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Camo Ranger
Active Member
Well my cyberspace friends, like many on this site, I've got an issue and sure could use some advice from those out there that are a little more mechanically inclined than myself.
So I'm driving from my house to my gf's tonight (about an 8 minute ride). I'm puttin along going about 40mph when all of a sudden my throttle cuts out like I had abruptly taken my foot off the gas and tapped the brakes. The RPM's drop down until there barely above normal idle and I can feel the entire engine shake. So in an effort to keep it from stalling I shift from 4th to 3rd, bringing my RPM's back up above 2,500. About 50 yards down the road, the truck does the same thing, so I dump it into 2nd again to keep it from stalling. Next thing I know I hit a red light so I have to stop. I throw the truck in neutral to coast to the stop. When I did so, the RPM's dropped down to about 900-1000 (normal idle) for about three seconds and then down to about 400, stalling the truck. I get her started again and she's idling normally for about three seconds and then dropping down to the 400-500 range, sometimes stalling, sometimes returning to normal idle for that three second window. Anyway, the light turns green and I get her started and nail the gas it an effort to keep her from stalling. When I hit the gas the truck didn't respond for a few seconds, and then suddenly raced forward like a horse in the starting gate that just got wacked in the ass with a whip when it forgot to go when the gate opened.
Well, long story short these symptoms continued the entire ride there and then home. I checked under the hood, no instant visible signs of what was causing my problem (It was dark and late at night so I didn't really start pulling stuff apart). I could, however, smell a strong odor of exhaust gasses. This fact, coupled with that I could hear some loud popping sounds coming from about the catalytic converter area is leading me to think I have an issue somewhere in the electrical system. If the engine is getting both air and fuel, but one cylinder isn't firing, then it would be filling with air and fuel which would then be dumped down into the catalytic converter, causing the popping sounds and exhaust smell (at least thats my thinking).
So I'm thinking tomorrow I'm gonna start by pulling the spark plugs and taking a look at those (probably replacing anyway since I don't know the last time they were changed). The wires should be fine seeing how I replaced them just over a year ago, but I'll take a look at those too. The computer hasn't put out a check engine light yet and all my other gauges were reading fine.
So anyone else got any other ideas or had a similar thing happen? Any advice is appreciated. Sorry for the long post.
So I'm driving from my house to my gf's tonight (about an 8 minute ride). I'm puttin along going about 40mph when all of a sudden my throttle cuts out like I had abruptly taken my foot off the gas and tapped the brakes. The RPM's drop down until there barely above normal idle and I can feel the entire engine shake. So in an effort to keep it from stalling I shift from 4th to 3rd, bringing my RPM's back up above 2,500. About 50 yards down the road, the truck does the same thing, so I dump it into 2nd again to keep it from stalling. Next thing I know I hit a red light so I have to stop. I throw the truck in neutral to coast to the stop. When I did so, the RPM's dropped down to about 900-1000 (normal idle) for about three seconds and then down to about 400, stalling the truck. I get her started again and she's idling normally for about three seconds and then dropping down to the 400-500 range, sometimes stalling, sometimes returning to normal idle for that three second window. Anyway, the light turns green and I get her started and nail the gas it an effort to keep her from stalling. When I hit the gas the truck didn't respond for a few seconds, and then suddenly raced forward like a horse in the starting gate that just got wacked in the ass with a whip when it forgot to go when the gate opened.
Well, long story short these symptoms continued the entire ride there and then home. I checked under the hood, no instant visible signs of what was causing my problem (It was dark and late at night so I didn't really start pulling stuff apart). I could, however, smell a strong odor of exhaust gasses. This fact, coupled with that I could hear some loud popping sounds coming from about the catalytic converter area is leading me to think I have an issue somewhere in the electrical system. If the engine is getting both air and fuel, but one cylinder isn't firing, then it would be filling with air and fuel which would then be dumped down into the catalytic converter, causing the popping sounds and exhaust smell (at least thats my thinking).
So I'm thinking tomorrow I'm gonna start by pulling the spark plugs and taking a look at those (probably replacing anyway since I don't know the last time they were changed). The wires should be fine seeing how I replaced them just over a year ago, but I'll take a look at those too. The computer hasn't put out a check engine light yet and all my other gauges were reading fine.
So anyone else got any other ideas or had a similar thing happen? Any advice is appreciated. Sorry for the long post.
