I was looking at my 03 factory service manual and realize that these trucks may be very complicated to work on in the future if I plan on keeping the truck thru the years, as I'm not an electrical or computer guru and don't like dealers prices. I'm considering selling mine and finding a 12V for easier maintainability in the future. Any thoughts on this?












2003 Qcab HO, 4WD, 6 speed

 

I'd look at it more like this. The ECM is just another part that can be replaced if need be. That part also happens to make it easier to diagnose 80% of all other potential problems with the truck through the OBD codes. You could always stock a spare ECM if you were that worried.

 

Berak,
I guess my greatest fear is not being able to repair the truck myself which I have always done on all vehicles that I've owned. I've had bad and cosly experiences when taking vehicles to the shop for repair and have always wound up doing them myself. If you want it done right you gotta do it yourself most of the time. I've even experienced this on my 03 with warranty work, seems that nobody wants to do a good job. Iwould think that these trucks could get expensive to repair later on down the road with all of the new electronics onboard.

 

If you want to work on it here's what you do. Buy a service manual and a powertrain diag manual. That will set you back about $200. Next buy a DRB scan tool. I've seen them sell on Ebay nicely equipped for around $6000.00.