So I talked with my mechanic and with a guy at a Dodge dealership. They both verified that the check engine light should display when you put the key in the key on, engine off position. Mine is not showing up at all. Last night when it was dark outside i looked closely where the light should be displaying and i could see a faint orange light behind it.

I bought this car from the dealer with the stipulations that they put new brakes on it, replace a couple gaskets, and fix the check engine light problem. The CEL was code P0058...oxygen sensor bank 2 position 2. When i came to pay for the truck and check it over the CEL was not showing up, so i assumed it was fixed.

Last night I did the key trick and pulled the very same code that was showing up at the dealers. I dont have proof yet, but I have a feeling something was tampered with, maybe bulb was taped.

Would an O2 sensor or wiring cause an idle/acceleration issue similar as described above??

Thanks,

Mark

 

Mark:

Based upon your recent findings, it sounds like there may be some tampering /deceptive issues as you suspect.

When cold, your engine runs from fixed values built into the PCM in what is called the Closed Loop Mode. Once the Cats, O2 sensors and other pieces/parts are up to temp, the computer goes into Open Loop Mode and begins to use the input signals generated by said sensors.

Once in the OL mode, a faulty O2 sensor sure can affect idle and drive ability.

Don

 

Update on the situation...

I took it in to have the CEL looked at, and guess what?? They stuffed a piece of electrical tape into the instrument cluster to cover up the light. I went and talked to them about it and they were all "shocked" of course and offered to buy the car back. I have a gut feeling that this has been done before there, they seem like shady people. I probably should have took that into consideration a little more before buying from them. I feel like if I sold the car back to them they would be getting off easy and have and would probably do this to someone else again. Anyone else hear of this or have it happen to them? Outcomes?

Thanks,

Mark

 

The pre-cat (before the catalytic converter) O2 sensor, also referred to as the upstream sensor, is the only one that has an effect on air/fuel ratio, and therefore the only one that has an effect on acceleration/idle. The post-cat, or downstream, sensor (which would be bank 2 or position 2), has nothing to do with the air/fuel ratio or idle/acceleration. All it does is tell whether the catalytic converter is working properly or not. If the sensor goes bad, it'll pop that code. If the catalytic converter goes bad, it'll pop that code.

That being said, a bad converter may cause acceleration/idle issues, and again, not necessarily all the time. Dealerships and small car sales lots are probably 50/50, 50% of them are shady, 50% are good, honest, hard working people.

When the wife and I were car shopping for her, we found a 2003 Durango, fully loaded with every option, for $11k, which was about $2k to much. It had a few problems... dead battery, tires out of balance (could tell at highway speeds), and the driver's seat power mechanism was only half working. Asked the salesman what he could do, and he said he'd get the battery replaced and tires looked at, and then give us a call for a second test drive. I had no problem fixing the driver's seat myself if they took the value of it off the price tag, so I said OK.

A week later, the car was still in the same exact spot. Had not been moved. I even checked the battery (it was unlocked), same battery, not touched.

Another week later, it was gone. He'd had it for less than a month total, so I'm pretty sure he sold it to some poor sucker.

My point is that yes, this crap happens all the time, unfortunately. I'd have them buy the car back, hate to say. If they are shady enough on that, what else is wrong that they could have hid with the vehicle?