Probs since the snow

[txarkitekt]

My truck has been doing some WEIRD stuff since I drove it in the record 14" of snowfall we've had up here in DFW. It all started Thursday. Didn't do much driving, but evidentially enough to throw some stuff off...

It has been idling weird. Its super fat at idle. It misses every now and then.

I put about 18.5 gallon of 93 octane in it Friday evening. Drove up to Danny's in Plano. Noticed while at idle at a Red Light, it would continue to idle rough and the CEL would start flashing...and we all know what theat is: Random Misfire. As soon as I got to driving again, the PCM would correct the P0300 code and it would go away. Got to Danny's and parked it. Low engine oil light came on before I got to his house. Drove to the local O'Reilly's and did an oil/filter change. Stayed parked and home 2 days later. While at Danny's house, we plugged in HPT and it read:

P0300
P0131
P0174

These were obvious to me, so it didn't worry me any. I also noticed my MPGs going waaaaaay down. I drove about 130 miles this weekend. I averaged just over 7.2 mpgs--and 96% of the driving was on the hwy.

So today I crawled underneath the truck and found one of my bolts on the 3-bolt flange for the Longtubes/ORY was missing, so I bolted up a new Grade 8 bolt, lock washer, and nut. Checked all plugs. #4 and #6 were VERY black. All plugs on the passenger side smelled like gas and were dark. #1, #3, #5 were ok. #7 had the electrode broken off back down to the ceramic body..and that means the electrode tip and the surround is floating around in the #7 combustion chamber. How long has it been like that??? No freakin clue.

Going to put #7 at TDC and get the shop vac out and suck out whatever is in there...if it already hasn't made it's way out the exhaust somehow.

Dale and I spoke today and his truck is doing the same crap. He also drove in the snow a bit.

SO--my question is to all of you who have been driving in the snow with Pacesetter Longtubes: Has/Does your truck run weird? With the exhaust being hot and driving through snow and letting it slush up on to the exhaust (and with the thin walls of the collector), will it have any effect on the performance of the O2s? With the back and forth of the hot exhaust with snow being slushed up on it, will it take a toll on how the O2s operate? Discuss.

[RedHeartbeat]

02 sensor is bad or connector has water in it. Bank1 Driver's side for those that aren't familiar with 02 codes.

[RedHeartbeat]

Sensor thinks its lean so you're flooding the engine compensating for it. Missing electrode? I have one you can have.

[green2500]

02 sensor is bad or connector has water in it.

+1 I think its just coincidence that an o2 sensor went bad while u were having bad weather. I live in mass. snow just melts when hits ur exhaust it doesn't really slush up or build up

[kyhunter89]

id check o2 connectors before changing them...

[Frenchy]

o2 connectors and or sensors, headers especially elcheapos like pacesetters do not like the drastic temperature change that is slush and snow on them, I'm not sure why that screws with the o2's but it does. Something with condesation

[ChevyLee]

tune

[molitor]

messy deal those o2 sensors

[1 bad blazer]

replace the o2's, mine did the same after a long drive . i replaced them now it's fine.went thru 2 sets of plugs.all covered in black soot.

[SLO TRUCK]

tune

yups gotta be...... j/k