Once again this is my girl friends truck so I do not know it as well as she does. I don't drive it that often. She said it hasn't pinged in quite sometime. She also checked with the mechanic she knows. She was the receptionist at that shop for 6 years. He told her he did not think it was the plenum gasket because she had black deposit build up on the spark plug and he said it should have been greyish colored build up. I'm sure this will spark some comments.
You bet it'll spark some comments.
I'm throwing the B.S. flag down on that. Grey deposits? It says right in every manual you can find, or shows in a picture, a black oily coating. When mine was leaking, I'd get exactly that on my plugs, and lots of it. Now I get just a little bit, about the same on every plug, which I've been told is normal.
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Okay, more than likely, the pinging is from a blown plenum gasket. There is a DIY in the FAQ sticky that will show you how to check for this. In the mean time, you can run the Autolite 3293 plug, and that will help with pinging. The AL plug is a love or hate plug for your motor. They are cheap, and some of the magnums really run well on them, and some run like crap. The heat range is different on the AL and that is what's going to help settle the ping for awhile. This is a temp fix only! If the gasket is blown, you need to replace it with a fresh one, and a new belly pan. Another option is the M1 intake, but I don't think that would be down your alley. The upside of the intake is it eliminates the belly pan all together.
EDIT: Being a 2001, you can key on and off the ignition 3 times and it will display the codes. (Key off then on, not running) All of the 2nd gens do this, but pre 98 rams only flash the CEL light X amount of times for the code. Works in a pinch, but sitting there counting 41 flashes is BS.
Or the Airgap would be a better choice for the basically stock engine
Here's my 2 cents since I had the same problem. First the plenum gasket would be a start, then check compression, then move the #1 injector to see if the problem follows. As far as the plugs go I've tried just about everyone out there and went back to the AL's. Even those expensive a$$ E3's didn't last long. OK So it's a nickle's worth hopefully it helps.
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98 DODGE RAM 1500 SPORT 4X4 5.9L 6" LFT W/3" BODY LFT; PRO COMP WHEELS 8089 AND 35X12.5R17 DUNLOP RADIAL MUD ROVERS; CUSTOM FRONT BUMPER, Flex-a-lite dual electric fans , MOPAR rnd K&N 14X3"aircleaner;headers, Flowmaster Super 40
I want to clarify on the bent electrode. I was refering to the ground electrode that bends over the center electrode. That had black deposits on it and had a notch out of the end. All the other plugs showed normal wear. I am not sure what caused this bad plug? That is why I chose to put new plugs in and do the rerouting of the wires and see what happens. I plan to clean the throttle body and clean the K&N drop in filter and see what happens. When I do, I will check down inside the throttle body. I'll keep you posted.
