Yes there is an the cat does rattle. I got a link sent to me regarding the recall however it stopped at 120000 miles and mine has 122000. I guess you call pinging what i call a rattling sound but it's only when I put my foot into it. During normal driving even normal acceleration there's no sound.

 

Plugs looked ok and I rechecked the the cap and rotor and they were fine.

 

That's what my friend said. He stated that the valve might not be seating all they way and that could cause this type of miss. I don't have any coolant leaks and compression is fine. Can this be repaired or will it require a new set of heads?

 

Sounds like replacing the heads is fairly common, what are the best replacement heads? My '99 2500 with the 5.9 gas seems to be slowly getting weaker. It does have 155,000 miles in which over 100,000 miles have been pulling a trailer of some sort. Thanks!

 

pinging and rattling arent the same, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_knocking, many people mistake pinging for a rattle in their cat though so I wouldnt doubt that you are pinging.

I bought these

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-5...em260192761550

"New pair of 5.2 / 5.9 Chrysler cylinder heads. Heads are new castings, much thicker in all the critical areas. These heads fit 1992 - 2003 Chrysler engines"

Fit perfect.

 

btw, you would typically get that pinging sound only when you put your foot into it, thats exactly how mine was at first, then it slowly got worse to the point where even passing someone would produce the pinging.

 

That's a plenum gasket problem. Switch to a higher grade of gas in the mean time to get rid of the ping.

 

Hate to say it, but hes probably right, your probably looking at new heads and replacing the plenum gasket (or doing the Hughes/APS kit)
Just did it this weekend, and your issue sounds exactly like mine.
Hows your AC vent when going up a hill?
I think thats what my first clue was, vent kept switching over due to the loss of vacuum, but I was able to mask it with a new valve.

Plenum leak took out my o2 sensor and cat, clogged cat caused excessive heat and no flow, excessive heat causedthe headscrack, at least the way I figure it.

If I ever buy another 2nd Gen Ram Ill be doing that as preventative maintenance.

 

Same here. Have bought about 6 different sets of heads frim these folks. A+ ratings from me.

 

if you knew you had an exhaust leak, why didnt you swap the exhaust manifold 1st? (should not be a gasket there, you could add one to try & stop the leak)