I recently had a CEL come on and found a lose hose. Turned out that the rear hose on the DPFE sensor was off and upon close investigation found my DPFE sensor was melted! The hose that was off also had a hole in it near the sensor. Replaced the sensor and both hoses and things seem to be fine now, but my question is what could have melted the sensor so bad? It has a hole in it about finger size with other various melted spots on it. Wife has the camera for a few days here, otherwise I'd post a pic.

Updated: I managed to get a pic with an old webcam I have (not great quality, but you can see where it's melted through).

 

Usually, it's from stopped up catalytic converters.

 

How can I tell if my catalytic converter is bad?

 

Quintin nailed it - As usual..

Specially if the sensor was connected to it's bracket and not just hanging in air.

I've seen converters turn cherry red in the past on vehicles other than these trucks - It could easily happen on any vehicle.


You'll here allot of tinging and tanging after shutdown from overheated exhaust before the the converter. While she been running and in the dark - take a look under the truck for discoloration / Glowing forward pipe/ drivers side.

OR - Just take it in. ASAP!

 

I needed an oil change before we head out on a camping trip this weekend, so I described what happened to the dealer and had them investigate. They also suspected the catalytic converters so I had them do a pressure test on them. They said that there was 1psi back-pressure at 3000 RPM which meant everything was fine with the cats. Their explanation was that it must have been the bad hose that let hot exhaust hit the outside of the DPFE sensor and melt it. Does that sound reasonable to you guys? I would think it would have just melted the spot where the host hooks up to the sensor instead of the hose was good. Anything else I should check to be sure I'm ok?

 

I don't know man. I've seen that happen in an explorer. Just changed it and all was well. I think the dealership is referring to the orphis is the hard-line between the two hose connects. It's more less a reducer. If that was by chance plugged , that may happen. BUT , you should have had a check engine light on before hand.