[06PTElectricBlue]

Please post some pics of your PT

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

Check out this great link:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msFMU8Kw_v8


This very smart man shows you how to modify the engine bay sealing surface to let the hot air escape from the engine bay. I did the mod and checked it with a digital thermometer gun and it does help, you can feel the hot air escaping. If Chrysler did this when building the car maybe the computer would last longer. What a stupid place to put the PCM 6" away from the turbo.

I'm having problems with my 2004 PT Cruiser Turbo Touring. First got P0032 and P0038 and car stall out on the highway. Pretty scary when your car dies on the highway, thought it was going to be my last day on earth. Waited about 10 minutes and it started back up and drove home.

Changed both upstream and downstream O2 sensors with NTK (NGK) sensors. Check and cleaned all grounds, by battery box on fender well, and both sides of grounds from struts to under fender well. Outside my garage the engine just died while idling. Showed the same codes again. I just ordered a reman PCM from AllComputer and hope that it cures the problem.

The car was previously owned by my 90 year old father and only has 47K miles on it. I love the style of the car, and always thought Chrysler were quality cars...now I know better.

A couple of years ago I got a reman PCM for my PT from the same source.

It was truly plug-n-play and I've had no issues with it.

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

Aloha George,

After checking the BBB Complaints for CarComputerExchange, I canceled my order with them and sent my computer to SIA Electronics. They just received it today, so time will tell. Now I have my fingers crossed that CCE refunds all my money, from complaints read they like to keep as much as they can.

As far as creating a vent above the computer, thinking about it, I wouldn't do it as the chimney effect will cause the hot air to go by the computer. The way the guy in the video does it makes sense, venting away from the computer.

Don't be surprised if you get a report back that your old PCM cannot be repaired.

I have heard of several people that have sent PCM's in to these "repair service" places only to be told later that the PCM could not be repaired and they would need a different one.

This is what a PCM looks like inside (this is the old original PCM from my PT):

Everything on the circuit board is "sealed" or "weatherproofed" under a viscous compound:

I don't know how they would remove or peel that goo off the board to be able to replace anything on it that may be causing the PCM to fail.

Member "myckee" might know as he works on PCM's.

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

Aloha Chuzz,

Do you have an email address for him? or how can I contact him?

chuzz, hope you don't mind me jumping in here.

Here's his profile page, you can start a conversation with him:

https://www.allpar.com/forums/members/myckee.104205/

chuzz may also have an email address for myckee, but I'll let him provide that to you, if myckee doesn't mind it being posted in the open forum.

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

I finally bought a pcm from Myckeee and my problem was solved. I had him disable the SKIM, so now I just use a regular key and keep a spare in the wallet just in case. The only drawback is with the SKIM disabled you get a tiny red light glowing in the center of the L gauge cluster witch doesn't bother me at all.

CarComputer Exchange is trying to rip me for $508, still haven't received my refund on my canceled order. SIA Electronics also is another loser, said my computer tested ok, but in fact the computer is bad and replacing it with MycKeee's pcm proved it. I would definitely stay away from both of these companies.

I don't think any of these Internet PCM companies actually repair computers. I think they just grab another used one and send it out and hope for the best.

Glad to hear that myckee was able to help you out, and that the PCM was the issue all along

But why did you have him disable the SKIM?

The only thing I see in any of your posts was that it originally had error codes that were related to the O2 sensors, not any problem with the SKIM.

How did you pay for the CarComputer Exchange PCM? If with a credit card, you should be able to do a chargeback through the credit card company and they should be able to get your $ back.

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

Aloha 06PTElectricBlue,

I had him disable the SKIM because I was thinking maybe that could be a problem. I hate that bulky ignition key.

Myckeee did the Mopar Stage 1 on the pcm and it seems to be working fine. I going to order another one from him, want to keep a spare as sooner or later pcm's are going to start getting scarce.

I paid CCE with credit card, notified the bank to reverse the charge, and still waiting. This guy Mike at CCE said that my bank was denying the refund. Spoke with my bank and they said "no way". Then "honest mike" says if you give me your paypal account I'll refund it there. Told him, "you took it from the bank, you return it to the bank". I hope no one else ever makes the same mistake I did.

Normally a refund has to be done back to the same way that it was paid, which means back to the original form of payment.

PayPal is normally very safe because the merchant that you are doing business with does not have direct access to your bank account info, so they don't "see" the bank account # to refund it back to. But I use PayPal all the time for online purchases as they have a great dispute resolution department should something go wrong with the transaction.

If it were me, I would accept the refund to the PayPal account to get my money back now. If your PayPal balance is larger than the refund, then it will just make that balance lower. If you have no balance with PayPal and the refund would put your account into - balance situation, then you should be able to contact PayPal and they should cut you a check or refund back to your bank account.

Another option would be that you could give CCE your PayPal email address, then they send you the refund via that, then you can transfer it back to your bank account for no fees. If you choose that, be sure that they send the refund like they are sending $ to family or friends so that you don't incur any fees on the transaction. If they send it like it's for merchandise, then you will have some fees deducted from the $.

But either way, I would have my money back now, one way or another, and be done with CCE.

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

The location of the PCM in the PT Cruiser is positioned in such a way that it's a heat sink for the turbo. No way it gets any ventilation in that location. There's so little room in the PT engine compartment. They should have mounted it behind the grille ! Oh, and have used metal washer nozzles !

This is a mod that Handy_Cruiser did to his PT when he put a custom hood on his, but this is where the washer nozzles should have been mounted, on the cowl panels, the hood would look much sleeker and smoother and they wouldn't be cooked from the engine bay heat

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

Aloha 06PTElectricBlue,

That's a nice hood scoop. Where did he get it from and how much?

You have to replace the entire hood to get that look.

He found a hood on a PT in Chicago, drove up there from Arkansas to pick it up, brought it back, had it painted and put it on his PT, it's a real good look

He also added a Chrysler rear spoiler to his 'vert

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

The location of the PCM in the PT Cruiser is positioned in such a way that it's a heat sink for the turbo. No way it gets any ventilation in that location. There's so little room in the PT engine compartment. They should have mounted it behind the grille ! Oh, and have used metal washer nozzles !

Member "myckee" who works on PT PCM's, can probably provide some statistics of what he has seen in the failure rate of PCM's between the Turbo and NA's and I would venture to speculate that he has seen many more fail from the Turbo's than NA's, due to excessive heat from the turbo.

It's too bad that they couldn't have put some kind of a heat shield in front of the PCM, particularly on the Turbo models, that would still have an air space between the shield and PCM to allow air flow around it, but then it had a foil reflective surface to direct the heat forward and away from the PCM, might help in the survival rate of the PCM.

 

[06PTElectricBlue]

06PTElectricBlue, am I seeing this correct? Seems your friend has 2 of those hoods, one on the 4-door and on on the convertible.

No, the sedan was the one he found in Chicago that the owner sold him the hood off of.