i bought an 02 ram 2500 a month ago and the truck has been in and out of the dealer for 4 consecutive weeks it idles like crap, it has no power, it shifts terrible and now the other day i noticed my drivers side exhaust manifold was cherry red but no smells of raw egg to point me to cat.any ways i have a 6x12 enclosed trailer about 1300# with my 800# atv inside and i could barely pull it i should be able to drag that thing upside down with no problems my f150 didnt have as much trouble as this truck. i had trouble when i put my quad in my bed.the truck just doesnt want to stay at speed.also i find the truck will pin itself at 3000 rpm when going up a hill or passing some one but wont shift up until i let off the gas.also it surges at a slow roll and itidles eratic.i used to towmy trailer with my f150 in overdrive no prob but it seems like i shouldnt be with my 2500 but if i dont use od it seems like the rpms are too high. the dealer has it again now they think blocked cat and the yalso think once this is fixed this will cure allmy other problemscould thisbe the case thanks for the help

 

it's possible. when the cat is blocked it wont rev up much over , say, 2500 rpms or so. i know when mine was blocked i couldn't rev over about 2200 rpm. if i hit the gas hard it would struggle and lose speed. i had to keep the rpm low or it wouldnt shift or accelerate.

the easiest way to check would be to disconnect your exhaust and drive. it will be hellaciously loud, but if you have power back, you know the problem.

 

i just read your post again, and it defintely seems like a cat, with it not goin above 3000 rpms. like i said, disconnect the exhaust at the manifolds so the air can flow, and hit the gas hard. you'll know right away if that was the problem.

 

I will bet a week's pay it's the cat. If you have no power, that is a #1 culprit. I am surprised you don't have any misfire issues.

 

My 96 behaved the same way, and gutting the cat cured the problem.

 

Same cure for my '99 1500. The harder I pressed on the gas, the slower it'd go. Just a few taps from a rubber mallet and I could hear the rattling in the cat.

Be prepared. If yours is the "two in, one out" type, looking a a bit of $ to replace. May not be on the 2500.

 

yeah sounds like the cat... if it's under warranty have them swap it out. if not, your looking at about $250 ea... x 2. do both sides. once it's fixed, find out what could have caused it to plug.. . o2 sensors, leaky injectors etc... there is a way to clean the o2's if they've been in for 30k or so miles... search for CRC Electronic and you should find the posts on it.

 

my 02s have 90,000 miles on them. ive pulled them and they didnt look that dirty but i cleaned them anyway. im not getting any codes. is it time to replace them?

 

with you only owning the truck for a couple of months, wouldnt be a bad idea. clean the new ones every 20~30k and they will last longer and perform better.

the bigger question to answer though is why did they plug up? I had the exact same thing happen to my 2000 & it ulitmately killed the exhaust seat on my #8 cylinder. a screw driver made sure that never happend again.

 

i read or heard or dreamed that another fast and easy test is to termporarily remove the pre-cat O2 sensor. If cat is blocked this will let let out enough pressure for you to see improvement. might be an easier test than cutting the exhaust.