How long after shutting the engine off do you wait until you check for the pooling of oil in the intake? Can you look down there immediately or do you have to wait an hour or so?

Brad

 

If you don't mind getting burnt, look right away; otherwise, wait until everything cools.

 

I can see black on the bottom but no pools....awesome thank you

 

Black is NOT good.

 

The black on the bottom is likely from leftover oil and that was still in the intake when the new plenum was installed. Any left over oil will drybut the residuecan attact dirt particles. My engine has a little bit of black around the plenum edges as well but everything is dry in the intake and I don't loose oil between changes.

 

So should I do the chamber cleaner with seafoam and see if it is still black?

Brad

 

That might work...but, unless oil is actually in the intake it won't change anything,other than make the insides of yourmanifold all shiny.

 

Unless you install an in-line filter, you will always get a misting of oil through the pcv system. As
RamMan4x4 pointed out, dirt can easily attach itself to the coating of oil. Seafoam will help some.

 

so then unless I have a "pool" of oil the plenum is good...right?

 

The pooling usually occurs in the back of the intake because your engine sits at a slight angle. To really diagnose it good, it is best to look in when you have the TB off. A small mirror helps to look back into the corners for oil. It's not like your going to look down your intake and see oil just sitting there from side to side. If you do, your leak is very very bad, and your truck is probably not running at all. If you look down, and the bottom looks like it is wet, chances are, you will have a pool of oil in the back.

If you look in and see black (but it looks dry), that is not necessarily a bad thing. Any engine that has a significant amount of miles on it is not going to look prestine inside the intake. That black is the same build up that you clean off the TB. It could even be as simple as the debris that is left after someone cleans a TB without removing it from the intake. So best thing to do is see if it looks wet. If it does, remove the TB, and using a mirror and a flash light, go in for a better look.