Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure on the 2004 Dodge RAM 1500
When control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Dodge RAM 1500 report control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure at a median of 15,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 99,275 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
60% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,501 miles | 12,235 miles | 12,783 miles | 44,000 miles | 103,776 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $700–$3,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 12 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2004 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Horn would sound with engine off and on (no alarm system) for up to 40 min. Any time of day. Steady sound! Then shut off. No onset. Had to pull fuse to stop resulting in no horn at all. Consequences: irate neighbors, road rage from surrounding drivers. Replaced t control module and clockspring. Dealer preformed repair. Has old parts. Seems to be fixed. Took 12 days. *jb
Turn signal malfuctioned attributed to the front control module according to chrysler star representative. The dealer was not able to reproduce the failure and was returning my vehicle to me .this is a "known" problem that the dealer was not prepared or able to diagnose. According to rick at chryser star support desk the front control module p/n 56051036ad has a known problem. I was only able to find tthis out after calling chrysler customer service and insisting that the dealer call their star support desk and open an incident. The rep at the support desk immediately told jesse the service tech that the front control module had a known problem. The intermittent failure created a safety hazard on the highway by not funtioning at all or malfunctioning by indicating a right hand turn signal when the lever was in the left hand turn position. *ak
I own a 2004 dodge ram with the 5.7 hemi engine. The engine in my truck has stalled on numerous occasions when slowing down and going into a turn. Once on the freeway at 65 MPH! This happens most when turning on city streets or pulling into a parking lot. The dealer has flashed the PCM 3 times and it still has the problem. The last time it was in for this problem the dealer screwed with the timing, fuel air mixture and idle all in poor attempt to keep it from stalling. The results are poorer fuel mileage, occasional black smoke from exhaust, stalls at idle, the engine stumbles and soot build-up in the exhaust pipes. Oh, it stills stalls while turning sometimes. The dealer and the regional dodge rep are both dragging their feet. The truck is unsafe to drive. It has 20" tires and wheels(factory)which make it even harder to steer when the engine dies and you also lose the power brakes too. Real waker upper. *jb
Also reported on the 2004 Dodge RAM 1500
Other engine problem
CV axle or driveshaft failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Other body or interior problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 21 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure happen on the 2004 Dodge RAM 1500?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 45,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control module (ecm/pcm/bcm) failure on the 2004 Dodge RAM 1500?
21 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed