Alright, so today I went to get my truck inspected here in Austin, Texas, and lo and behold it failed their inspection.

2003 Dodge Ram 1500, 4.7l V8 Quad Cab. 89k miles

I have been having my check engine light go off and on for about the past two months, most recently it was on was about a week ago and it had been on for about three weeks or so. The truck is also idling funny, it goes super low to about three to four hundred rpm's, then rev's to about 1k rpms and sometimes the engine actually dies.

Today when I took the truck in for inspection the check engine light was off and the reason they failed it is because the print out says the the DLC failed. Upon some further research, this is the Data Link Connector, which the OSB deal plugs in to correct?

Well I took it to AutoZone to maybe get a code reading from it and it passed their test with no codes given or anything. They were also quite confused with why I failed the inspection. And I am lost. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Forgot to say that I have checked all the fuses and they all appear to be good.

 

sounds like you need a tune-up

 

on that piece of paper it didn't say why it failed. My state tells me what is wrong with it on the paper they give you FYI
or is the reason it failed is because the DLC failed to connect to the truck?
if that's the case take it back and talk to someone in the office why it failed.
with the DIL coming on and off. your getting a intermitant code could be about anything tune up to EGR problem. the way its acting my guess would be a tune up also. IF you could have a shop check it for random misfire and misfire history. that will tell you if its missing on a cyl and witch ones.

 

Thanks guys for the input. Still kind of clueless on how to attack this problem from a DIY standpoint. Replace spark plugs? Distributor cap? O2 sensors? The guy at the inspection place said that when this error came up it was most likely a blown cigarette lighter fuse, because that also powers the DLC, but this is not the case. He also alluded to maybe a wire being loose somewhere with the computer. Ugh how I hate problems like this, so many things that could potentially be wrong.

 

If it worked at AutoZone, it should work at the inspection site. I would go back and have them retry it.
There should have been stored codes if the light has been on.

 

I would think that its actually their equipment at the inspection place. Like LXMAN1 said if it worked at autozone then it should work their. But if its a misfire autozones scanner might not pick it up. Although I have never used there's to see what it can read. Its a toss up if it needs a tune up though really need to get codes when the light is on see if you can buy a cheap code reader at autozone some are like 30 bucks when light comes on then check it. give us the code we can look in our books and see exactly what the code is.
I do have a book for your truck my neighbor has a 02 1500 4.7 I'll take a look in the book and see what it says for you.