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jrholder · 10-13-2018, 07:35 AM

I received a notification for Cummins campaign C1737 in 2016. Since I do not live near a Freightliner or Cummins Serivice center I waited until I had another need to make the trip. After getting a number of other campaign notices from Freightliner I took my 2014 American Coach in to have the work done. I was told that the Cummins campaign had expired in 2017 and would not be covered.
I called customer care and they told me that if there was no expiration date on the letter to speak with the regional service manager about it. His office just happens to be next door to the Freighliner dealer in Albany, NY so I walked over there. He escalated the issue to the main office but they refused to cover it.
He then me told to have Freightliner call him and he would work it out locally. Once he got the $365 cost he reneged on the promise and refused to help out. So I paid
for it and called it a learning experience (non-safety campaigns have expiration dates even if the letter does not say that). Now comes the worst part. On the way home I notice my fuel gauge was not working at all, then I notice both air pressure gauges fluctuating wildly, then an hour later all gauges stop working. Then the electronic display reads "No J1929 Data" and the alarm goes off and can not be silenced without disconnecting the chassis batteries along with multiple warning lights to check engine. Of course this was late on a Friday night and Freightliner was closed for the weekend. Coach seemed to run fine so I kept going and got it home. After reading the invoice from Freightliner it is clear that the technician had trouble with the ECM update and had to call Cummins tech support. After reading the posts on the forum about the improvements this ECM update would provide I thought it was worth doing plus they told me I was 10 updates behind the current level. At this point I wish I had my old software back. What have they done to me?

randomledder · 10-13-2018, 11:14 AM

I’m guessing he updated the Ecm calibration through the 9 pin connector and not the correct 3 pin dedicated connector. When doing so on the 9 pin all of the Ecm s in the system are on it and can a lot of issues. Hopefully they took an Ecm image before they did the update. Or maybe there was a j1939 connector that was unplugged and just not plugged back in properly. These are usually a triangular shaped connector. There must me some sort of oem Ecm on the unit that cares about fuel level and air pressure ect. Engine Ecm doesn’t care about any of that.

jrholder · 10-13-2018, 01:15 PM

I think I'm screwed. Here is exactly what the tech wrote: " Performed Cummins campaign c1737. Due to glitch in download had to order a fleet cal to get ecm to get through update. Removed rear engine access cover and hooked to the engine datalink connector and then hooked to the ecm with the in-line 6 com box and went to calibrations and found the ecm was at eb90001.25- and checked software revision and found it went to eb90001.39 and went to perform the update and found the ecm update stopped towards the end and aborted flash. Had to call Cummins tech support to get fleet cal to use the restart ecm update, then finally got the ecm to get through and checked operation on road test to verify all parameters and settings are correct."
Clearly with all the problems I am having they changed something that controls more than just the engine. Even the turn signals now flash in an
uneven fashion (blink, blink, pause, blink, blink) . God help me.

jrholder · 10-13-2018, 05:29 PM

I thought of another possibility this afternoon. During the same service visit Freightliner also did the throttle petal safety recall which they told me was a 5 hour job. Since he was under the dash panel doing that work is it possible that he disconnected something there causing all of these issues? Is that a more likely scenario than the ECM update causing the problem?

Finance · 10-13-2018, 07:13 PM

Software doesn't go bad driving down the road. A loosened wiring harness connection on the other hand...

Sounds like a bus connection to the dash is unplugged.

08Navigator · 10-15-2018, 04:49 AM

Was the mechanics name Jethro? If so ..God help you!

jrholder · 10-16-2018, 05:18 AM

On my way back to Freightliner today. My guess is that he left something disconnected under the dash. Will report the outcome.

jrholder · 10-16-2018, 01:27 PM

Started it up cold today and everything was fine. Did not bother bringing it back as they would not be able see anything wrong. Is it possible something had to recycle and is now fine? Can not find any loose wires or connections anywhere.
Ready to leave on a 1400 mile trip to Florida so does not give me a lot of confidence but I guess I am on my way. Thanks for the advice