the o2 sensor was changed about a year ago. i might as well try that next. what make seems to work the best?

 

your exhaust is that hot that starts to melt your rear bumper? would a bad cat casue this?

 

your pipe isn't touching the bumper is it? or your pipe might be moving while you drive touching the plastic bumper causing it to melt. just a thought.

 

the o2 sensors should be bought from the dealer, any sensor bought elsewhere is hit or miss wether it will work correctly

 

when standing behind the truck after its been running for a while, it feels just as hot if not hotter then the engine bay. the exhaust is tight, it does not hit the bumper.

 

High EGT usually indicates a rich mixture, and along with your other symptoms of poor gas mileage, popping sound, and poor idle I'd look at the O2 sensors also. As others indicated, go with the dealer on these, there's too much of a chance of difference with others.

Leaking exhaust valves can also contribute to the problem. Other than pulling the heads, the only real way to diagnose them is with a cylinder leakdown test. You put each cylinder to TDC and add compressed air to it through a fitting that screws into the plug hole. By monitoring how much leakdown there is you get a general idea of cylinder health. A "good" reading is typically under 15%. You can also use it to help pinpoint where the leaks are happening. If you pull the oil cap off and hear air, it's going by the rings. If you hear it in the intake manifold, you have a leaking intake valve. In the exhaust manifold, it's an exhaust valve. Low readings between 2 adjacent cylinders indicates a bad head gasket / cracked head.

Be warned though, this is just a diagnostic tool used in conjunjuction with other tests to help pinpoint problems. Don't expect it to be THE definative test to point to exactly what's wrong.

Bob

 

Wow you can learn alot from that...great advice

 

so i had a friend come by to try and help me troubleshoot this dam problem so the first thing we did was pop the hood start it up and wait for the stumble. we waited 5 mins after it warmed up and still it was running fine. i decided to close the hood and within 1 min the problem was back. im thinking it might be something under the hood that once it heats up it fails and gives it that miss. any ideas? thanks

 

It could still be an O2 sensor giving you problems, you can test the O2 sensor resistance with an ohm meter. I don't know what the spec is for dodge O2 sensors.

 

+1 Bob

Does sound like a pre-cat O2 sensor.