I would try to use a 12 light tester or a meter to see whats going on instead of guessing...these wiring problems can be a real pain in the *** to find...

 

Are you sure the grounds for your tail lights are in good condition? I had a similar problem with my truck and it turned out to be a bad ground.

 

Is there a common spot where the tailights are grounded? my park/running tailights work fine.

 

ok,
Had to use the truck and took it to nearest mechanic--cost $ 76.00 to fix. Was the wiring behind the fuze panel. Said he "rigged" it, but if it happens again I need a new panel. I was in a hurry as I had to drive 6 hours for a meeting today. So I have all my lights now..*whew* I couldn't see any problem there..

But.....driving over my darn clutch in my fan went out, sounded like a jet all the way over, must of went out about 20 miles from home on a 360 mile trip...sure takes alot o' power when that clutch quits working. From one thing to another...ok, almost thought of trading it in on a ford, but I quickly regained my senses. lol

 

I didn't have any power in the Dodge. Took it in and found out the catalitic converter was plugged up. Had that replaced at a tune of $ 340.00, has a bit of power now.

Although it misses at idle. The mechanic said it was because, after he did a compression test of cylinder # 4, that came back at 55lbs. It will run ok at speed, but at idle it will miss because of the low compression.

I had a "check engine" light on a couple weeks ago, the codes came back as---

Miss detected cyclinder number 4

miss detectd cyclinder numer 7

miss detected various cylinders

Anyway, he said the engine needs rebuilt or replaced, but he has rarely seen a bad cyclinder in these dodge 318s. And he said the miss and low compression is expelling raw gas into the exhaust and is wrecking havoc with my cat-convertor...so long story short I have a bad engine. *mumblin* so does this all seem to make sense?

Only thing I wonder,is I have had cars that had bad compression and they didn't "miss" at idle, just no power.

anyway....bad dodge engine

 

The cat was plugged because the plenum gasket AND plate need to be replaced!!!!! (along with the pre-cat o2 sensor) You don't need a new engine.

 

+1 my boss has a 318 and he thought his was going bad (so he bought a 360 and bought all performance parts out of summit its a 14K motor!!!!)

but then i found this site, and larned of the plenum. he didnt know it was a common problem in the dodges for no one has come in for this fix. found the plenum was gone, replaced it and now it runs fine. (before it could not get above 30 MPH, he replaced cat, sensors etc. and still no fix.) until he drops his new 360 in.

 

My Chevy 4.3 had random misfires on different cylinders (setting Check Engine Light), poor power and miss at idle. I cleaned the filthy IAC and throttle body and ran GM fuel treatment (the $26 a bottle stuff from the dealer, not the $5 stuff from the parts store) through the next 2 tanks of gas and no more CEL's and my acceleration is back.

 

So the the plenum gasket AND plate will cause that #4 cylnider to have the low compression of 55? Although, I never seen the actual gauge, he could of been trying to sell me a new engine!

Previously I tried some cheap fuel treatment and it seemed to help the misfire at idle that setoff the check engine light.

I checked out the DIY for replace the plenum gasket, but of course all the images are gone. Just a big red x, images were removed from the site it seems.

 

I don't think so.

This link has some pics after the plenum is removed:

http://www.pavementsucks.com/board/t...-Repair-w-Pics