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Towman · 05-06-2025, **(Subject: ISX CM871 ecm troubles )**

Good evening all,

First and foremost new member here and Id like to start off by saying the wealth of knowledge and experience within this site is impressive to say the least. That being said allow me to introduce you to my dilemma; affectionately now know as the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good-several years ago we purchased a 2010 IH Lonestar 10-wheel 30 ton wrecker to add to our towing fleet. The truck was purchased de-mandated and we were made aware of it at the time of purchase. The cans are hollowed out and egr blocked off however visually speaking everything is still there. The truck has been relatively trouble free for roughly 100k mi since purchase with a few minor things here and there.

The bad-last week while underway at highway speed the truck cut out and died and would not refire. After some brief roadside diag (fortunate enough to actually have a scan tool with me when it happened) I pulled fault 1117-ecm power lost with key on. Towed the truck back to the shop for more in depth diag to verify it was not a clean power/ground issue to the ecm which it was not.

Truck runs when cold then after about 30 mins of reg idle she'll shut off throwing the same fault code. You get roughly 15 mins out of it on high idle with warmer ambient temps etc. Ecm was determined to be defective likely cold solder joint or some issue inside effected by heat (not uncommon with these motors from what I understand.)

The ugly-fast forward to this week and we have a new replacement ecm from cummins (P/N: 3684275RX). This brings us to the ugly part. Obviously a base calibration is required to be flashed into the ecm to begin the process of replacing it, however we know we'll lose the de-mandate portion of the file in the process. What I would like to do is copy over the de-mandate file from the old ecm and flash it onto the new one to get the truck back up and running for the time being. My ultimate goal is send a copy of this file to Rawze or any others willing to look at it to check it out and see just how bad it is (im sure its some random junk de-mandate file like 90% of the other ones floating around out there).

This is where I turn to you guys as it seems you have far more knowledge about this part than I do.

This is my understanding of the process thus far:

Make copy of ecm image as you would do with a standard ecm replacement to retain parameters and vehicle specific info.

Load most up to date calibration from cummins into new ecm then flash old ecm image onto new ecm.

Take image of old ecm with cal-term and save to computer. Run the truck for a period of time with new ecm and base file, shut truck off clear faults and upload complete file image to new ecm to retain de-mandate file in its entirety.

This is where I look for guidance from you guys as i have no experience with CT and coping a complete file nor do i have that program.

I have access to insight, quickserve and can communicate with my truck on my laptop. Any and all guidance for how to complete this process would be greatly appreciated and i look forward to learning during the process.

And if Im wrong about any of this process please let me know, definitly not too proud to be corrected!

Thanks in advance!

Rawze · 05-07-2025, **(Subject: ISX CM871 ecm troubles )**

Get the replacement ecm from a stealers$it and have it pre-flashed. This guarantees a good ecm without you having to make a claim against $2,000+ device if it does not work from the get go.

Copy the old program from the old ecm using Calterm before removing it .. and send it to me for a proper review of what someone did in there. It does not matter how well you thing it drove,etc.. for all you know it could be eating the internals to pieces over time like most bad deletes do.

Put the replacement ECM on and run the truck with it for about 10 minutes. Make sure it works correctly before touching it with any software.. ad it will void any warranty as soon as you try to re-flash it yourself.

Them make a copy of the updated program inside the new ecm and e-mail that to me too.. and I can use that as a base template for making a correct solution for it if that old program is trash, which the likeliness is about 90% or so.

Towman · 05-07-2025, **(Subject: ISX CM871 ecm troubles )**

(05-07-2025 )Rawze Wrote: Get the replacement ecm from a stealers$it and have it pre-flashed. This guarantees a good ecm without you having to make a claim against $2,000+ device if it does not work from the get go.

Copy the old program from the old ecm using Calterm before removing it .. and send it to me for a proper review of what someone did in there. It does not matter how well you thing it drove,etc.. for all you know it could be eating the internals to pieces over time like most bad deletes do.

Put the replacement ECM on and run the truck with it for about 10 minutes. Make sure it works correctly before touching it with any software.. ad it will void any warranty as soon as you try to re-flash it yourself.

Them make a copy of the updated program inside the new ecm and e-mail that to me too.. and I can use that as a base template for making a correct solution for it if that old program is trash, which the likeliness is about 90% or so.

Thank you for your reply! I definitely want to have you take a look at the program moving forward.

New ecm was flashed to latest calibration yesterday by the dealership for the exact reasons you mentioned above. Calterm is where I would need the one on one assurance or at least pointed in the right direction to obtain the program. Any suggestions on that end? Thank you!

Rawze · 05-09-2025, **(Subject: ISX CM871 ecm troubles )**

(05-07-2025 )Towman Wrote: ...
Thank you for your reply! I definitely want to have you take a look at the program moving forward.

New ecm was flashed to latest calibration yesterday by the dealership for the exact reasons you mentioned above. Calterm is where I would need the one on one assurance or at least pointed in the right direction to obtain the program. Any suggestions on that end? Thank you!

Yup,.. typical bad de-mandate, though it is not quite as bad as some that I have seen.

It was however in fact harmful to the engine ... injection timing was harmful, turbo was not re-programmed, no mode control to speak of,. etc.etc.

I was able to correct the existing program, as it was up to date + whoever was in there did such a half-baked job that it was just as easy to straighten out instead. .. I sent it back to you.