I recently deleted the cat on my 01 3.9l ram and it seems to run a little better, it's definitely louder. Fuel trims look good, it's not throwing any codes and I didn't even bother with the non-fouler on the rear o2 sensor. Anyone else do a cat delete on your gen 2? If so what were your results?

 

Yup. First I had to gut the cat last year in the middle of nowhere in a parking lot as it was clogging bad. Worked well but sounded terrible. So I bought the Jegs Ypipe to replace the gutted Magnaflow cat and it sounds much better. I used non-foulers and everything works great. Gonna take it on the same trip here in a couple of weeks.

 

I gutted mine several years back. '96 Ram 1500/5.2. Same problem...clogged. Runs much better (more power) now with no anti-fouler. Fuel trims dead ***** on. But did pick up the dreaded ping. Took awhile, but I got it to go away with a combo of attempted solutions. Mostly, decarbonizing the cylinders by driving down the hiway at 80 mph for about an hour about every few months times, this did most of the fix.

 

Well I finally got a cel light after about 400 miles so I cleared it and installed a non fouler. Hopefully it won't come back.

 

I have done it on all my 2nd gens and 98 durango. It worked great, only need a spark plug de-fouler for the winter. When it was cold there was enough fuel in the exhausted to occasionally throw a CEL. However my v10 doesn't even have the rear O2 sensors so that was real easy.

 

Newbie here! Just bought a 99 2500 5.9 V8 flatbed. Cat had been removed by previous owner because it was clogged. Thinking about getting the Jegs y-pipe since I don’t have to smog. What will happen if I put 02 sensors back into the threaded holes? What is a fouler? I’m not dead set on deleting the cat, but people tell me it’ll run better. Using truck to get hay and pull a horse trailer. Sorry I don’t know much of anything about this, trying to learn. I’m a woman on my own and I don’t have much money, so if deleting the catnis going to cause other problems perhaps I should just order the cat and bolt it on.

 

Your cat has apparently already been deleted..... Did they just hollow it out, or replace it with a piece of pipe?

 

No the entire y-pipe assembly and cat is gone - removed at the manifold. I had it towed home. So either I just order the new y-assembly with the cat for $250, or I order the y-pipe and straight pipe to delete the cat for $192. But if it’s just cheaper and easier to order the cat assembly I might just have to do that since I’m not a mechanic and don’t know much. I can just bolt it on and put in a new 02 sensor.

 

Yeah, it'd be a bit loud to drive it like that.

The question becomes, why did the cat plug up in the first place? Usually, we see that kind of behavior when the plenum gasket is blown out, and the engine is sucking oil. That'll trash a cat fairly quickly. (there is a stickied thread about plenum issues at the top of this forum.)

If you don't have testing, or inspections where you are, the jegs y-pipe is a viable option. The 'non-fouler' is actually a spark plug non-fouler.... I think there is a thread in the DIY/FAQ section about how to install them. They are used on the rear O2 sensor, to prevent you from getting cat efficiency codes....

 

Thank you. I’ll try to find that thread