Banks mods...bouncing road shuts me down

[galen1951]

I know it could be a thousand things, but here's the scenario. If I drive over a washboard road or bumps in the road at speed, the truck shuts off...sometimes..like tonite..all the dash lights flicker. Once, I was able to turn the key off then on, and go on. Usually, I get out and tap (fist) on the ECM, and it will fire right back up. Not tonite. Got towed. The banks chip is not coming loose from the back far as I can tell..well seated, clean, and taped on with duct tape real tight. Anyone have this problem? Ideas?

[STurbo90]

Well since it is in the topic of your post and you specifically state that you have checked it, you must have some reason to think the Banks mods have something to do with it.

So I would think you should completly remove the chip and drive down your test road to eliminate the possibility of the mod causing the problem.

How are you able to "tap(fist)" the ECM? The e-brake bracket kind of gets in the way of giving it a "tap"

You state that "sometimes" the dash lights flicker, what happens when they don't flicker, the dash goes dead? If the dash lights are just going dead, and I assume its not from you turning the key off, I would guess your are losing power somewhere.

Have you tried swapping the relays under the hood? Sometimes they go bad and can cause a loss of power.

[galen1951]

I put the fact that it has the banks mods in case someone else had them installed and had similar problems. A possible source is the chip going south. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to do exactly as you suggest: remove the chip and (if it starts), try the rough road, thanks [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I should have been more specific on the tapping: I tap the head of the connector on the firewall. The ECM is rubber mounted, so by tapping here, I am jiggling the connector, attached conductors, and the ECM. I"ve tried, while idling at a standstill, moving the harness around, wiggling and tapping the connector. I can't get the failure this way.
I can only say I saw rapid flickering of the dash lights tonite as it was the first time it happened at nite. I've been near traffic every time it shut down, so my eyes were a little busy; can't really say if dash lights behaved consistently.

The relays would be a good place to look, thanks! I'll replace them tomorrow if the chip removal doesn't change things. You've been a great help!

[STurbo90]

As far as replacing the relays, there are four in the distribution box.

Rather then replacing them just try and swapping them around.

The two on the outside towards the fender in the #1&2 spot are for PCM & IDM. The #3&4 spot are horn and trailer power.

So if you just move the 1&2(2 closest to the fender) to the 3&4 spot you can try it out without having to run down some new ones.

Probably want to try one or the other(remove chip or swap relays)at a time. Easier to isolate the problem if you only change one thing at a time.

[galen1951]

Thanks! I pulled the chip, but lifted the batt leads and unplugged the ecm first. Since it started after, not sure if it was the chip or hitting the reset thru power off or bad connect in the plug! LOL. In any case, its running. I'll be contacting banks to see if they will check the chip. Rough road this pm would not kill the truck.

I'll do the relay swap if it quits on me again. I need to make sure it will run religiously, because I'm selling. Kind of disheartening to have the setup that will outpull and outmpg my 04' 6.0 F350 only to have it collapse on the side of the road. I'll be selling "Penelope" and my 04 to either get a new ford diesel or buy a younger 7.3 one ton.
Thanks for your help!