Is my ecm bad?

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87bluebird

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5.7 hemi
4 years ago we slid on ice and smacked an Ash tree. fender hood bumper grill headlight core support and a crack in the fuse box is what was damaged. Duct taped a spare headlight in place and epoxied the fuse box and drove it like that for 2 months. She ran perfectly no issues yet. Then got a beater car to drive and the truck sat while i replaced the core support fenders hood etc left the epoxied Fuse box in it and converted to hid headlights. I did not really need the truck so I let it sit for another few months, only driving it around our place every few days but still had no problems yet. Inspection had ran out and needed truck to haul a car. So I went to take it to get an inspection that's when the problems started.

I got about 500 feet down my road and all of a sudden she started to misfire check engine light came on and she stalled. Brought her back home had to keep rpms over 1200ish or she would misfire and stall. Checked the codes there was over a dozen including misfire o2 tranny I don't remember what else cleared them only 02 and misfire codes came back. It was both passenger side 02 sensors, multi cylinder misfire and cylinder 8 misfire codes. Replaced all 4 o2s plugs wires and coils. Ran better but still intermittently threw those same codes and started misfiring and would stall if rpms were not up over 1200ish some days she ran fine some days could barely keep it running. Over a couple of years tinkering with it having multiple shops and Dealerships test her we could not figure it out. Redoing all grounds and moving plug wires so they fired other plug on same cylinder instead of the paired cylinder helped the most got it manageable enough where I could normally drive it. But she still intermittently throws those same codes and misfires.
Second problem started 2 years ago this June she randomly lost headlights tail lights running lights and turn signals. Tried removing hids and going back to stock headlights didn't help. tail lights turn signals running lights all had 12 volts at 5here connectors and would light a test light tried led lights tried using the lights from my dad's truck replaced connectors nothing would get them to work. Remembered the crack in the fuse box from the accident thought maybe some moisture might have gotten in and fried the fuse box so I replaced the fuse box. That fixed the headlights but not running lights turn signals or brake lights. Hooked up a Trailer and it's lights worked so I wired tail lights and front and rear running lights and turn signals to trailer 4 wire plug so I had working lights even tho dash always says lamp out.

I drove it with both those issues till 3 months ago then she randomly stalled coming home from work one day. Noticed fuel pump wasn't kicking on so got a new pump and droppdr the tank while replacing the pump I noticed a bad spot on Main positive wire real close to the connector so shortened wires an inch and soldered on a new connector and put the tank and new pump back in. she started hard but otherwise ran great for about 20 minutes it only had 2 gallons of fuel so stopped to throw 20 bucks in fuel left her running while I pumped gas. She stalled while I was pumping. That seemed normal because the misfire issue occasionally would cause her to stall while putting gas in. Went to restart, wouldnt crank over till I pushed down brake pedal and stalled soon as I let off brake pedal. Over next 2 months she would run fine for up to an hour then randomly not do anything unless the brake pedal was down. Let her sit couple of hours she would run again. I cleaned and redid all grounds one day then tried driving her around. ran great for almost an hour then stalled. I held brakes down restarted let off brakes she stalled did that 3 times then she would not do anything even with pedal down. Keys out sitting on the seat while I looked at the fuse box again and the wipers randomly started going full speed put keys in ignition turned them to run and wipers stopped. Now it really does nothing. Interior lights windows and door locks are pretty much the only things left that function.
Sorry post is so long it's alot to explain and I am out of ideas other than a new ecm?? I don't want to give up on her and want to save her but if i can't figure it out soon it's motor will go in my dart lol
 

fastf

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2005 Ram 1500 Quad Cab SLT Thunder road
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I don't know if this will help you or not Skyrannan had problems with his computer and might can help you.You can look him up he is a good guy.
 

SYKRAMMAN

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I’m no expert on this, but my advice would be to put the parking/running light wires back to original, then I would check the vehicle again for corroded, rotted, melted, etc, wires. Every connector is grounded out through the harness at some point. I would put dielectric grease on all connections and check pins for corrosion, the grounds that are bolted to engine, cab, frame, bed, I used terminal spray as it’s a little tacky and won’t wash off for a good while. It took me a few times going around the truck to get all ground connections and made sure I got them all by looking in the service manual. Then after all was clean and my ground system is operating normal (by checking with test light) I payed to have bcm, pcm, tipm checked out. Turned out that it was pcm,tipm, and engine harness was corroded on inside but all happened because of bad grounds causing the system to go nuts! New/rebuilt pcm,harness, used tipm, truck runs good now and since. Hope this helps a little, good luck.

Ps. Before I fixed everything, The truck ran great in dry weather, but as soon as it rained or was humid, it would do the exact same things more or less.
 
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fastf

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Ram Year
2005 Ram 1500 Quad Cab SLT Thunder road
Engine
4.7
Thanks for trying to help him.
 
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87bluebird

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5.7 hemi
I thought about replacing the wiring harness but have not been able to find a source for a new harness where did you get yours? I have gone through every ground and every connector in the truck 4 or 5 times in the last 3 years and have found a few grounds that where corroded and have fixed them and have put dielectric grease in the connectors. I even added extra grounds from battery to both heads the frame and firewall. The rain and humidity has not made much if any difference on whether it runs good or not.
 

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