Hopefully this is the right place to post these questions. My 97 dakota, 318, began to miss and the check engine light came on. Hooked up a reader to it and it gave me: P0171, PO300, PO302, P0303. Would the 171 code be cause the cyclinder misfire codes to come up? Also I replaced the O2 sensor a few months back and it's ran fine ever since. Any help is apprecaited. Thanks

 

PO171 is bank 1 oxygen sensor too lean.

PO300, 302, and 303 are misfire codes.

Did you reset the codes? Did they come back?

 

No I never reset the codes. It doesn't miss all the time. When I punch down on the gas it hesitates a little then goes normal. Any chance it would be something with the fuel filter or fuel injectors?


Also, I thought if the oxygen sensor wasn't working correctly it would be running to rich not lean?

 

Not necissarily. It can go either way. The codes are saying oxygen sensor, so that's probably what it is.

If I remember right (and I might not be remembering right), the fuel pump is in the tank on the newer Dakotas. I believe the filter may be attached to the pump as well. If that's the case, you have to change the whole fuel pump just to change the filter. Could be wrong though. I haven't been underneath a Dakota in a loooooong time.

You can try cleaning the injectors..see if it helps. You can also try changing the plugs, cap, and rotor. Like I said before though, the codes say oxygen sensor. They're not ALWAYS right....but often times they are.

 

Yea. The inlet fuel filter (aka fuel strainer) is not sepretally serviceable [:@], instead you have to replacae the whole pump.