i decided to go for a drive to the slopes last week during the "valentines day blizzard" here in the north east. i made a b-line for the "blizzard warning area" marked on the weather map around Manchester VT. truck was doing great on the back roads though CT, stopped for lunch and decided it was time to lock the hubs for the rest of the trip. all was well until i get about 30 miles from Manchester, i noticed the truck bucking a bit when i added some more gas. at this point the roads were covered in a good 8-10" of snow and visibility was close to 20-30 feet, until the wind blew and than i could not see the end of the hood. not sure of the temp, but i would guess about 6 deg with strong wind gusts. i get the truck to the hotel and the idle was bouncing like the timing was fugged and than it stalled out (didn't catch it in time) tried to restart it and got that "i think my motor is seized" kinda sound. the next morning it started right up and than stalled again when getting up to operating temp. let it sit and tried again and again and than finally got it to idle and took it for a short ride. its appears fine now, but what could have caused this? i keep my anti-freeze at around -30 deg. to the best of my knowledge. ran some dry gas in it on the way home and all was well, any ideas? the check engine light was flashing when the idle was fubar and is now illuminated (nothing new for this 96) gonna pull codes this weekend.

pulled the codes:

p1131- "lack of 02"
h02511- "switch/sensor"
p0304 - cylinder 4 misfire
p0305 - cylinder 5 misfire
p0306 - cylinder 6 misfire
p0171 - system lean bank one

any ideas? cleard the codes and got my p1131 back (i'll locate the issue one day), but the truck runs fine.

 

The p1131 is bank 1, sensor 1, low voltage. Check the wiring first and then replace the sensor if necessary. Not sure what could have caused the blizzard problem but might have been all the moisture. Soaked the air filter and then started letting water into the cylinders and killing the fire. You let it sit and cool the water would have frozen and/or evaporated and then you get your spark and fire back into the cylinders. Just a geuss though.

 

didn't know it was low voltage, damn thing comes and goes. its my nemesis. the storm thing was a bit freaky, but i have experienced the rough idle and bucking before with out the weather. just no were near as extreme. there was snow in the lower part of the air box, but the filter looked ok.