Ok ,i was getting very little heat from my 99' SLT and i decided to do a total system flush .
It went off without a hitch all was good drained the system to refill with 50/50 fixture ,refired it and WOW what a difference ,total different truck all the heat i need infact i have to turn it way down to keep it comfy .

BUT i just went out to recheck the fluids and make sure i had it topped off correctly after running it yesterday (sat over night) and i took tha cap off and what i seen extremely bothers me
there was a thick cocoa colored slime at the top of the filler neck ,hopefully thinking it was residue from the fluch i took it out with a small basting syphon type thing and i put it into a small bowl thinking i would get it tested or just fill it with water hoping it was just residue like i said
well it seperated and low and behold it it floating on top of the water which leads to my problem

is this oil ?
and has anyone had this problem with there 5.2's?

i have had so many ppl tell me the magnum V-8's have very week heads and look to replace them ,and i think to myself this damn thing has 154,000 surely they would have had a problem before this you know!!
this realy bothers me because the darn thing runs super strong and it doesnt smoke but i am using oil thats what leads me to believe i have a cracked head or a bad head gasket

if so is there a additive i can put into the coolant or in the oil to help slow this or even stop it to prolong a costly rebuild?

i just do not understand the bad head thing because i have been brought up on the fact if having a blown head gasket or cracked head it will either have a sweet smelling exhaust or it will smoke right??

 

if you had a bad headgasket or a cracked head, she would #1 overheat like hell and smoke like a bastard, that sludge sounds like just sounds like rust that is still sitting in the system, also check your oil level to make sure its not disappearing at an alarming rate, oil burns off as we all know, so im guessing with a highmilage engine would be about a quart of oil gone after about 2-3 months, also try and get a sample of the coolant and place it on a plate or something so u can look at it, and look for an oil slick on the top, oil is lighter then water, plus she will run like a tird with a cracked block, blown head gasket or a crapped out head

 

i am going thru oil i have added 2 quarts since last oil change and i change mine every 5000 due too all highway driving ,
as for the over heating ,not at all
i have the stuff i took out of the rad neck and yes it seperated and it sitting on top of the water i put in a bowl

the running like a POS its far from that , infact there isnt a stock dak or ram 5.9 or 5.2 that will stick with it

 

Well they say a quart per 3000 miles is "within spec", but to me it sounds like you're burning a bit much. Pull the air hat off and look inside the manifold to see if it's pooling up.

 

yeah 2 things come to mind... Horatio mentions to pull off the air hat... I say yank the TB and look into the intake with a mirror & flashlight. look for oil pooling on the bottom of the intake. a light film is normal, pooling is not.

2nd... the gunk on the radiator sounds like rust. yank off your over flow bottle and look at the bottom of it... chances are you'll find the same gunk. did you flush it until clean & clear water was coming out? if not, go back to it and flush it again until you have clean water coming out. then refill it with distilled water & antifreeze. tap water can be responsible for the gunk. I had posted a long time ago (about a year) what can happen having tap water in the system... posted a pic that showed gunk on the cap& neck. was clean and it was only 3~4 months that this built up.

 

when i flushed the system i didnt want to do just the heater core so i flush the total system
i left the water run thru it till i got clean water not colored ,
then totally drained it and i got alittle over 3 gallon in ,and it calls for 14.9 qt
as for the cocoa colored crap your right it is like a rust sludge it isnt oil like i feared because i left it sit and all the stuff went to the bottom of the cup nothing was on the top so it cant be oil

as for the oil consumption i honestly think it is from using 87 octane gas ,my truck pings to beat the band using this and i have to run 89 or supreme thru it to get rid of the pre-ignition knock/ping out of it and it does run alot better

could running the 87 and it pinging like mad make it use oil with the valve not closing completely?
and i just had the TB off and looked inside about a month ago and it was oily looking but noting was pooled up in there at all ,it looked carbon covered but nothing abnormal
granted i am used ot working on SBC's ,born and raise reworking them and stuff
just curious about the gas thing too
thanx
rick

 

Spark knock and excessive oil consumption... prime sign of plenum gasket being bad. Heres the TSB.
DIY as done by steve05ram360 on his Ram V8.

 

thank you very much ,my nephew has a ram and he had a bad intake gasket but he neversaid about the knocking and oil usage at all but he did say about his idle was high and our dodge dealer told him it was bad when he bought it and he said he would fix it for a cheaper price

but i will definately check this out
thank you