hello all, I am new to this forum as I am a new dodge owner. I have a 2002 Dakota v6 5 speed that was working great for the first week. now, after driving about 10 or 15 miles every morning, it feels like I have no response from the gas pedal and it smells like I am leaking fuel from somewhere.... no visible leak and cant smell the gas when I get out of the truck. it takes forever to get up to speed and once the rpm's hit about 3000 it acts normal until I shift and goes back to no power. also I am getting terrible gas mileage. I understand this problem could be a result of any number of things but am curious as to if anybody has experienced this issue and was able to resolve it without throwing a ton of $ at it.... any help would be greatly appreciated .....

bad injector?
O2 sensor?

 

Scan it for codes at any local parts place or check by the "key dance"
there are lots of things that can cause a rich condition.

 

p0175 too rich bank 2
p0152 o2 sensor circuit high voltage bank 2 sensor 1
p0455 evap. emissions control system leak gross leak
p0442 evap. emissions control system leak small leak

I know these are all related. can you pinpoint the issue?
the check engine light never came on

 

First of all, the terrible gas mileage is normal.

Check where vent the hose connects to the carbon canister under the truck. It's very common for it to crack and leak at this location.

I'm not sure what would be causing the rich condition.

 

Since one of the codes is saying bank 2 is too rich and the bank 2 #1 o2 sensor is giving a code, I would go ahead and replace the sensor. I had the emission codes before and I checked all the vacuum hoses and nearly all of them were split where they are plugged or joined to something. After fixing them I deleted the codes and they have never come back.

 

After giving this some thought , I would throw in all 4 O2 sensors for shi'ggles. make sure that the EGR is free flowing and the cat is not plugged.
Other things to consider, the tune up is current, tires are properly inflated and of the correct size/properly aligned.
These trucks have the aerodynamics of a brick and are power by a 6 cyl.

 

thanks tom a, you were rite about the cracked hose... and when I say bad gas mileage I mean a half tank for 50 miles!!!! cleared all codes and they all came back. running much better and gas mileage as improved greatly but I am still losing power from time to time. every time I fill up at the pump it loses power again and takes about 5 to 10 miles to start running rite.

and dangdakota, I will do my best to inspect every other hose I can get to, maybe there was one I missed... I noticed that my pcv hose was cracked on both ends and made a quick repair with some duct tape... gotta love the stuff, although it didn't seem to make much of a difference in the performance

blueqc... new tires on the way, mine still have some life left but are a little dry rotted... figured it would be smart to replace them before I have a blowout on the highway

thank you everyone for your help

 

I also had power loss with the over voltage code. Changing the o2 sensors fixed the problem.

 

thanks dangdakota, I was on the fence weather or not to buy the new sensor.... guess ill be picking one up tomorrow

 

I was the same way but I'm glad I went ahead and did it. Hope it fixes your problem too. I had a hard time getting one of the sensors out but the other one I soaked with penetrating fluid and let it soak in over night and it came out very easily the next day. Hardest part of changing the bank 2 #1 sensor was getting the darn plug undone because of it's location. I had to take off the wheel well insert to get at it. The plugs are a little tricky too. You have to press a tab in the centre of the red part and pull the red part out first and then the plug itself.