Lighting Bolt Flashing Light

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KMShemis

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Was driving home from work the other day and this lighting bolt light started flashing i was confused on what it was then my truck started shaking and running really rough, I had to pull over. I shut my truck off looked it up and it said electronic throttle whatever could just need reset. I took the negative off my battery put it back on and all was well for a few days no issues what so ever. Till tonight light came back on and instantly this time truck started bucking and had to pull over at a crappy place. This time i just shut it off and turned it back on and it was fine till the way home. Any idea on what this could be? The first time this happened i had no engine codes just the light, my check engine light is already on for emissions aka faulty cats, i thought i’d check for any codes when I first had the issue and got nothing although i do just have a simple fixd 0bd2 reader. I didn’t check this time for codes. Could this be as simple as tps sensor or what do you guys think i should do to rule this out. Feel free to ask questions thanks.
2004 ram 1500 5.7 hemi
 

gofishn

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I've always thought he Lightening Bolt means you've been driving, too slow, and the truck wants to go faster.

Seriously though,Do I underrstand your check engine ha sbeen on and you;ve been runnign aroudn with codes, already, b4 the lightening bolt issue?
Specofocally faulty Catalytic Convertors/Emissions failures?

Do you think, just possibly, that your catalytic convertors are now plugged up, almost completely?
The truck is trying to shove exhaust gasses out, through a needle sized hole?
Hmm, back pressure anyone?

How well do you think you'd run, all day long, if ya kept eating fuel but could not expel the by-product?

Start with known issues, fix the cats make sure they are free flowing.
Ignoring one issue only creates bigger issues, further up or down, the line.

This sound more like I put it off and now got to fix everything kind of event,
as opossed to, oh I got ths one tiny thing I got to take care off.
 

Dodge 1500 4X4

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Get you CAT faults taken care of first, does your truck consume oil, it may just be a O2 sensor, possible throttle body problem have you ever cleaned it?
 
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KMShemis

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I've always thought he Lightening Bolt means you've been driving, too slow, and the truck wants to go faster.

Seriously though,Do I underrstand your check engine ha sbeen on and you;ve been runnign aroudn with codes, already, b4 the lightening bolt issue?
Specofocally faulty Catalytic Convertors/Emissions failures?

Do you think, just possibly, that your catalytic convertors are now plugged up, almost completely?
The truck is trying to shove exhaust gasses out, through a needle sized hole?
Hmm, back pressure anyone?

How well do you think you'd run, all day long, if ya kept eating fuel but could not expel the by-product?

Start with known issues, fix the cats make sure they are free flowing.
Ignoring one issue only creates bigger issues, further up or down, the line.

This sound more like I put it off and now got to fix everything kind of event,
as opossed to, oh I got ths one tiny thing I got to take care off.
If it was the cats wouldn’t the issue happen all the time?
 
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KMShemis

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Get you CAT faults taken care of first, does your truck consume oil, it may just be a O2 sensor, possible throttle body problem have you ever cleaned it?
I cleaned throttle body not too long ago and maf. I did a lot of work on it like spark plugs, pcv valve, thermostat, I had all 02 sensors replaced, flushed engine oil with cleaner, ran fuel treatment through. Problem with cats still persists. I just don’t know if i want to spend the money on new cats, I am pretty certain it’s the cats because exhaust smells aswell. I think truck consumes some oil but the oil pan has seepage and the truck does have 250k miles. Was ran pretty rough in its life, so i’m assuming some oil may be slipping past rings but i did put a lucas product in and the consumption seemed to slow a ton a little while ago. I drive this truck daily and the issue happened twice and after the fact it’s like that didn’t even happen no issues no codes so i wouldn’t think cats would be in the equation.
Also to point out when i ran this bottle of fuel cleaner through it was a big bottle of lucas injector cleaner and overall injector cleaner my p0420 cat code dissapeared then when i started running just fuel it came back.
 
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gofishn

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If it was the cats wouldn’t the issue happen all the time?
No.

Plugged Catalytic convertor will allow enginen to run, even allow RPM's to rise, up to a certain point, dependent on the level of flow.

Think Straw here. teeeny tiny strawm ya don;t breath much.
Jolly Green Giant straw, you can go run a marathon.

regardless, if you start off wioth codes, then you need ot fix the know issues, in order to determine the unknown issues.
again, any issue, if left to go ,long enough, is going to cause otehr issues, all by itself and by beings allowed to perform, in areduced manner, over time.

THink Mole, turns into a Lesion, get into a Lymp node,gets everywhere = dead, cancer filled, corpse

Knew a guymbragged he;d not seen a Doctor in 30 years. Healthy as a Horse, right up to the moment, he had the Widow Maker, heart attack, walking around his yard.

Easy to fix a cat is poke a big damn h ole in it .
loud as hell but will allow free flowing exhaust.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO THAT
 

gofishn

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I cleaned throttle body not too long ago and maf. I did a lot of work on it like spark plugs, pcv valve, thermostat, I had all 02 sensors replaced. Problem with cats still persists. I just don’t know if i want to spend the money on new cats, I am pretty certain it’s the cats because exhaust smells aswell. I think truck consumes some oil but the oil pan has seepage and the truck does have 250k miles. Was ran pretty rough in its life, so i’m assuming some oil may be slipping past rings but i did put a lucas product in and the consumption seemed to slow a ton a little while ago. I drive this truck daily and the issue happened twice and after the fact it’s like that didn’t even happen no issues no codes so i wouldn’t think cats would be in the equation.

Ohhh, that Smell, Can you smell that smell?

That smell is cheap gas, full of Sulpher, which gets baked onto the cats honeycombs.
Stations add sulpher to boost octane of cheap gas.
I;m guesing they're plugged.

BTW, buy your gas somewhere else.



Not sure how old you are:
Back in teh early 80's, late late 70's, stations everywhere used sulpher.
Cats woudl get clogged, specially GM's version. Car woudl run like craap until KA_BOOK, Cat would split open, at teh seam, and caar woudl run like a rapid Ape again.

If you looked, under teh pssgr door, you could sometimes see the blown wide open seam of teh cat, becasu eit blew with such force, it hung down pretty good.

Of cours,e you;d hear the car from a long long long ways away.

Other thing Gm was known for was the connection adapter ring, just after the headers, connecting to the pipe that went to teh cat.

Cat woudl get plugged, that rings.gaasket.thick darn plug would blow and instant headers.
 
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KMShemis

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Did you replace them with OEM if not you will have more problems.
I replaced them with Bosch sensors, they are sensors a shop recommended me to replace them with. The upstream being 15510, and the downstream being 15506. I had my truck throw an egr code p0406. But it went away quickly. Is this also something I should be looking into? Do you guys think it would be worth running cleaners through my truck for the cats?? The last thing id like to be doing is replacing them. Its a little pricey if I can get away with something else. Its my daily with way too many miles 250k. Also where do you guys recommend I buy gas? I have Sunoco, Sheetz, VP Racing Fuels in my town. Also Weis gas stations and I-fuel. Ive been buying from sheetz 89 octane.
 

daniel van fossen

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Did you figure anything out? I did have my driver side cat go out and go it taken care of. The downstream O2 sensor is always throwing a code now. I got the red lightning bolt flashing at me. Replaced the throttle body as it's lifetime warranty-was only 1 year old. Disconnected the 2 battery cables and hooked together. Truck ran great for a mile then started bucking and chugging and died about 8 times immediately at start. Finally got it home. Still red lightning bolt with a p0129 code. Replaced map sensor under warranty. Tested the map wiring at the map sensor, iat sensor, and throttle body and I had 5 voltage even with the truck off..unhooked crank sensor wiring harness and it didn't have 5 volts. Then rechecked others and none of them did suddenly.??
 
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daniel van fossen

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Update-problem is fixed for now at least. I unplugged every harness from the pcm and left unhooked for probably 20 minutes. Applied dielectic grease to them and reconnected. Made sure they were in firm and truck started and runs perfect now. I'm thinking of having the pcm checked out though as this is the 6th TB in 2 years.
 
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