Error Code P 0601

[Dave P.]

Bought this Alpha a few weeks ago. Nice ride except it shut down while doing 45 mph on a 8 lane road.
Friend of mine brought over his scanner it showed the error code was P 0601 then the screen switched
to history that said out of 6000 starts it had 1,900 fails. My friend does not know how he got in History.
I would like to know from anyone in here what scanner can I get that will [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]print[/FONT][/FONT] out the history. So I can
argue the fact that they knew before I bought it, that it was a preexisting problem.

 

[4speedfunk]

What do you mean by "shut down"?
My H3 did that. a few times although I never saw the code. It never actually "shut down", but it did go into limp mode. After I pulled over and put the truck into park and back into drive....all was well (for a couple days). It ended up being a faulty brake light switch.

 

[Reloader]

P0601 is a PCM internal fault. Need to replace Pcm with new or used one. Symptoms include shut down whilst driving. You can get a used one from salvage yard and send it to pcm of NC and have it flashed to run your 3. I got one from a v8 Chevy Malibu . Service number on pcm case needs to be the same as yours. Dealer can reflash used one also. If you send to PCM of NC and want performance upgrades you need to send trans controller mounted next to pcm under hood also . Or get used one and send it with used pcm. Don't know what dealer pcm would cost. I got used controllers to send in for performance upgrades and speedo correction and keep oe ones for spares. Never have had to use them but I operated on the philosophy that if you have them you won't need them.

 

[4speedfunk]

I know one guy that has had similar problems ever since he EXCHANGED his PCM at PCMofNC. After many hours of troubleshooting, he finally installed a brand new GM PCM ($900) and the problem is gone. So as a general rule...I recommend mailing and waiting vs. exchanging your PCM. The one you get back might not be as good as the one you send in.

Btw...that was an 09 5-cyl and it was doing crazy stuff and going into limp mode but, not leaving any codes whatsoever. It literally took two years of messing with cables, batteries, grounds, etc. and replacing sensors...before he finally just bit the bullet and bought the new GM puter.

 

[Reloader]

Yeah, been there done that. I hate when it gets to the point when you just have to start throwing parts at a problem and hoping something fixes it. Have had vehicles with more than one bad component involved.
the used pcm I bought was $40 and worked great. I did carry the oe one for a while just in case. Wondering if this one got jump started once and got hooked up backwards momentarily. May have started the degradation process long ago. I say this knowing the battery clamp issues with our rides.