Turbo Diesel Registry
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/594528
TDR 90 www.turbodieselregister.com 75 THEME The editor noted that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has been making the headlines almost daily. Yep, and unfortunately, many of them were negative. Sometimes the headlines don't tell the whole story. For example, the Jeep hacking story made it sound like FCA was the only vehicle manufacturer that could be hacked, when in fact Tesla has also had the same fate and the same goes for the Corvette. Hacking cars is now bigger than car-jacking! In fact, all of today's modern vehicles are simply rolling computers that can be hacked by those who don't have enough to do in life. Every day there's another headline about a major company or another branch of government being hacked by the Chinese or the Russians. If the Pentagon and the email server used by General Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, can be hacked, who should be surprised that a Jeep can be hacked when it is connected to the Internet, uses WiFi, GPS and has a satellite hookup for Sirius- XM radio? Our '14 Ram EcoDiesel has the same system. So far it hasn't come to a stop while cruising into Kerrville, Texas, on I-10. If it should suffer from such a problem it'll probably be because my feeble mind forgot to put in DEF when the gauge hit empty… maybe it's diesel ...that gauge is on empty too?? LAST ISSUE I read with interest Robert Patton's write-up on his aftermarket air suspension kit. Holy Cow! I'm glad I didn't get the itch to do that. I was surprised when he said that his airbag system didn't improve the unloaded ride. However, like Robert's Ram 1500, our 1500 with factory air suspension rides like it was a Chrysler 300. As you read through Issue 89 there are so many articles about the complexity of today's trucks…it's positively mind boggling. In "Four Whaling," Greg didn't seem too enthusiastic about autonomous vehicles nor was he excited about all of the gadgets that add so much to the cost of a modern car. Me neither. I'm glad he pointed out the speed rating of 75mph on truck tires. I see them rolling down I-10 every day doing the speed limit of 80mph. I also see lots and lots of tire debris all over the road. As I've said before in this column, ST trailer tires are rated at only 65mph. As I sit there with the cruise set on 65 pulling our RV, they go flying by me, but I still get there first 'cause I pass them changing a shredded tire a few miles down the road. Joe Donnelly always has some good tech articles, but what caught my attention this time was his story about May Madness. I'm so glad he has kept that going. We did it for six years and then he took it over and moved it south to Pahrump, Nevada, from Carson City. It looks like it was a great event. I'm sorry that Stan Gozzi has retired from FCA (I know he's happy) because I relied on him for technical information, but I'm very happy to see that he is still participating in May Madness as well as chiming in on the TDR website. Andy Redmond talked about his tools; the special ones: the ones he likes best and how he still uses his father's and grandfather's tools. I thought I was the only one who was still using hand tools from generations past. When we poured concrete not long ago, the contractor got a big kick out of using my grandfather's tools for smoothing out the wet stuff. He said he hadn't seen those kinds of tools since he was kid. I recently sent my grandfather's ax that he used in building Camp Greenville for boys in the mountains of western South Carolina back to that facility. They were celebrating their 100 th anniversary of the camp and I thought they might like a piece of history to display. In my last column I mentioned the on-line article about sticking your key fob in the freezer to keep the bad guys from breaking into your Ram. That story has stirred up a hornet's nest. Some say the freezer, along with any steel box that acts as a Faraday cage, can suppress the fob's signal. Some say that's a bunch of "bunk". The temperature of the freezer isn't the issue. It's all about shielding the signal. As a licensed telecommunications engineer since 1957 I can confidently say that when you electronically shield the signal of the fob with an appropriate metal "cage" you are going to leave the guys trying to steal stuff from your truck wondering what happened. This all reminds me of when I was working for Carson Dodge and there were complaints of the trucks "shifting up and down". That started after Dodge went from the 48RH to the 48RE version of the automatic (around 1998, if I'm not mistaken). It wasn't shifting up and down, it was the torque converter locking and unlocking periodically. A little research showed that the throttle position sensor (TPS) lead going to the powertrain control module (PCM) was in the same wiring harness as the output from the alternator. Surges in current from the alternator were introducing voltage spikes into the TPS/PCM lead and screwing things up. I simply rerouted that lead out of that harness and away from the alternator and the problem was solved. Later models simply shielded that lead and then there were no more problems. As we get more and more computer modules controlling various functions via multiplexed circuits, instead of using individual wires for each function, vehicles are going to look more and more like aircraft with their associated shielded wiring systems. Esoteric Dissertations on Manure Shoveling by John Holmes.