I've recently purchased a 1996 Intrepid 3.5L. The check engine light is on and recieving an error message "Bank 1 too lean" . Can someone give me some idea as to what may be causins this and the easiest way to rectify the problem. The car is a little sluggish and appears to be consuming a little too much fuel.

 

Could have a partially clogged fuel injector or maybe a bad oxygen sensor. Try running a can of SeaFoam through the gas tank and see what happens. You can get it at NAPA/CarQuest for about $6. www.seafoamsales.com
How many miles on this car?

 

It could be a vacuum leak. Alot of vac leaks are misdiagnosed for bad o2 sensors or fuel problems. To check the o2 sensor, you will need a graphing meter and a wiring diagram. Also, a small tank of propane, like for a small torch, with a small vac hose run off of it. The quickest way to check it is to pull the vac line @ the brake booster, then hook up your propane to that line going into the intake. Thiss will cause a full rich condition. Then pull the hose quickly. This causes a full lean condition. You need the graphing meter to check the reaction time of the o2 sensor. Anything more than 2ms is way too slow and you have a bad sensor. But, if u don't want to do that, I would definetely check for vac leaks. An o2 sensor only senses the amount of air that goes by it. Too much causes a too lean code. Hope this helps!