ok im new here so heres some backround knowledge I have a 99 dakota with the 3.9 and two wheel drive and the check engine light came on agin. I had the code read and its sayen low catalytic efficency. Well this is proably the 6th time in the past year or two my truck has thrown this code. The converter and sensor have both been replaced within the last 5000 miles and the truck had a full tune up, and the code dident throw for several months but now its back. The only thing thats not stock is the thermostat, the radatior went a few years back so we replaced it a went to a lower temp thermostat, could this be the cause of the code? At this point me my father and grandfather (they are both mechanics) are at a loss.

 

Anything else not quite right? Is it missing? Strong smelling exhaust? I don't think the thermostat would cause that at all. Mine has/had a similar issue and it was two burnt valves I replaced the head and it runs better but the same code showed up so it could be at this point that the cat is really bad but I'm not throwing any more money at it right now.

 

No its running fine, my father said he is 99% sure it's not a burnt valve because hes the one who did the tune up and said there was no fowling of the plugs, they had 60,000 miles on them and looked great. When he pulled them out he looked right at me and said "Thats what you get when you buy american". I just don't understand why she keeps throwing this code, I was told that if there was a recall for these trucks that could be the reason behind stuf going bad but I havent found anything about the cats

 

Or when you buy toyota you get the automatic cruise control feature lol. Any vehicle no matter the make or model will have some sort of weird problem during its life

 

Im just at a complete loss im just about to push the truck through inspection and send it down the road

 

There is a plug on the transmission, it has about 10 wires or maybe 4 depending on the year, those wires tie in with the o2 sensor grounds and just about every other ground on the truck, if any of those wires are bare from tranny fluid eating away at them, they will through random codes and cause weird problems. Since the cat code has to do with the post cat 02 sensor, i would say its a short, or your burning though cats due to a very rich exhaust.

I would also, try strapping the post cat o2 sensors to the frame and plug the holes in the exhaust and reset the computer.

The post cat o2 sensors are useless and only make sure your cat is working fine.

My 02 sensors have been strapped to the frame since i had the truck, and even on my 2000, and I never had a problem.

 

Hey guys,
Check engine light went on and I checked the code. It threw out a code of PO480. Does anyone know what the code is and how I can correct it? Thanks guys.

Peter

 

Under the FAQ section
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ine-light.html

Code is Cooling Fan1 Ctrl Circ Open(Low speed fan)

 

Well today we cleared the code and I drove for about 45min and it dident come back on, knock on wood, my father is off work for the next couple of days so he said he would check into the grounds and the like, I do have a small trans leake so that could be the whole thing behind this thanks for the help guys