i have a 98 dodge 1500 with the 360 and 181k miles and i drove it for about 2 weeks and all of a sudden while going down the road it started cutting out spitting, sputtering, back firing hesitating, i can shut it off fie it right back up and will run fine for a couple minutes or half hour, just depends on what it wants to do, it does it on the first start up of the day the worst. ive replaced iacs, tps, plugs ,wires cap, rotor,coil, apparently there is no fuel filter, i could really use some useful knowledge if anyone knows what my problem might be, i would appreciate it. I am also getting codes 132 and 138 for the o2 sensor, i replaced both front and back sensors?

 

Is it the origional cat?
The fuel filter is on the sending unit in the tank.

 

 

yes its the original cat, its got new muffler and pipe from the cat back, would it hurt if i gutted the cat out, and how can you tell if its bad?

 

is it an actual filter or just a sockn the fuel pump? its doing the exact same thing as the member named ZXCVbnm

 

For the pump / filter, it doesn't matter because it is all one unit. Mine did something similar when my pump went out. But you should be able to hear the pump's hum stop too. The sending unit is all one unit that drops in the top of the tank.

If the cat is bad, it could be clogged or dirty and the O2 sensors are picking up on the crud coming out of it and screwing with your computer. If you are taking everything apart to gut it, you might as well replace it so the engine runs properly. Gutting it will open it up but it won't give the right signals to your O2 sensors and the engine will not run right. Not to mention you won't pass emissions if you have them in your area. If that is the origional with that many miles, it's pretty much a sure thing that it needs to be replaced. It being clogged doesn't sound right. You said that if you cut it off and back on it will run fine for a little while. That's not enough time for it to cool enough to do anything. It being dirty and your O2 sensors sending funky signals is a possibility.

After you replaced the sensors, did you reset the computer? If not, the codes will still be there for a while and you may have fixed that particular problem. Or, the cat is still bad and the sensors are still picking up crud and you basically bought new sensors for nothing. But if you put in a new cat, you might as well do the sensors too.

 

Gutting the cat will have no effect on the pre cat o2sensor(s). It's the downstream sensor that is effected. And there is a simple fix for that in the event you get a CEL.

 

the codes are a high voltage on both sensors, what would cause that, it had to be rewired because one of the connector plugs was missing on the downstream sensor, pickup side, and im not positive if it was wired right the 2 white wires might not be right. is there anyway to test to see if the plenum is bad? you can hear the fuel pump turn on and shut off, now it does it real bad fisrt start up of the day or just idleing, it will do it going down the highway to, but when it starts if you just floor it it will clear out and drive fine for allittle bit again? drivin me crazy!!!!

 

Sounds like you have a combination of problems. The sending unit being the main issue. If you're not pumping gas, you're not burning it.

 

its diffenitley drinking the fuel, i was wondering if the pump is starting to go bad or the sock/filter might have gotten ruined and it sucked something up? but when my pickup starts to hesitate the pressure only drops a couple pounds 43 to 47 pounds of fuel pressure? and i was just messing around with my pickup reving it up and i noticed some light blue smoke coming out the tail pipe everytime i rev it, its never done that before?