My buddy bought a 2001 ram 1500 with the 318. It has issues with hesitating when accelerating and no power on hill. The Check engine light was one. When we checked it had the P0300, P0302,P0304,P0304, and P0171. We cleaned all of the plugs on the cylinders from the codes it seemed to run slightly better. Then the check engine light came back on. The P0300 were now for the other 4 cylinders we did not clean. The truck also was going though Oil like crazy 3 quarts in 700 miles. It also was getting about 5 Miles to the gallon. His mechanic changed the PCV he said that was what was causing the oil leak.
We did a full Tune up on it yesterday Plugs, wires, rotor, coil O2 sensors well 2 of them. The exhaust on the truck look like Frankenstein. And there was no place for the Driver side for the O2 sensor.
The plugs looked fouled and smelled like Gas bad .
Put a vacuumed Gauge on the intake manifold on the passenger side port. It holds a steady 20 hg
Any help would be appreciated.
Also
Should the truck have 2 cats before the main cat and 3 O2 sensors. 2 cats and O2 sensor right after the manifolds then a Cat and 1 o2 sensor after that.

 

My money is a clogged cat. That's a prime culprit of multiple misfires and no power on hills. You spent a lot of money on the so-called tune-up of replacing all those wires and such that didn't need to be spent. Get a new mechanic. He doesn't seem very adept at troubleshooting problems under the hood.

 

Blown plenum causing excessive oil consumption, and a clogged cat. Standard dodge fair.

 

Yes, it must be a California Emissions vehicle.

 

Thanks for the replies the exhaust was spitting black liquid soot. Author only having one front o2 sensor cause alot of problems? How do you check the cat for the clog ?

 

Pull out the O2 sensors, (pre-cat) and see if the truck runs better. (It WILL be louder....)

 

So how many cats are on it? Could be one or all are clogged or getting clogged.

 

Just the rear cat. It also has only one forward o2 sensor

 

Make sure a cat like this guy isn't there. He thought sleeping in an engine bay was a good idea until someone started the car.

 

Well after driving it around the cel is back on p0132. The O2 sensor is new the connection is clean. The wire are not melted. Couple threads I found said this could be a catalytic converter issue ? Any more thought. Also that is a cute cat !