You don't need the downstream sensor unless you get a CEL and the code tells you that your cat is failed when you know better than to believe it. That's the only purpose of the downstream sensor; the upstream sensor is what's used for engine control.

 

AWESOME !!!!!! Thank you so much!!

Going to get one in 45 minutes!!

 

You're welcome -- it's my pleasure to help when I can.

If the problem has been consistent enough that you can tell today/tomorrow if it's fixed, please pop in to give an update.

 

For sure i will keep you updated. I have to drive it to Kamloops tom morning which is 350 KM away.

Monday I'll post here how things are!

 

Kamloops is, or at least used to be, awesome this time of year. All of a sudden I want to go fishing on Shuswap for those monster trout.

 

You've got a lot of things that could-be/are contributing.

Lose the E-bay chip. The truck's computer has adaptive learning and will continually try to compensate to get your fuel curves back in order from what the chip is doing to it. You're more than likely just wasting fuel and clogging the catalytic converter with unburnt fuel.

I would suggest removing the platinum plugs in favor of the standard copper cores, it should smooth out your idle and help throttle response a bit. I like NGK V-power plugs, they run smoother than anything I've tried. Others here swear by Champions.

Several years ago there were several gripes on the board about accel coils crapping out within 3 to 6 months of installing them. I do not know if accel has improved it's build quality, but there were a few too many complaints to label it as a fluke. A failing coil will not produce a reliable spark, and the hotter the coil gets (the longer it runs) the more prone it becomes to inconsistently delivering spark. If you still have the orginal coil, try it out. That is if it didn't fail or you didn't throw it out.

Lots of things get blamed on the plenum that aren't as big a deal as some make it out to be. If you read this forum a lot, some guys will swear your truck will be a fire breathing, tire roasting, stump pulling beast, if you just fix that gasket. Not true, you'll essentially be that much closer to stock.

That being said, if your truck has 200,000 miles it's safe to assume that gasket has gone around 100,000 miles ago. With that much time to pull oil thru the intake into the combustion process, you likely have: gunky fuel injectors, heavy carbon build up on the piston, valves, and the O2 sensor and catalytic converter.

It sounds like the cat gave up the ghost first. The O2 sensor likely needs replaced, but before you do that, try to run a couple treatments of Seafoam Deep Creep, or Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner through the intake. It'll break up a bit of that carbon and the pedal will be a bit more responsive. Be advised though that all of that carbon will come back pretty quickly (which means the death of your cat and o2 sensors, again) unless you get that gasket fixed.

Cold Idle problems can also be caused by a dirty Throttle Body assembly. There are plenty of threads here on how to clean that.

At 200,000 you might also be getting some excessive ring blowby, a compression test and/or leak down test can tell you if it's time for a rebuild.

I would also suggest that if you pull the intake to replace the plenum gasket, that you take the extra 3 hours to swap out the timing chain. It's more than likely shot to hell and you'll notice a big difference in off idle throttle response by swapping a new chain in. Don't go cheap on the chain, I did no my first and it needed to be replaced just 30,000 miles later. I recommend the JP Performance roller chain.

 

Done!!!!! Thanks again dude!!!


After work on friday i went to the parts store....picked up an upstream O2 sensor. On my way home from the parts store my check engine light came on. With my new O2 sensor in my pocket I pulled over and turned my truck off. I turned my ignition to acc then run then acc then run then acc then run. My odometer went blank and then the code came up P0132.

I looked on my iphone as to what this code ment. Upstream O2 sensor!!!

Went home and swapped them. Runs great now!!!! Thank you very much.

 

Yeah Kamloops is awesome. It is my home town!!! 29 deg this past weekend!!

 

You're welcome! I'm glad you got it fixed.

I find it amusing that the intertubes diagnosed the problem before the truck did. Gotta love it when the intertubes catch lucky like that.

 

i have a 97 ram 1500 w/ a 360 . i was driving it about 70 mph on interstate. i felt it bump and the engine started to cut out and backfire real bad . the check engine light came on , it was checked and was the speed sensor they said . i changed that . it then did the same thing again. then i heard the sucking noise through the intake after i had parked it and before i shut down engine.. light came back on ..
i had the check engine light checked again . this time it was an o2 sensor bank 1 side . i yet to get one and hope that is it .