Hello Everyone!

I will start off by saying I am new to the forum and am looking forward to helping out as much as I can on the forum and also being helped!! Unfortunately I am only beginning the learning period on my dodge so I figured this forum would be perfect to learn from many experienced dodge owners!

In short description of the problem below if you don't have time to read the story, THANKS!

STORY of the Truck : Skip ahead if you don't want to read a whole lot

So dating back almost exactly a year ago, I bought a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 Sport (5.2L, 318) from a dealership in Washington State Area (George Gee). They sold me the truck in what seemed to be great condition, only eventually needing a new pair of tires. They went over it with me and I had the confidence in buying this truck from a dealership and not a private party. It was a 5Spd with just under 83,500 miles. Well I drove the truck around for a week and I had noticed that the truck was ticking under loads (or going up hills) and also noticed that every now and then the clutch was slipping. (Go to gas it, the RPM's would build up and the truck would stay at its current speed). Anywho I knew that was something that had possibly needed to be changed and was probably the original clutch. The spark plugs and spark plug wires were probably on their way out as well (I guessed thats what caused some of the ticking as well).

Well I ended up taking the truck back to the dealership and they were nice enough to install the clutch, plugs, plug wires, for just the cost of parts (no labor). I was pretty happy with their labor-free cost but wasn't very confident in the buy, especially when they asked if I just wanted my money out of the truck and to look for a new one. Well I told them there was something I liked about it and wanted to keep it, so I did. About 3-4 Weeks passed without problems until I had the Check Engine light come on. I had went to the local shucks store and it had registered a code pertaining to the Catylitic Convertor being faulty which I was told would affect emissions and performance. Well I didn't have $295.00/$180.00 to spare on a Catylitic Convertor/O2 Sensors at the time so I let it go. I erased the code and it hadn't come back until about a month ago. This time registering in as both o2 sensors were faulty. I had looked up the codes and talked to my buddy about what was happening with its attitude. (I would have to "pump" the throttle for the engine to kick back in). It was very strange and felt like it was starving for fuel, but the fuel pump was still working, and I was told by a mechanic that if it started, it was more than likely not the fuel pump. So I had saved my money again and bought some new o2 sensors and popped them in... here is where the problem is currently:
(STORY ENDS HERE)

THE PROBLEM :


After replacing both O2 Sensors (Upstream & Downstream), the code went away for about 4 miles worth of driving, then the throttle "pumping"/fuel starvation attitude kicked back in, engine check light came back (Better Description below) and gave me these 4 codes:

P0132 O2 Circuit High Voltage (Bank 1, Sensor 1)
P0135 O2 Heater Circuit (Bank 1, Sensor 1)
P0138 O2 Circuit High Voltage (Bank 1, Sensor 2)
P0142 O2 Heater Circuit (Bank 1, Sensor 2)

I was very careful to not touch the sensor portion and got the Bosch OEM replacements so I wouldn't screw up splicing the wires together. They clipped in with no problems, but the problem still exists.

*** THE Throttle Problem::

The truck is bipolar... You will be driving around and it will act just fine. Every now and then however, you will be walking through the gears and the power completely cuts out as you hit the throttle (doesn't matter what gear), but the engine keeps idling. As you pump the throttle you hear a lot of "Missing" and ticking/knocking coming from the engine. The only way to really get the thing started again is to high rev and walk the clutch out (Yes I know this is bad for the clutch). This vehicle is my only mode of transportation. Its different from a bog or slip of the clutch in a lot of ways, but similar in the fact that no power is being transmitted to the wheels, the engine is definitely ticking and it is a possible knock (but not like the engine is dying).


Any help or further description/questioning would be very much appreciated. I want to get to the bottom of this problem and don't have the money or time to take it to a mechanic. I will try and check this periodically through work or on my cell phone.

Sorry if some parts of this message are long, but it's the only way I could seem to explain the problem.

**-- IN SHORT

Truck has a throttle/power transfer problem, I think related to CPU and O2 Sensors...
Codes:
P0132 O2 Circuit High Voltage (Bank 1, Sensor 1)
P0135 O2 Heater Circuit (Bank 1, Sensor 1)
P0138 O2 Circuit High Voltage (Bank 1, Sensor 2)
P0142 O2 Heater Circuit (Bank 1, Sensor 2)
Registered AFTER replacing both upstream and downstream O2 Sensors.
They had no problems clipping into the current housing and screwed in perfectly!

THANKS for any help you can offer ahead of time --

2001 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 5.2L Sport
1 Upstream O2 Sensor, 1 Downstream O2 Sensor.
Catalytic Convertor was replaced with nicer, high performance catyltic convertor due to those going out on previous dodges.

 

Oh and I also wanted to ADD I did in fact use Seafoam injector cleaner.

I did the Dual Stage process (In the throttle body while running, drip by drip, for 1/3 the bottle and the rest in the tank)

It didn't seem to help the problem however. No dirt or grime in the throttle body apparent to the naked eye.

Thanks again for any help!

 

Okay so I cleared the codes and the same four came back again after driving home from work. Something isn't right. I am going to go through and check the connecting wires and make sure they are plugged in this evening and I will update later. Thanks!

 

i think you have 2 different problems.
the truck loosing power is the most serious, but may be the hardest to diagnose.

on the bipolar thing. does it seem like an idle problem, or an acceleration problem, or is it just kind of random. i don't know. could be fuel related - filter/pressure. could be electrical - coil, plugs, sensors - crank pos, cam pos, tps, iac,

it sounds like you actually have a pretty good dealer since he did some work for parts cost only. you might want to visit him for a diagnostic check. they can generally figure out whats wrong in a one hour check up and tell you. then you can decide whether to fix it yourself or let them handle it. the alternative is to throw parts at it. i do that a lot. if you do, keep your old parts. if the new part doesn't fix your problem, then you know that your old part was good. so you keep all those old ones, and then later on, you can throw parts at it again for free. (works for me).

the 02 sounds like a bad o2, or bad wiring or plug. i think the worst it would do is light up the cel, run at a default fuel mix, and get a little worse mpg.
googling the 02 message. here's a couple. they all lean toward a shorted out 02 or shorted out wiring.
http://www.obd-codes.com/p0132
http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/vi...3525_p0138.pdf -

 

And as the promised update.. I just now got towed home with a blown (transfer case?). Efff... what a great night, looks like my power problem isn't quite the biggest of the issues anymore.

*Happened while I went mudding with some of the boys, and ended up as a 4 hour ordeal. I was dead weight sunk up to door panels... pictures soon.

 

hmm hmm hmm.
you want to play, you got to pay.

 

welcome......another mud runner,we will be seeing you posting alot.lol

 

Hah. Well funny thing is I came as a "Rescue" vehicle and parked on top of an iced over puddle (More like a swamp!). I was going to help dig out my buddies jeep, but then I got stuck. So I didn't even get to have fun before I trashed my truck.

Oh and I lost part of my Bully Step Bar, bummer they were kinda cool!

What Happened:

I got stuck, dug myself deeper, broke though the ice, and started tearing up the mud. I was bottomed out completely with mud above the frame. I dug out as much as I could and kept having someone jerk me out (I had no power to the wheels) and then we would dig out another ramp, jerk, dig, jerk.

Unfortunately I was stuck from 10:30ish PM to 4:30 AM. (I got out of the mud whole around 4:30) then I had to be towed home by my buddy's lifted Chevy.

---

UPDATE:

MY 4x4 Lo Range works alright. However I can not get 2WD or 4WD to work. Where should I start the diagnosis process? Or is it something above my mechanical ability??

Shifts into every gear just fine, only moves in 2nd and 1st of the Lo Range.

Could it be some kind of accuator that allows it to pick the drive?

I didn't notice the driveshaft spinning when in gear (2WD/4WD Hi) and clutch is all the way out. (Yes I could get out of the truck and look underneath with a flashlight and it stayed put without an E-Brake)

Any input or ideas??

 

here's a pretty good article w/ a lot of pics.
you might want to give it a shot. its already broke, so you probably won't hurt it any.
http://4x4trailhunters.com/tech/article.php?id=20

download dodge service manual here.
http://www.rm-indy.com/wavefiles/2001ramsrvcmanual.zip

 

i ve got tha same prob and tired of it