Thanks for the input, I'll have to check into an update. It's been like that since day one. It is a COVID car, so...

 

My 2003 F250 Lariat long bed diesel tractor began developing intermittent electronics issues ~4 yrs ago - loss of fuel gauge, loss of trans. temp gauge, loss of coolant temp. gauge, loss of oil pressure gauge, loss of interior lights, loss of under hood lamp, radio would go bugger up occasionally - one day working next day not. I had previously researched the issue(s) symptoms. I knew the day would arrive when it required my attention & I had planned on the fix. The issue, not germane to Ford, but MANY worldwide manufacturers is the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Over time solder employed on PCBs develops cracks, cracks lead to intermittent communication or loss of communication between/among various resistor, capacitor, transistor & integrated circuit pins on the PCB. This can & does happen in many vehicles & appliances. Resolution involves a simple "re-flow" of the solder.

If you suspect intermittent electronics issues, the day will likely come when vehicle/appliance onboard devices go completely Tango Uniform. I lost everything - PW, all gauges including tach. & speedometer, radio, interior lights, under hood lamp, etc.

I pulled the instrument panel cluster on my truck, sent it to Circuit Board Medics. My turnaround was four days. They completely re-soldered (re-flowed) my PCB. Every device back to new functionality. Painless ordeal.

CircuitBoardMedics

 

Good point about cold solders on circuit boards Norm. I had a 2003 F150 and the digital compass was inoperative. I disassembled the compass and; sure enough, the circuit board had cold solder joints. Once I reflowed the bad solder joints the compass worked great.

 

My old boss had so many issues with the electrical gremlins in his 23 Denali diesel. Cameras, lane departure coming on a bunch of times for no reason and stopping the truck. Add in sensor codes for the diesel for which no parts are available. The solution? Trade it in for a 24, no thanks, if it were me. Also GM tried to pull off the 0W40 to replace 0W20 to replace bad rod bearings in the 6.2L, yeah. To be fair, my boss had three 6.2L gas with zero issues from those years. I'm sure Ford and Dodge have had issues too. Hemi lifter failures a d various EcoBoost issues come to mind. We had our Challenger only stop us once in 7 years from these sensors but no stupid lane departure. A small glitch, probably more due to satellite position, is we loose adaptive cruise time to time. Ours is simple, no lane departure bs and works as it should. The auto dimming headlights work great too. Plus the temp sensing heated steering wheel and seat are nice, starting up in -40. The U Connect was great for a long time. Then it was bad for a long time, constantly freezing. Now it only freezes sometimes but now the screen is starting to delaminate. Honestly this car has been very good, 2017 is supposedly the best year for the Challenger. Just a cracked transmission pan, plastic that I replaced with an aftermarket aluminum one. The other issue is the drive shaft. The center bearing ate the rubber, they all do it, some at very low miles due to a bad factory angle. Most go for the one piece drive shaft and problem solved. Mine was wasted and had no symptoms despite towing and driving it like we stole it. Unfortunately there is nothing, short of custom for an AWD car, like mine. I replaced it with the $80 Amazon 4 piece, 2 piece and split rubber version, copy of the $500 one company sells. The problem, a minor vibration and clicking under light throttle. The car is very quiet till you stomp the gas and we both have good hearing. It looked just as good as when installed after 10000 km. I didn't replace the bearing, lubed it, spins easily. I have all the Dorman replacement aluminum parts for the 3.6 Pentastar. Only the slightest tick every now and then, hoping the rocker arms hold up. No leaks, oil usage, good power and mileage. After hearing so many makes having low mile major engine issues and all these gremlins, I am not even tempted by most new cars. The Charger is the only one I will actually test drive once the Hurricane 6 is available and that engine is a mixed bag too. Not that my 55 year old car doesn't have issues, it should, being older than me!

 

Not exactly. The rollout of the "recall" is due to bad crankshafts ground in a single Mexican-based plant on a slew of 21-24 GM trucks with 6.2L. Tolerances weren't exactly where they should be, thus, the issue. Problem is, mass produced 6.2s did not have pedigree when pertaining to the engine components like the crankshaft, so GM doesn't exactly know where they all ended up. Not every 6.2 has these crankshafts from the information available. From information gathered, the 6.2L cranks are no longer manufactured at that plant since they found the issue, so that's why it's up through certain engine serial numbers for MY 2024 (June 1, 2024 I believe). A 2025/26 truck does not have this issue, and any 21-24 unsold new truck that is still on the lot inside the window of applicability was automatically put on the "restricted sale" list and is on hold until the engines are replaced. The 5.3L engines had their cranks manufactured elsewhere, so they aren't included in the recall.

They are rolling out the recall in a horrible manner, but as expected when you think about it. Instead of getting a plan in place, then notifying owners, they're notifying owners, and dripping out the instructions on what to do next if you're in the affected group. GM doesn't handle major recalls well, especially this one. NHTSA says they've had complaints from 2019-2020 as well, but for whatever reason GM isn't worried about those. Failure can come at ANY TIME with the affected cranks. Some did with 4 miles on the clock.

The 40W oil thing is when they check a purchased vehicle inside the affected vehicles, they now check crankshaft position using a scan tool to see if there's no P0016 present. If the vehicle passes the inspection, they get the 40W oil and a owner's manual insert describing the oil requirements and a new oil cap noting the new oil viscosity requirements for that engine. Plus a pat on the back and encouragement to keep an eye on it. Obviously, if it doesn't pass, it's slated for engine replacement. Issue is, when? They're backlogged and cannot possibly replace 600,000 engines all at once. So I figure it will be a phased rollout. The 20W oil is normally used strictly for fuel efficiency. The 6.2L isn't much for that anyway, so 40W oil isn't going to matter much.

There may be newer information available as it's just dripping out of GM by the week, so there's likely updates I've been missing. So far I've had no issues with my 2020 6.2L (built in 2019).

 

Yes, I read more specifics on that recall. Either way, thicker oil isn't going to fix fucked up machining.

 

My next door neighbor rushed out to purchase a new electric GMC truck when all the tariff hoopla began. He told me it maxed out just over $100, 000 at the time. The truck has been in the shop more than it has been in his garage. This latest extended stay in the shop has been over six-weeks. When some sort of module did arrive that was to be the fix for the problem, the techs installed it, and my neighbor was summoned to the shop to pick up the truck. When he arrived he switched on the vehicle and the same error lights were illuminated on the dash as were there when he brought it in. The truck is still at the dealership.

When I heard of my neighbor’s dilemma and of other similar stories about new vehicles it certainly gives one pause about taking the step of new vehicle ownership today.

 

You have to be careful not compare apples and oranges here. Electric vehicles are a whole other story compared to gas engine vehicles as far as software control of everything. Gas engine vehicles have their issues, but they're nothing in comparison.

By the way, it was noted above in post 16 that it takes five minutes for his satellite radio to initialize when he starts the vehicle. I've been paying attention to that on my truck the last few days whenever I've gone out in the vehicle. The satellite radio in my '23 Silverado starts instantly, and I mean instantly, when I start the truck. Music is playing before I can even shift into reverse to back out of the garage.

 

Speaking of software update recalls!

Ford recalls more than a million vehicles for software glitch that makes rearview camera unreliable

https://www.ocregister.com/2025/05/2...ra-unreliable/

 

"Over-the-air" update should be interesting.

 

They probably just mean by wireless connection to the car. My '24 Buick received a recall/update sitting in my garage.

Many times these software updates don't require taking the car to the dealer at all if you can pair it to your phone, which people do with something like Android Auto, or by connecting the car to your home wireless network, which is what I did.

 

That 25 Kia Sorento Momma and I got has already had a few remote updates to the navigation. I wish there was a way to disable it.

 

Don't those updates include updated maps? Isn't that something you would want?

 

Because I NEED updated maps to Boise, ID and the bottom ends of Bowling Green, KY!

 

Indeed. Yes, I understand. Still going to be an interesting update with so many vehicles I was thinking.

 

For guys such as yourself the next update is a simple place you touch on the screen labeled "THE BOTTOMS".