sorry for the length of this post.

so not really a tech question but anyway here's what happened.
changed plugs, wires, coil, cap and rotor. all oe replacement from O'reillys forget which brand exactly but i think they were all bwd except for plug champ coppers. that was all done two weeks ago in hopes (<-- key word) of getting rid of a misfire on cyl #5. well a week goes by no misfires no other issues. a couple of days go by and as i'm pulling a load of loam up a small hill maybe a half mile long but nice slow up slope. i start losing power like crazy foot to floor not doing a darn thing.. pulled over to the side of the road jump out and start looking around in the engine bay while looking down through the pass side i can see the cat glowing cherry red. so i drilled a few holes just before the cat jump back in fire her back up and hey what do you know i have a bit more power... limped her home going about oh 5mph https://dodgeforum.com/forum/images/...icon_moped.gif https://dodgeforum.com/forum/images/...on_redface.gif got her home tore of the cat and proceeded to punch the melted honeycomb out (yes i live in Maine, yes we are supposed to run cats, Do I care um lets think about this for a sec........ NO) so now shes running great tons of power and better MPG to boot (still have to fix the cel) so now for the best part remember those pugs i replaced well cyl #5 cracked its spark plug right down near the tip of the electrode on two sides... and she was running wicked wicked rough like completely missing cylinders no power.... i went through the entire ignition system and after painstakingly rerouting all plug wires per that dang TSB no change in condition. so on a whim i pulled number five plug and that was my problem broke plug...

thanks for reading that novel

question of the day: what causes a brand spanking new spark plug to break down like it did?

so on another note when i start my truck it takes for ever for it to fire up like cold diesel start.. but if i flip the key form off to on three or four times it fires right up no problem

 

Spark plug was probably a victim of spark knock.... My guess is, your plenum is blown, and you are know seeing some of the symptoms......

Starting problem is the check valve in the pump. When it sits for quite a while, pressure has a chance to bleed off, and you need to build it back up before the engine will actually start. Probably wouldn't hurt to check your fuel pressure, how long it takes to build, if it gets up to where it should be, etc...... May be time for a fuel pump too.

 

i sure hope its not the plenum leaking seeing as i did it when i bought the truck last june.... to fix the starting issue i would change the pump or the valve or are they in the same unit?

 

Unfortunately, the check valve/fuel pump/sending unit is all in one assembly...get a good delphi replacement from rock auto and this will be a one-time job. My plan of choice when replacing fuel pumps on these trucks is to remove the tailgate and have a friend help you lift the bed off and rest the front part on the rear tires...sooo much easier than having to worry about dropping down that damn tank (what a frustration that is).

When you fixed the plenum, did you replace the bottom plate with an aluminum one from hughesengines.com or ebay? If not, then you'll be doing that job again...

If you want to replace the cat, get a direct fit one from magnaflow or flowmaster...better performance and easy install...win-win