So ive had my Ram know for about a month and use it for work and have already put a lot of miles on it. Its drives really good so far but when on freeway driving at cruise speed and I go to speed up I almost have to slam the pedal down to to get going.
In town starting from a stop light its not to bad.
I did some searching on the forum but couldnt really find anything.
Any guesses out there on what to check out?
So far ive torqued the band adjs. on the tranny which fixed the shifting problem and there is also a whistling sound when cold - which found quite a few threads on that. Dont know if its related though.

Thanks
96 5.9L
135,000

 

hey check out ur cat. mine clogged and sounds like yours is the same. take out the O2 sensor and drive it see if it does it then. I did made a loud sound goin through town but it was cool. oh and your check engine light will be on but its cuz of the sensor.

 

So just unscrew the sensor and drive it, if the cat was clogged how would that make a difference?
Thanks

 

the factory cats have a bad reputation for clogging up, which retricts or blocks the exhaust. temporarily removing the o2 sensor in front of the cat lets out enough pressure to improve the way it runs. its just a simple way to prove whether the cat is bad or not.

another common problem is the tps sensor on the drivers side of the throttle body. it supposed to tell the computer how much you are mashing the gas pedal. mine used to act like you describe, where i would lean on the gas a little and nothing would happen. i'd press it a little more and nothing would happen. i'd press it a little more and it would downshift and haul ***, when all i really wanted to do was speed up a little. i replaced the tps and it helped a lot. $34-40 at any local auto parts store. easy to install. i still lose speed going up hills, but its a 100 times better than it used to be.

 

if the cat is clogged then the exhaust will be contricted and will back up into the motor and you will lose power. by removing the sensor (and yes it just unscrews) the gases will bypass the clog and exit and you will not lose power. try it dont drive hard just for a safety sake.

 

my truck alao has this same problem i just got the trans rebuilt so its not that just on take off. i have the orignal exhaust from the actory and it has 187000 miles on it.

 

I had the same experience when I bought my Ram. It was disgustingly underpowered. My dakota could drive circles around it. After talking to people and doing some modifications to mine I can confidently say that a stock Ram with even a 360 is terribly underpowered. (people are constantly asking about modifications, hmmmm[sm=confused06.gif]) The Superchips program was like going from a V6 to a V8 change in drivability. Your cat could still be plugged giving you an under-under powered truck. Let us know if you find the cat plugged and what the change in power is like.

 

Doesn't sound like a clogged cat ... more like a worn or dirty TPS. A clogged cat will usually cause the truck to run like crap at all speeds and severely limit engine RPM.

 

***Update***

Finally had some time to take off the sensor and drive it. Could feel a definite difference in accelerating and on the highway. Put it back on and the same problem. Called up my local muffler guy and he is putting new cat and muffler cause it's starting to leak also.
Going with 3" pipes and a louder muffler. If im gonna drop the cash for the converter might as well sound good two.
Anyway will have it done tommorow, will post on how big of a difference it made.

 

be fore warned that if you open the exhaust up too much you'll loose low end torque and be back here complaining... if your going to get a single out exhaust, then get the cat replaced with a car-sound cat with the original in/out sizes and put a 3" single in/out muffler on, if your going to do duals, make sure you dont go bigger than dual 2.25" out's. if you do, you will have great top end but a loss on the lower end.

If you have mods to help move lots of air great, if not, go conservative on the exhaust.