Driving to pick up my microshop shed, and the trusty old Durango suddenly loses power. I pull over and pop the hood but nothing immediately sticks out. I try to start the engine and hear the distinct click of an electric arc. The wire connecting the ignition coil to the distributor had popped off. I put it back on and the truck started right up, but ran awful. Hobbled it to where I was going, and disconnected the battery to reset the ECU. That didn’t resolve the issue. The car was throwing a bunch of codes, but among them were that the Throttle Position Sensor and Crankshaft Position Sensor needed replacement. I replaced both — the Crankshaft Position is a BEAR. Issue persisted. Finally narrowed it down to a potentially blocked catalytic converter — was probably bad before, but made worse by the sudden influx of unburned gasses when the spark wire came off.
Local guy charged me a reasonable fee to remove the catalytic converter and replace it with a pipe. Runs great mostly. Now, it will on occasion, and usually at lower speeds, sputter. If I rev the engine, it resolves for a while. Replaced the very bad spark plugs and wires, as well as the rotor and distributor cap, which helped it run better, but it’s still doing the thing.
Pulled the upstream o2 sensor, and I think that’s it, especially since the two codes I can pull relate to it. Waiting on parts to arrive now. I’ll let y’all know
