Duramax Problem’s That Will Leave You Stranded!

here we are guys north prairie wisconsin ryan's diesel service to be exact uh and he is a performance shop and diesel repair shop here so today we're going to talk about duramax issues okay now i've laid out so many videos on these but we're going to hit on just some of them we're not going to go through every single one of them but what will leave you stuck and we're going to talk about the transmission control module that's going to be the subject of this video but we're also going to talk about other things so if you own a duramax it's probably really important that you watch this video from start to finish we can gain some knowledge and as well gain some dialogue in the comments below for all the stuff that we've missed so we can all learn together as one big diesel community we've done a lot of youtube videos here he does a lot of turbo builds he does a lot of transmission builds he's a diesel performance shop guys and it's almost like you're one stop because not only does he build turbos here but he also has a department that's specifically for driveline which of course you guys all know who kodiak truck is uh they're co-partners father-son business here so it's pretty cool to support the american small businesses but not only that huge shout out to you guys if you're interested in any sort of diesel parts make sure you reach out to them also use my coupon code truck master it's going to save you 99 on everything on this website 2006 2015 uh gm duramax diesels in particular are very common for throwing u0101 which is lost communication with the transmission control module uh better known as the tcm couple fears that can happen on these that guys will start seeing service traction control stabilitrak um they'll start having a trans their trans temperature will disappear it'll lock into third gear lots of things that we hear every single day had a guy here recently that actually had called that was actually camping somewhere in colorado in the mountains or something like that and he was traveling back down with his family and he called us and said hey i'm having an issue with my transmission what's going on what it boiled down to was uh he was having tcm failure we ended up going started working through him trying to help him out of how we could get him off to at least get him into a safe area because he's on the side of the freeway with his family we ended up going having him pull his tcm out of the truck and actually stuck it in the freezer for about 20 minutes on the back of his camper when he did that the tcm was actually able to cool down and not have issues what what is going on here after we were rudely interrupted what's going on here it'll actually cool the tcm down in a minute you'll see what they look like actually when they're burnt out but he ended up going pulled the tcm out stuck in the freezer and his camper for 20 minutes pulled it back out stuck it back into the truck and was able to make it to the next off ramp the truck shifted and everything was good eventually he once he got into town yeah it started acting up again but at least he wasn't you know stuck in the second or third gear while on the freeway while trying to travel um so he ended up cost back actually got a tcm we actually next day aired it to him and he literally plugged it in and was able to keep on traveling back with his family as you can see here this is actually one of the issues that actually ends up happening this was one that actually came in from an in shop um you can actually see this resistor right here is all burnt up uh destroyed it actually looks like it might have exploded um but this is kind of a common issue that we see um this one here we actually just cut open the back to see what actually failed on it like you say that's that's kind of what they look like when they fail um i know i've cut some of them open before that actually don't look this bad um i think this one was one that the customers kept on driving and clearing the code and finally something just left flying that was it you may be wondering right now what is a tcm uh tcm is the transmission control module so what this is going to do is this is going to control your shifts um as a trans as the truck is going down the road you know when to up shift when to downshift pressures on the trans solenoids turning on and off etc that is this main purpose of this module here this module is going to be located on the driver side radiator fan shroud as far as getting this tcm off very easy you're going to have a push pin right here you'll pull this push pin out make sure you don't drop it once that push pin is pulled out you'll end up going pull the tcm out like so there's a red lock right here you'll slide this lock down and you have two little tabs you'll push like so that level will come forward and it'll pop right off to put it back on reverse roll it down in slide it down put the red lock tight tab back on this is literally less than five minutes you could be back on the road running driving the truck with no problems i do normally recommend guys disconnect the batteries simply because a lot of guys don't have an edge insight monitor or easy link in the truck to clear the codes out or even have access to a scan tool i've had a lot of people literally change these in parking lots before so i always tell guys drop your batteries that way you don't have to worry about the check engine light on your batteries are disconnected it's only 30 seconds out of your life of changing this out this can save you big time going with one of our pre-programmed options versus going to the gm dealer uh the dealer would get about a thousand to twelve hundred dollars was the highest i ever heard um plus if you're stranded on the side of the road you have to pay a tow bill so there's a lot of options that we can go and help you out and save you money on with going this module come with a lifetime warranty we were the first to actually offer a lifetime warranty on these control modules so you have a failure again you pick up the phone and call us ship it back to us and we'll take care of it i realize that you guys may not need this module right now your truck may not be broke down but eventually if you have a 2006 to 2015 truck um your module is going to fail if you want it long enough eventually you're going to start having problems plan these modules on our website which is ryan's diesel dieselservice.com do a wiring inspection make sure there's no chaff wires we've heard of guys before that prior to buying a tcm they call us and ask for advice you know we've had guys call back before and say hey you know what i found a broke wire i need a tcm after all they're good back up and running again you also check the connector make sure no green connectors the pins are all straight and lastly make sure you check your trans fluid level one thing that i would say would leave you completely stuck or stranded especially if you don't have tools in your truck if you are stuck you got something for example an 11 millimeter ratchet wrenches are always great especially when you're blowing intercooler boots and that's what we wanted to talk about in this one right here yeah we definitely see a lot of issues with the intercooler piping uh charge clamps boots that sort of thing um couple examples lb7s uh they have an issue where the pipe itself on the driver side where it comes off the hot side there actually scrubs up against the frame it'll actually wear holes right through you don't know how many trucks we see through we see a lot of lb7 trucks that come through here and they'll scrub holes right through the side of there guys don't even know about them they don't even know that they're having issues with the truck they don't even realize it pretty much every truck that comes through this shop prior to disassembly we'll always go and charge the system i've seen pinholes in them i've seen you know intercoolers or the sides they've actually cracked they've had issues that way so pretty common that we see you know boot issues clamp issues that sort of thing i had a customer i want to say it was last spring he was uh snowbird and he was coming back from down south coming back up to wisconsin here and uh he was stuck in the middle of new mexico middle of nowhere on those lmls what ends up happening is uh they don't have an actual like adjustable clamp so basically when it comes off the hot side it's just the clamp and then this band that goes around there guy was stranded literally in the middle of literally in the middle of nowhere there was nothing he sent me a picture and i i've kind of been freaking out if i was him too so it's one of those things you know um i know there's companies out there that do sell pipes you know hsp they're a great company um and they sell aftermarket pipes where you know with the boots and the clamps and everything where you can have that full adjustability in this guy's case he had nothing he there was nothing he could do uh he ended up getting creative with some duct tape and zip ties and uh limped her along and made her to where he needed to be but definitely always want to look at those um make sure pro tip make sure you guys go one thing that uh you know i've always beat into my guys heads is uh fluid film or uh pb blaster wd-40 anything of that nature spray those clamps before you hit them especially if you're in the northern states or salt or that sort of thing um those clamps aren't cheap i mean those clamps can range anywheres you know from 25 to 50 bucks i've seen some of them so don't buy a dormant one yeah yeah yeah definitely i've seriously had so many issues with those dormant ones don't buy anything dormant in general so one thing that i always tell guys you know spray those clamps down give them a little squirt uh you know and even in some cases work it in just a half a turn and then back out save you save you a couple bucks another thing that will definitely leave you stranded is the infamous cp4 failure in the lml duramax so your 2011s to your 2016s as you guys know the lml's uh they have a problematic cp4 pump it's not like we're seeing that every single day but we have seen them where they come through and they do have metal on the regulator um definitely one thing that can leave you stranded for sure we always tell guys you know especially guys that you know are traveling and cross country or whatever and even local guys too you know for that matter i guess as well too if you ever get a low rail code coming on or the trucks down on power you're having issues that thing stop driving the truck especially on a truck on those lmls it'll in most cases be cheaper if you can catch it ahead of time you know and having that issue where metal could be potentially going through the system it's going to be cheaper at that point pay the tow bill to the local shop and have it fixed at that point or diagnosed or whatever the case may be you can pull the regulator out on the top side of that pump you can actually go there's three torques if i remember correct that hold them down you can pop it right out slidell to slide the ac compressor on the side you could check it yourself if you really wanted to i know we get guys that come on heck i got a guy coming next week that's actually bringing his through here and literally his main reason of bringing the truck in he wants it looked at his buddy had to go out on his and he's all paranoid he's got 150 000 miles on the truck and he's like i don't care what it is i just want to go and pull it um exergy does make a fuel saver we do a lot of them as well too where we'll do a fuel saver and like an air dog lift pump set up on there it's cheap insurance guys you know so definitely something though that can leave you stranded that pump goes it's sending metal through the whole fuel system you know tank lines sender whole nine yards so anything diesel fuel touch touches has has to be replaced cleaned very thoroughly if you want to try chancing it and that sort of thing so it can get expensive i mean i've heard of shops charging actually when this first started being an issue and they were out of warranty i heard dealers charging twenty thousand dollars for that which is crazy um you know some guys you know independent shops i hear anywhere from five to ten grand depending on how bad it is uh it's labor intensive you know i know shops that charge you know 30 40 hours of labor alone just to go and do that you know times that by you know 120 you know bucks an hour depending on whatever the shop rate is not a cheap fix by any means another common issue that a lot of the i would say 07.5 and above duramaxes would have are some of the problematic issues with the diesel particulate filter as well as all the other issues with the emissions present stuff that's on there so with that being said what are some of the common issues that you see coming in from customers yeah a lot of knock sensors um a lot of them lmls are really bad for them knox one knocks 2 we see that a lot egt sensors i will see tank heaters as well too usually it's one of the sensors that you're having issues with they definitely be stranded we've had plenty of customers that have had to been towed in or whatever the case may be because let's say they're traveling from up north northern wisconsin prime example there's a lot of dealers up there there's not a lot of shops up there in general that you know know what they're looking at clearing the codes in most cases isn't going to get you back on the road you're not going to be back up and running again guys tell customers don't let these trucks idle for long periods of time you know especially up here in the north guys will remote start their trucks walking into stores and that sort of thing and the problem is those trucks aren't going to regen if you're short tripping it if you live in the city i mean we're about 30 minutes from milwaukee you don't know how many trucks come out here where guys they just go they don't drive them they don't get them up on the freeway enough i've had dpfs come in here with over 100 grams of soot pack you know in them and in some cases i can get them clean through multiple multiple regens and other times they're pulling it off and getting a new dpf so unfortunately the day and age you're just saying hey i'm gonna go and use that uh dirty word delete that doesn't happen anymore that's that's not a reality anymore unfortunately the way times are changing you gotta make it illegal you got to make it right it wouldn't be a bad idea if you are leaving the diesel idling for a long period of time to get that thing on the highway and not break the law but open it up you know so you can force some of that stuff out without forcing it into regen mode so what are some good tips that we can do as duramax owners to get that thing to be able to do a regen yeah getting it out on the freeways you know drive cycles that's one big thing you know if you're not able to do that or whatever your situation may be edge makes a great product you know i know we've talked about them before the edge insight i i love that product that they are the best when guys come in they say hey i want some sort of monitoring setup i love them i always try to sell a customer on those from clearing codes or reading clothes injector balance rates one awesome thing on those as well too uh i don't know about the cts the the first version but i know like the twos and threes you can actually go and do forced regens on them so you guys again that aren't able to get them out there you go plug it in take it for our you know lap around the block get it to temp check all your fluids like it says to hit it and walk away and let it go just make sure it's not close to your house because melted siding off your house it gets a little warm out the tailpipe so be careful with that especially if they're running like one of your 60 millimeter turbos oh yeah it's gonna sound like a jet so you betcha and it's super loud as a matter of fact i remember a guy putting a piece of paper right there by the tailpipe while i was in regen mode and actually caught the piece of paper on fire yep it's pretty crazy so to lead us on to the next subject when we talked about scan tools it's always good and it's very handy to have in the truck as a matter of fact i'd recommend even if you can't afford the cts2 or the edge cts3 monitors to buy yourself something you know cheap and easy to be able to clear the codes but to lead us into the next thing that would leave you stranded would be the limp mode issue so ryan what's lit mode and uh what are some of the things to look after on that one you betcha so as far as limp mode goes multiple different things to put you in the limb mode i've seen you know map sensors mass airflow sensors fueling issues those are usually the pretty common ones that we see besides transmission limp of course too limb mode is going to happen in all different ways for example in transmission limp you're going to be in third gear stuck you're not going to be moving it's not going to up shift it's not going to downshift um you're fueling your air air limp modes and that sort of thing generally speaking you're still going to be able to drive the truck but it's going to be a 2000 rpm limp mode it's not going to allow you to go over 2000 rpm some cases i've seen where it's going to not allow to even shift gears you know so but that's usually the common things that we see when it's going in the limit mode again having the axis with that scanner you know you know that edge monitor it's going to help you let's say you're in the middle of traffic you'll say you're out on the freeway something happens what are you going to do how are you going to get off the road clearing dropping your battery cables isn't going to really be that good of an option so definitely having that kind of you know monitored just quick go in there clear the code keep on at least to get off the road and get to safety is definitely a plus yeah and that's funny because we i just talked to you guys about it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an 11 millimeter ratchet wrench for the intercooler you know boots just in case one of those float flew off and you had to put it back on in a pinch it was a good idea to have one of these right here or just you know even just an open end eight millimeter or five sixteenths wrench to take to drop the battery cables the negative and positive that i think that's probably we took that of his toolbox right there it's always it's always a positive to have one of those tools handy in your truck it's simple it's a good idea to drop those battery cables for a couple minutes or so put it back on it should clear the code and get you back on the road but on the fly is so much better because you you pop up an engine code all of a sudden you're in lit mode you're doing 20 miles an hour you can't go any faster from what basically what's going on dude the rpms are basically regulated you can't go any faster another thing that i would highly recommend especially for some of you guys that are just changing a serpentine belt something as simple as that is going ahead and spinning those idler pulleys as a matter of fact spin all the pulleys on the front of the engine but one particular issue that left me stranded and this is a personal story of mine as a matter of fact i posted a youtube video when i first started my channel but i threw an uh engine serpentine belt it just i lost it on the highway i was doing 75 miles an hour on the fast lane just driving normally and all of a sudden battery voltage dropped lost all power brakes lost all power steering it was terrifying you got to think about i got a lifted red truck on 35-inch tires it was crazy luckily i wasn't hauling a trailer so i ended up having the truck get towed home now i went ahead and inspected it further and the idler pulley froze on me it literally froze stiff so it's extremely important for you guys if you're replacing your engine belt go ahead and check those pulleys really quick as a matter of fact just replace them they're cheap insurance how much are idler pulleys what do they you normally go for yeah it varies from where you're getting them anywhere anywheres you know 25 to 40 50 60 bucks depending on what it is smooth ribs that sort of thing definitely don't cheap out on them and go though guys you know how many times i see parts store and i'm not knocking the parts store guys but it's one of those things if you're having you know a thirty forty fifty thousand dollar truck don't buy the cheapest part possible you know spend the good money go with ac delco ac delco is always my go to you know we're huge ac delco guys here definitely always look at that stuff especially if you hear them squealing you know and that sort of thing when you start the truck it's time to replace them and i always recommend to the customer just do them all here if you're if you're already got out of the shop you're already paying the labor to get to one most shops aren't going to charge you labor to replace every single one just have them all done that way you got peace of mind save your old belt too you don't know how many times that i've seen guys where they take you know if they're just because your old belt's cracked or worn doesn't mean it's still not good you lock up on the side of the road and let's say you need you know need to get off throw that belt underneath the back seat every one of my trucks i always replace the serpentine belt and i always take the old one throw it under the back seat peace of mind cheap insurance it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a half inch breaker bar as well underneath the back seat take that belt tensioner go ahead and just turn it a little bit take the tension loose pull off that belt put off put on your old one just to get you off the side of the highway get a brand new one on there so we did a previous video on this one as well we replaced the pigtail on an lli and it put you in tractor mode what exactly is tractor mode it's basically what ends up happening is you start running on half the cylinders um depending on you got you know which cylinder it is you know that you have go down um it'll sound horrible it sounds like an old tractor basically and it'll sit there and pop and bang and knock and it's pretty brutal sounding so um usually it'll end up throwing codes going from memory don't hold me to it don't write me apart in the comments i want to say it's like a p 2146 or something of that nature it'll start throwing it um depending on which cylinder which bank of cylinders it is but usually they'll throw codes of that nature um or it'll just throw a cylinder code you know cylinder two and seven are the most common ones on there basically what ended up happening was jim decided to build uh build the harness a little too short so over time that harness is pulling at those two opposite ends what will end up happening is that'll wear the plugs out the plugs will start jiggling loose there you go so we actually end up we stock those plugs here it's extremely common that we see those trucks coming through here so that's one really common issue that we see with the uh the loi and the tractoring the other really common one too um is the ficum the wires like to rub on the bracket up top there uh there's usually a zip tie and from the factory they crank it really tight what will end up happening is those wires will internally break and next thing you know you'll start having this run issue you'll throw those feeling codes for the banks um where it isn't always necessarily just you know two and seven you may have it there the back of the alternator there's multiple different spots where you can get the loy tractor noise and that sort of thing so definitely make sure you look at that kind of stuff i'll be quite honest with you when we work on those loy trucks in particular we never put that zip tie back on we've had plenty of urgent trucks that have come through here where we know it's never been touched and you may call that you know a hack move but hey you know what i don't want the customer broke down inside the road either because well over time that wire broke through in war you know so we always explain to the customer look if you want to put it back on you can but my own personal trucks i've always taken them cut them off again cheap insurance make sure you're not broke down on the side of the road and the last subject that i would like to hit on would be when you guys hear some of those hissy noises coming from your engine i would never ignore that sort of thing you know your trucks you know what they sound like when it just sounds a little off a couple things that i'd like for you guys to check now of course this is probably not going to leave you stranded but it's going to really mess with the power on your truck not only is it going to rob your boost psi but it's also going to mess with your fuel economy as well and i've really seen this so with that being said up pipe bellows as well as cracked manifolds and uh cracked up pipes as well that's another huge issue and what i would actually look for on that end and it does it definitely makes it sound it'll make a hizzy you know exhaust sound exhaust leak sound but what i would do guys i'd remove the inner fenders get under there and look for any black sup built up on those pipes those up pipes there as well as your manifold there's any sort of black residue on that that's definitely an indication that you have a manifold or a pipe leak issues that i've seen as well with my personal lbz duramax was the y-bridge o-rings which are mated up to the actual inlet to the y-bridge itself there's two o-rings when those fail man do you have problems chugging man you're chugging along just trying to make it to the next exit this video could be a complete mile long we can make this video we can sit here and chat all day we're duramax guys and again i do appreciate you guys watching the channel and gaining knowledge so we may actually come back and do another video if you guys are actually interested in some of the duramax talk let me know in the comments we can definitely do another video for you guys so we definitely didn't hit on everything these diesel trucks are not cheap we know that as a matter of fact sometimes it's a really good idea to buy a gasser because what do you do you turn the key and you just drive the truck you don't have to worry about a bunch of crazy fuel filters and oh i have a fuel leak here and i have a boost problem and all this other stuff but then again it's a lot of fun to own a diesel truck because not only does it sound cool let's be honest but you can pull anything like that duramax is legendary and one more thing that i really love is upgrade just like the reins diesel service turbos you know the 64 millimeter chargers i actually have a 68 millimeter charger from you as well i pulled trailers with that thing i'm not recommending you do that but because i have bigger injectors you know i have i got feeling going on with air and all that other stuff so my build's a little different than the average person if i was actually using it can you know for livelihood i probably would go with a 64 or 66. maybe you might agree with me on that one absolutely for everyday tone definitely 64.66 yeah he's on this right here so uh yeah i'll leave a link in the description for his turbos but definitely check him out but seriously guys these diesel trucks are really awesome to upgrade that's my favorite thing about owning a diesel we have a long list of issues that you would be pretty much facing if you are a duramax owner unfortunately the inevitable especially when you're pushing over 175k plus you know you start seeing these problems occur especially for you lb7 guys but may i say lb7 is king yeah thank you i still like the lmls though i think the lml's are really cool yep you can really turn a lot of power in those things you betcha you betcha absolutely and get all the nice uh you know creature functions in the cab you got the nice truck hey we could talk about the lmm too you know i mean it's pretty much similar to an lbz other than it has five extra horsepower and i know that the egr cooler is a little different from the lbz but then again you have the creature comforts of having a 07.5 or newer you have the nice interior you know you got the nice look the newer looking truck so there's just a lot of different benefits that you can take from every truck that are really awesome we could talk about the loi as well okay i'm just going to stop right now guys all right i do appreciate your time as always i'm going to get back to work here we got a lot going on here at ryan's diesel service make sure you stay tuned hit that notification bell you guys can't miss the video you guys are killing it thanks again we'll see on the next video stay tuned [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you