Hey I have a 99 Quad Cab 360 4x4 that I have had pinging on for a long time and although it is currently flashed and up to date according to the dealer, it still pings and I've always been complaining about gutless response from this truck. I'm currently going through transmissions and torque converters (burning out).

This truck looks good but sucks.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

John.

 

sir i had the same problem----------400 dollars later and a replaced lower intake gasket solved the problem ,that was 6mts ago

 

My 97 sport,. 5.2 has been doin the same thing! Pings when I hit it hard gettin on the highway and even sometimes if Im givin it gas at about 45 mph when it shifts into 4th gear.. Ill hear that same pinging sound... I wonder how many miles are on your truck? I have 94K, and maybe its a sign of age... I like ur suggestion of a leaking intake gasket,... but please enlighten me, what does this mean? "i've heard the pcm needs flashed" Whatever it is I dont think its affected by gas grade...
I thought it was my headers maybe leakin air.. but after readin ur post, Id have to agree with what u r sayin.. sounds like its somethin else.... Ill keep ya updated, my truck is goin in for some other stuff (oil, spark plugs, etc) so Ill ask the mechanic to drive it hard and maybe see if he can diagnos whats wrong and why its pinging

 

So I took it to the mechanic... it was a cylinder! It was wet from condensation.. not oil but water... he dried it out, tuned it up and it worked fine... that was LAST SUMMER (2004)... now its SUMMER 2005, and its back... pinging again! Seems this is a repeat problem so thanks for the info...... Im taking it to the mechanic again and Im gonna tell him to check the plenum gasket!.... thanks

 

The problems our generation 5.2l and 5.9l there has been multiple problems that would cause a spark knock, dodge says there is a reflash that will fix it, or higher octane fuel, but most of the time its the poor thinking of putting a cheap gasket on the lower plenum on the intake, work shop manuals state that there is a test to check if the lower plenum gasket is bad. my dodge was doing the same thing everyone else is noticing, so i took it upon my self and removed the intake and found that the gasket was sucked in, also workshop manuals from dodge do state that not to replace it with a new gasket-you could replace it with a good high temp silicone. but that is you choice. it was a fairly easy fix. ive driven for 15,000 miles since i heard the last spark knock from my motor, just thought i would put in my 2 cents

 

If you want to check your plenum for a leak, the best way is to pull your throttle body off and take a look inside the intake manifold. you will look for oil pooling like in this pic... this was mine when I pulled it apart a week ago. I put on a APS Precision aluminum plenum kit to solve the leaky plenum problem. on older models they used a paper type of gasket that would tear when the aluminum intake and the steel plenum plate heated up at different rates causing a leak.

Notice that in this pic, I had an updated metal gasket on my steel plate and it still leaked. get the aluminum plate and be done with it.

Also, I'll be doing a writeup on it in the DIY forum later this month on how to change it if your motivated to do it yourself



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This spark knock..... Where does it sound like it comes from? I get a rattling sound from my truck when I accelerate hard to pass someone, but it sounds like its coming from directly underneath the truck. Not the motor? Does the spark knock noise come from the motor or does the sound carry through to the exhaust? Mine almost sounds like a loose heat shield, but it doesn't seem to be rpm dependant.

I'm thinking more and more that I may have a slight plenum leak like you did steve.

 

sounds more like a bad cat to me. if it's not rpm dependent and it sounds like it's under the truck, then check your cat out. do the temp test thing on it and see how it does...

 

Its typical with these Dodge's, I put a loud exhaust on and now I dont hear it, try it I guarantee it will word, but I would still follow Steve's advice and check plenum

 

Does anyone get it a stutter around 45 or so while lightly cruising? Feels like the converter is shuddering (locking/unlocking)?

It's inductive spark knock. There is a TSB about rerouting the plug wires. Most notably 8 and 4. Induction is a b*tch...