97' Abnomal noise in time with acceleration

[Cooby]

Two weeks ago I got the 90,000 mile service for my 97 Mountaineer. Last week I moved and drove the truck 600 miles and it was pretty well loaded down with stuff. About halfway through the drive I noticed a kind of chugging/ticking noise during acceleration, in time and in rhythm with the normal revving sounds. When I got to my destination I parked and partially unloaded. Then when I got back in the car and started it the check engine light came on and has been on ever since. Also the noise is still there during acceleration with the car completely unloaded. Finally, I may suddenly be getting really bad gas mileage but I'm not sure about this because I have been driving around town all weekend getting settled, and I've been on really hilly areas so my gas gauge goes up or down about 1/8 of a tank depending on whether my car is tilted up or down.

I'm going to see if I can get a diagnostic tomorrow but anyone happen to know what this noise/problem might be?

[bumpinkicker04]

Autozone will read the codes for the engine for free.

[Cooby]

Yeah I got the code; it's P1405: "DPFE Sensor upstream hose off or plugged." Maybe they didn't put the new hose on right when they "fixed" it and now that I think about it maye the noise is that of a slightly unmuffled engine because there is an improperly connected exhaust hose (this is just a layman's guess).

I haven't had time to follow up on it yet. I'm hoping it's something I can fix myself.