Last week I started seeing blueish, whitesh smoke blowing out of my tailpipe and the smell of burning oil. I changed the oil and took it camping this weekend and when I arrived it was really smoking from the tailpipe and when I checked the oil it was REALLY low. I bought a few jugs of oil and figured I burned about 1 quart every hundred miles. It has also been backfiring frequently. The plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor and pcv valve was replaced last year. I saw a few posts regarding the plenum gasket, most of the ones that I read mentioned flipping the butterflies to see if their was oil in the carb. I dont see any oil. I also saw a few posts where people didnt see any oil either, so Im at a loss. I dont seem to be experiencing any loss of power and dont see any leaks anywhere on the motor.
1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport, 4wd, 318

 

Pull your plugs and see what they look like.

 

They are dry and whitish at the ends on both sides of the motor.

 

A whitish plug means its running lean. This doesnt explain where the oil is going tho. No oil in your coolant I take it?

 

no the coolant looks ok

 

if you have an automatic check your transmission. also I would say you have some sort of a vacuum leak my guess is because of the lean fuel mixture it's vaporizing the oil. meaning no sooty or oily deposits

 

The truck is a 5 speed. Also, the exhaust pipes are sooted up more then usual. It blew soot all over the propane tank cover in front of the camper when i was towing it.

 

The best way to check the plenum gasket is to pull the PCV valve out of the valve cover, plug the vent on the opposite side, then, with the engine idling, put your finger gently over the PCV hole in the valve cover. It should build pressure (don't let it build much or you risk doing damage). If you feel vacuum at the valve cover, the plenum gasket is leaking.

 

I know alot of people say you need to take the throttle body of and look inside the intake because the oil pools up in the corners and you cant see those by just flipping the butterflies on the t.b. Also are you throwing any codes? If the plenum would be leaking that bad I would think you'd be getting a check engine light for cylinder misfire. I believe cylinder 8 misfire is the really common one. Heres the link to the end all plenum thread from the second gen ram section. I'm guessing this came up in your search but if it didn't here you go. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...um-thread.html

 

i if that plug has a small black spot, might mean you have exhaust leaking into intake. i had that on a 1984 318 Plymouth, the intake manifold had a crack in it. it would run better if you let up on. but it is very rare. the give away is the black on the plug.