[djrnewcastle]

First, Let me say thanks to the owners of this Site...Glad to see other Intrepid lovers...
But...
I have a 2000 Dodge Intrepid. I love the car, never had a problem. it has 117,000 miles on it. Went out one morning to run some errands and it was running great. Later that afternoon went back out & and got an immediate check engine light. Ran the scanner on it, got a P0203, The #3 fuel injector. Bought new fuel injectors, tested it by hooking to battery and it sprayed. Put everything back together, changed plugs, tested coils, cleared the error message with the scanner... Same problem, Engine light, P0203. Thought maybe it was the pigtail. Took it apart again, put a new pigtail on it, Cleared the code....and DANG, P0203!! Finally did something that I should have done in the beginning and saved myself the headache.. Tested the continuity... No Problem there. So now my guess it is the PCM. Local dealership said they could program a pcm for $75, Which I am willing to pay but not sure if I should take mine out and have them try to RE-Flash program it or go to the yard and pull one. Dealership said it needed to be an exact match for it to work while others said that there were a couple of interchangeable. Thoughts and help please... Tired of running on 5 cylinders. Thanks!

[DrDodge]

it dont have to be a exact match,, heck we have 2.7's running on special pcm's,, , hit the yard and get one from a 99-01 I doubt you have skim so it should be simple

[djrnewcastle]

Thank you DrDodge. From what I have given you does it sound like a PCM problem? The first time it came up, i was also getting a P0303 problem too. I think that was a misfire. Checked the coils and after I changed the plugs, no other code but the P0203. And, the plugs looked horrible. I have owned the car for 2 yrs, and by my own stupidity, the car ran fine so i never checked them. But I've learned my lesson on that.

[kmacas]

yup its the pcm i had the same thing happen

[cdmccul]

Welcome Aboard, DJ!

[djrnewcastle]

Thank you KMACAS!
I spent a lot of $$ on new injectors, new pigtails & a lot of time removing everything to get to the injectors... TWICE. lol Going to the salvage yard tomorrow and pick up a PCM. Just praying that it's a good one! lol

[kmacas]

haha no prob get one thats from 98 to 01 since thats the only model year that will run your car

[tgs]

I see you're in New Castle. Welcome to DI.net! I'm currently over in Fishers.


Hope you read this before you go to the yard! You might have SKIM (Factory security system).
Do you have a black ignition key (no skim) or a grey key (skim)?

If you have a grey key you CANNOT just pick up any old PCM and plug it in.
If you have skim, the system will check the vin in the PCM against your vin, they will not match and the car will run for two seconds, then shut off.


If you have a black key you have more choices.
You can use any PCM from any Intrepid or Concorde from 1998 to 2001.
2.7, 3.2 or 3.5 does not matter, they will all work as long as they come from a car that also has a black key.
Since there are so many 2.7 cars in the wrecking yard, it's pretty easy to pick one up to test your bad pcm theory.
If that solves the problem, you can always go back later to look for a 3.2 or 3.5 pcm.

--Terry

[djrnewcastle]

Thanks TGS for the heads up. I have a gray key. C an you give me some direction or advice for picking out the correct PCM ? Like I said, tired of running on 5 cylinders. Just driving it to and from local places (2 or 3 miles) daily. And yes, I'm from the town of the largest high school fieldhouse in the world! Thanks for all the help to everyone

[tgs]

Damn, that's too bad!

You need to look for another 300M, Concorde or Intrepid from 1998 - 2001 that has the factory skim and key.

I think the ideal donor for you would be a 300M.
All of the 300Ms come with skim.

But, you can also look for the Concorde with the 3.2 or an Intrepid with the 3.2 or 3.5. Most, but not all, of the 3.2 and 3.5 cars have skim...not all.

If the car has a red light in the center of the dash, that's a good sign.
Then verify by removing the steering wheel cover and locating the skim module.
But none of that matters if you don't have the key.
You have to have the key in order to make it work in your car.

Once you locate a donor car, pick up the PCM, the skim module (under the steering wheel), the key. the lock cylinder and to be safe, the BCM.

And you need to verify that the transponder key is good.
I'm not sure how to verifiy that a grey key is still functional.

The idea is to swap your pcm, and swap the skim module and test it by taping the donor key to the skim module and using your old key to turn over the ignition.
If the car starts and runs for more that two seconds, you're good to go.
If not, you probably need to swap the BCM, too.

[djrnewcastle]

Oh geeeez, Now I am more confused. I just want my car running right! lol I am just a backyard mechanic. finding a donor car with all of that, especially the key is very hard to do in this town.

[tgs]

I agree.

The problem is the gray key.

[djrnewcastle]

my wallet keeps getting smaller & smaller lolol

[BiliTheAxe]

My car has the grey key, but I also have the cheap generic steel keys as copies, and they all are capable of starting and running the car. I do not know the full history of mods that may have been done by previous owners, so I cannot state anything other than that.

[cdmccul]

Pull your steering column shroud and see if you have a skim still, or if you have a key taped to it... Would be good to know now, rather than when suddenly faced with a problem...