NHTSA Complaint #11255646 — 2006 DODGE CHARGER

PCM SHUTS DOWN BRIEFLY WITHOUT WARNING AT SEEMINGLY RANDOM TIMES, ALTHOUGH THIS SEEMS TO BE MORE COMMON WHEN ACCELERATING FROM STATIONARY SUCH AS AT A STOPLIGHT. SOMETIMES THE OUTRAGE IS EXTREMELY SHORT AND THERE IS A DING FROM THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER, SOMETIMES IT IS LONGER WITH ONE OR MORE WARNING LIGHTS ILLUMINATE BRIEFLY INCLUDING THE ELECTRONIC THROTTLE, AND SOMETIMES THE CEL WILL ILLUMINATE. OUTAGE NEVER SEEMS TO LAST MORE THAN A FRACTION OF A SECOND. IF THE CEL COMES ON THE CODE IS U0100 LOST COMM. W/PCM. IF SPEED IS ABOVE ABOUT 15 MPH THE ENGINE DOESN'T ACTUALLY STOP, THERE'S JUST A BIG JOLT, AS IF THEY HEY HAD BEEN TURNED OFF AND THEN RAPIDLY BACK ON. AT SLOWER SPEEDS THE ENGINE STOPS AND MUST BE RESTARTED WITH THE KEY. THIS HAS RESULTED IN NEAR ACCIDENTS WHEN PULLING INTO TRAFFIC AND SUDDENLY STOPPING. DEALER HAD THE CAR FOR A WEEK, AT FIRST COULDN'T DUPLICATE BUT WHEN IT DID HAPPEN THEY COULDN'T DIAGNOSE. THEY REPROGRAMMED THE TCM AND CHANGED THE TRANSMISSION FLUID AND FILTER (WHICH WERE DUE ANYWAY) AND REPLACED THE BATTERY FOR LACK OF ANY BETTER IDEAS. THIS PROBLEM CAN GO A WEEK OR TWO WITHOUT HAPPENING OR HAPPEN 10 TIMES IN 3 DAYS. I ADDED A RECORDING VOLTMETER TO MONITOR KEY VOLTAGES IN AND OUT OF THE PCM (MEASURED AND RECORDED APPROXIMATELY 20 TIMES PER SECOND) AND THIS SHOWED THE FIRST SIGN OF TROUBLE IS THE AUTO SHUTDOWN RELAY CONTROL VOLTAGE OUT OF THE PCM GOING TO ZERO WHILE THE BATTERY VOLTAGE AND KEYSWITCH 'RUN' VOLTAGES BOTH REMAINED HIGH(~14.2 VOLTS). I REPLACED THE PCM WITH A REFURBISHED ONE (COULD NOT LOCATE A NEW REPLACEMENT) AND THE PROBLEM WAS NOT OBSERVED FOR TWO MONTHS, BUT THEN RESUMED. MULTIPLE SIMILAR REPORTS ON THE INTERNET, MOSTLY RELATED TO FILLING THE GAS TANK BUT MY PROBLEM HAS NO CORRELATION TO REFUELING OR FUEL LEVEL.