetting while driving, while disabling cruise control and the EB along with codes: U0100, U0141, and U0121. The code for the Glow Plug/Heater circuit I sometimes get when I wait too long to start the truck (grid heater delete done).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. -Josh

2010 DR 2500 Diagnostic Report

 

You may have already tried using the other FOBIK if not it's worth a try because of the code for Low battery on the FOBIK, perhaps a bad contact inside and constantly retrying it may have finally made contact. Other than the Black max the only other thing that stands out is the 158F intake air temp but that could be because the truck was still warm. I don't know why H&S stopped making the BM but I seem to remember people having trouble with them. It might be worth looking at the communication cord to the BM, when we first installed my sons MM the com cord partially came out and we tie wrapped it in place I did the same with mine. As for a trade in the extra GVWR of the newer trucks is great but the hassle of everything else with the truck is just not worth it at the moment unless a delete becomes available, the problems with my sons 2013 are just not acceptable.

 

Thanks Busboy!

I changed the battery in the FOBIK after I saw that code. This issue has happened with fresh batteries in the remote as well. The truck was cold (I didn't drive it for a couple days) so the intake air and coolant temps are incorrect values. I'll send an email to AE to see if that is standard values reported by the truck or a bug in their software. I used to carry the other FOBIK with me as a back up but stopped doing so after this popped up in the past, tried the backup and it didn't work.

I go back and forth on the possibility of the Black Maxx being the culprit, but even if I disconnect it when the electronics aren't communicating, it still won't change anything other than report that it can't establish communication. The diagnostic CAN BUS lines from the data link connector go directly to the TIPM--which makes me think the TIPM is the bottleneck. I would think if the BM was the problem, disconnecting it would correct the issues, but it doesn't.

Maybe after the new year I'll look into just replacing the darn module. There is a company that refurbishes them, so maybe they would be able to provide some insight as well.

I keep teasing my wife about upgrading, but it is hard to justify as we will finally have the truck paid off next year--and she wants a mini-van to replace her Aspen.

However, speaking of deletes...your son can start thinking about kicking the garbage to the curb and make his truck run right. Check out RSD and EFILive...which makes the 2013-2015 a viable option now and EFILive for 2010-2012 will be released shortly after.

 

I don't think just disconnecting it without uninstalling it would work, might be worth asking H&S.. Thanks for the heads up on the deletes we'll check them out over Christmas, hoping my son will be back in town. He hasn't heard anymore about the local guys who were working on a delete but he hasn't been around either.

 

Unfortunately, H&S no longer offers tech support. They don't even list a contact number now.

That would be a good Christmas present for your son