Hi all,

New to the forum. Just picked up this truck(Sport V6) a week or so ago and I'm having a few issues. First off, it starts very hard. Once started, it runs fine. The other day driving 60+ miles I noticed it had trouble on hills...then would finally catch and speed up. During this trip (about 1/3 of the way to go) my check engine light popped on. Checked the code today and its a P0420. I ended up clearing it to see if it would set it off again (making the same trip on Tuesday). What's the probability this is all one thing? Or is it more likely its multiple issues I will have to deal with? My first thought is get some fuel cleaner and catalytic cleaner and see if that helps, if not..start looking at having the spark plugs replaced, the 02 sensors checked. Am I on the right track or out of my mind? Thanks for any help!

 

symptoms sound not far off from those of a plugged catalytic converter. 2001 should have three cats, one mini-cat on each exhaust manifold and the main cat under the cab/next to transmission.

Do you hear any kind of rattling at idle or just off idle? What if you knock on the main cat (like knocking on a door)?

 

I don't hear any rattling at anytime. Haven't climbed under it yet but soon as it stops raining I can. So how well do those cataclean products work? I'd like to try that before sinking a ton of money into gettin a whole new one replaced

 

Well here's an update...code came back on before I could do my drive.
BUT..filled up the tank and the check engine light went off. I did fill up at a different place then normal. Maybe it was just bad gas?