change your cap rotor wires and plugs and then see what happens.
Sounds like you have some fouling going on, not enough to throw a code but enough to give you issues. You don't drive it much and that doesn't help.
Do not do one thing at a time. Do the tune up the right way and then come back and tell us what happened.
I dont know where you live but do you run gasahol or e85 or anything like that? Alcohol absorbs moisture, if you don't drive it much and leave gas in the tank, it has absorbed condensation.

I have heard of gasohol but I don't know what it is and as far as I know no one sells it in western North Dakota which is where I am from. AS far as E85 I would never run that in this truck. AS I wrote in an earlier post I did replace the plugs last year sometime, and none of them looked as if the engine had been running rich or lean or that there was any fouling. The only thing I did notice was 2 of them were over gaped but that was most likely normal wear. I will replace the wires and cap but I don't think that will fix the problem. Even though the problems I have explained could come from some fault or problem in the ignition system I don't think it is the problem because those types of issues generally happen more often than what is going on in this vehicle.
I agree that it seems as if there is fouling going on but if it is not noticeable on the plugs where else could I look for it?

those are the plugs that cause the most problems in these motors for some reason, replace them with a good set of champion copper cores like what came from the factory(if it fixes them you can put in a longer lasting CHAMPION/AUTOLITE plug later)



you have an R/T use what ever the manual says you need, anything higher is just wasting money

not 3.9vs 5.9

he drives an R/T and they have a computer tune which requires a higher octane in the fuel, you could get the 5.9 in a QC w/ 4wd which would drink down regular fuel instead of the higher octane

Just a quick update for now. I replaced the O2 sensor before the catalytic converter and did just that for now because I wanted to find out if that fixed problem. :) The problem seems like it is fixed, the hesitation, staling out, rough idle has all gone away. So if you know anyone who is having some of these problems or if you are like me and did a Google search and wound up here looking for answers replacing that O2 sensor is a place to start.

As far as the rest of the things that need to be done tune up and anything else they will be done over the next couple of months.

Thanks for all the help and comments.

Jared

I would still look at, and replace the cap and rotor. I do a lot of short drives as well. It's a 5 minute drive from home to the marina 4 days a week. I found on my Comanche after a couple of years the cap and rotor would have corrosion on the terminals even when I had dabbed some dielectric grease on the terminals when new. The wires are probably good to around 60000 miles or so, I would think.
Glad to hear the o2 may have fixed your problem...

fishbait

I still do plan on replacing the cap and wires and doing a bunch of other work on the truck. I just wanted to fix the problem I was having so I knew what was wrong, and not replace a bunch of items and never know what the problem was. Now that I am fairly sure the problem is fixed I will be taking it to two different shops for both a tune up and other work. I was NOT trying to say in earlier posts that the work did not need to be done but I wanted an explanation of why some thought it would fix the problem. I never did get an answer.

Cool Jared, I'm happy the o2 sensor fixed your problem...Changing the cap and rotor is rather easy to do yourself if you wanna save a little money. IMO having a weak spark means the engine has to use more fuel to get the power needed. I could be wrong though. Whenever my mileage on any vehicle starts to go down, it is always one of the first things I will check as a new quality cap and rotor with brass terminals cost less than $30 and takes all of about 20 minutes to replace...if there is any sign of corrosion or wear. I also check the air filter and spark plug condition too.
I find I'd rather check things I can physically see if they are reasonably good before replacing sensors. I've never gone about testing sensors even though the info on how to test them is readily available.

cheers, Mike...