Just talked to a person who knows this vehicle and he swears that the CAT's have been "hollowed" out!! That explains the funky exhaust noise BUT also adds a new element to the not running right situation.

That also explains why the lot I got it from had left the downstream O2 sensors unplugged.

Kind of makes me mad since I moved on and started taking parts off this thing making it the donor for the the 99 D1 with more rust.

Does any one have info about how these GEM's engines can respond to open CAT's? I have heard it is not a good situation to have..

Thanks again to all ya'all

 

I'm new to the site but was here looking for anyone with your issue. My '95 3.9L has recently started having a problem with the battery light coming on at which point the tach stops working as well but everything else was working just fine. Tonight however when it happened the speedometer started going a little wonky and was fluttering up and down. That seemed to directly link it to the engine light coming on and then it would only idle. The headlights dimmed down and it couldn't rev up like the power just wasn't there to keep up with faster RPM's. Having almost no tools on me but a volt meter and a Stanley Fubar I did what I could. Checked the battery cables-tight and clean. Alternator cables-plugged in anyway lol. Voltage was down below 12v with the engine idling and the alternator spinning. I tried feathering the gas pedal a bit and got it to higher RPM's with a lot of chugging and fuel smells then it took off and ran fine. Engine light still on of course but ran alright for the other half an hour to home. Tomorrow starts the process of checking for a dying cell in the battery or faulty diode going out in the alternator. Not sure yet but if anyone has any ideas there are at least two of us looking for answers.