I have a 2001 dodge 1500 4x4 5.9L, well long story short awhile back I had a CEL come on and I got it read saying it was downstream o2, never affected anything so I just continued on, now a few days ago I got the brainy idea the "gut" my cat, and after a day of driving now it acts like its running out of fuel but its not, and it might die, what I have to do is pull over and disconnect the battery cable and reset the CPU and then im good to go for awhile, seems to not have any problems doing that, but I called and ordered a new Magnaflow Hi Flow cat and two new o2 sensors, im hoping this solves it all, any ideas?

If anyone has had this problem or somthing related or needs more information about my problem please contact me asap this is my daily driver and I need it bad.

 

Real possibility it is just the upstream (pre-cat) O2 sensor giving you grief. The post cat O2 is only to let the PCM know the cat is actually working. There is a DIY in the FAQ section on how to 'fool' the post-cat sensor into thinking the cat is 'still there'.

 

ok well I check my CEL and its giving me the codes...

0031
0037
0132
0138

 

P0031 - Front heated oxygen sensor heater control circuit low (Bank 1)

P0037 -Rear heated oxygen sensor heater control circuit low (Bank 1)

P0132 -O2 Sensor Circuit High Voltage (Bank 1 Sensor 1)

P0138 -O2 Sensor Circuit High Voltage (Bank 1 Sensor 2)

Basically, according to the codes, either both oxygen sensors need to be replaced, or the front oxygen sensor needs to be replaced and the catalytic converter is not doing its job. Only two reasons Sensor 2 gives you a code... its bad or the cat is bad/going bad (or in the case of people who "gut" their cats, its missing altogether ).

The rear sensor isn't too terribly important, but the front one definitely is. It helps control your air-to-fuel ratio, so if its malfunctioning, your truck may run "funny" or not at all.

 

Ok, thanks for the codes and the problems, I called around and no one would tell me so I had to spend 30min trying to find them on my blackberry at work, so if I put a new sensor in the front will it still throw the same codes cause the cat is gutted?

 

ok today I fixed all my problems, my cel went off after a year and a half, i still get 11mpg but oh well and hopefully no bipolar fuel problems, summit gave me the wrong o2 sensors and napa gave me the wrong ones once and when you gut the cat heres some advice, remove the o2 sensors, one of mine the tip was completely broke off from the rebar