car running TERRIBLE..no power..gas smell on start-up

[gen2lover]

car shakes/rough at idle,no power between 500 rpm and 2500 rpm..bogging feel and sound...gas smell STRONG when I started the car this morning. All stock 2002 RT10.Original plugs and wires.BURNING smell under the hood. I checked...nothing is touching the heat sheilds.

Car has NO POWER between those low rpms. Car shakes alot at idle too.

My guess and others have said change the plugs and wires (I am going too) but even though the car is 6 years old..I have under 6,000 miles on it.. OVERDUE? Obviously something is wrong.

Kevin.

 

[Russ M]

No way is it plugs or wires.

Were you washing the car before this happened? Specifically under the hood?

Maybe coils?
Maybe some sort of sensor?
Fuel pump, but doubtful

I would bet my money on a sensor that went bad or got damaged.

 

[gen2lover]

havent washed the car lately.Chuck said it was the bad wires and or plugs? I just noticed the gas smell this morning.Maybe its running too rich,misfiring? Wouldn't that explain the car sputtering and loss of power and idle vibration? Gas smell WENT AWAY after car was warmed up.

They are the original 02 stock wires.

 

[Russ M]

Check the wires, make sure they are all connected and solid. Far as the plugs go, unless you tell me that the car is heavily modded or uses nitrous I don't see how you could have damaged the plugs with only 6k miles on the car.

Did you remove the wires recently? Possibly plugged them back on wrong? That would cause the severely rough running and gas smell you are describing.

When the car warms up does it run normal? Or still very rough?

 

[gen2lover]

car running after warmed up.. no gas smell but burning smell in engine area and bogs and hesitates alot. no power between 500 and 2500 rpm.

did not remove wires ever until checking them today. they look ok on the 1 end at least.

 

[dave6666]

If you smell something like smoldering rubber or plastic, you should not run the vehicle any more until you find the source of that. It will not fix itself, and may propagate and take some collateral parts on it's way to charcoal city.

You need to get the car up in the air and get underneath it.

 

[jdeft1]

Check the flow through the cats... Posibly one side is blocked due to missfire etc. Sounds to me like it may not be breathing properly..

 

[99 R/T 10]

Check the flow through the cats... Posibly one side is blocked due to missfire etc. Sounds to me like it may not be breathing properly..

Second this, but also might want to look for a side blowing out more smoke than the other. It could be a bad O2 sensor. Then the car will go to "safe mode" and run really rich. Should throw a code, but not always.

 

[dave6666]

Gotta agree with the plugged cat suggestion, but in your previous post on the same subject you said you had a "plastic" smell under the hood. Sorry, but I've never thought of any smell that came out the exhaust as a "plastic" smell. Nor would an exhaust smell be prevalent under the hood. Well, unless maybe you had an exhaust restriction AND exhaust leaks.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

For $100 you can get an inexpensive OBD-II code reader. Or go to AutoZone and they will do it for you (hoping to sell you the needed repair part, of course.) It won't take long before you realize what a good investment this is, and you can always post on the board what your trouble code is to get some help.

Any chance there is water in the fuel?

 

[RTTTTed]

Could be rear oxy sensors. My car changes tune depending on rear 02 sensors or Simms. Changing between the two was only way to get car running good (after hundreds of miles). I know, that's not possible - but it's what is happening.

Any CEL?

Send me PM if/when finding the problem.

Ted

 

[ViperTony]

How old is the battery? Mine ran horrible when the battery couldn't hold its charge anymore.

 

[gen2lover]

ps- thanks to both Chuck and Jon B...I will post my results asap after I do the change of plugs/wires to see if it solves the problem.

 

[gen2lover]

CEL IS ALWAYS on due to SSE.

I have no idea on the cats. The Wizard and Jon think the plugs/wires as they have never been changed.

 

[gen2lover]

battery I am not sure,as I have not looked yet..I was waiting for a jack to arrive as mine never came with one.

 

[gen2lover]

Ive searched and saw it might be the o2 sensor? Well I will change the plugs and wires first..like I said when I had burnt wires on my 2000 I never had the bad hesitation,bogging and crappy acceleration.

 

[ViperTony]

Did you read the codes yet?

 

[gen2lover]

not yet.I can buy one at any local car place I take it...

 

[Longnecker]

I had a similar problem and found it to be the oxygen sensors in exhaust.

Already had new wires.

I may have caused the problem by adding Lucas injector cleaner into the gas tank? Not sure, just a thought.

Had to go to a Dodge dealer for the code reader as my 95 has an older code reader connection that Auto Zone does not have.

Longnecker

 

[gen2lover]

longnecker...but did you have 6 year old plugs and wires?(stock)?

 

[dave6666]

longnecker...but did you have 6 year old plugs and wires?(stock)?

I bought my '01 with ~18K miles. I changed the plugs and wires at 25.5K miles. I guarantee you they were the OE plugs, and more than likely the OE wires, as there were absolutely no markings on the OE plug boot shields (there was after I got them out). Anyway, the car had been running great up to that point, and I saw no noticeable improvement after that.

So it will be interesting to see what your results will are. Be sure and mark the plugs location when you take the old ones out in case you have a funky reading on one, you know where it came from.

BTW, I'm not dissing the idea that plugs and wires should have routine maintenance, as I will be doing mine at least every 15K miles or so like the book says.

 

[gen2lover]

wet plug #7 and 9.wires a bit white on some of them.Car runs good again.

 

[eucharistos]

wet plug #7 and 9.wires a bit white on some of them.Car runs good again.

hey, good news man

 

[gen2lover]

thanks.car runs GOOD.I was running on 8 cylinders.

 

[Russ M]

The question you gotta ask yourself is why were those 2 plugs wet? Any obvious damage to wires or plugs on those 2 cylinders?

 

[gen2lover]

nope..just wet..I think from maybe getting some water in there last car wash (by hand of course)..a couple weeks ago..

other than that I have no idea... no obvious damage to them,no...

 

[dave6666]

The question you gotta ask yourself is why were those 2 plugs wet? Any obvious damage to wires or plugs on those 2 cylinders?

Exactly....

The white you spoke of is probably oxidation which is a corrosion byproduct. Oxides can be less conductive than their base metal, which can reduce spark.

Moisture would be a component of causing the corrosion. So how the heck did water get up inside the downward pointing plug boot? Or are you storing the car in a sauna? Did you use the dielectric grease I mentioned on your plug thread?

Anyway, you've figured it out for now, but a few of us think they're might still be some lingering issues.

 

[gen2lover]

Dave..thats a good question.No we did not use it...because I forgot.I heard the water could be from something else going on in there and not necessarily water from me in any way washing the car.I keep the car in an unheated garage...no electricity in there yet...see pic in avatar.

 

[dave6666]

I heard the water could be from something else going on in there...

Condensation...

You live where ice cubes form on the road sides. You have all the right ingredients for condensation.

 

[gen2lover]

Weather issues..you know I know you dont want to hear this put Jon mentioned that.Any weaknesses in the wires at all plus weather = more chance of the plugs/wires to go bad earlier.

So you agree with Jon Dave? lol.

car runs like night and day.Even before the bogging,loss of power stc.. car didnt feel "right" or as strong as my 2000.I asked the guys where I bought my car to change the damn plugs/wires too..no wonder it was running like crap- worse and worse...