Well I got my truck back yesterday. I noticed it was rnning a bit odd and the CEL was back on. I did the key on/off thing and got code 0304. I searched online and found thats the cylinder 4 misfire AGAIN. this has been an on going problem with my truck. It comes and goes on its own. As I mentioned in my other thread I'm going away in a few weeks so I'd like to not have any machinal issues for the trip.

Now whatI need help on is a list of possible causes for the issues.

1. Plenum Gasket
2. Clogged cat
3. Clogged fuel line
4.Bad heads
5.Bad rings


I took a look down my tb today and its looks brown and cruddy in there. What should it look like?

Cat i hope to get replaced soon as it is so not a big deal. But i read on here that you can check the temp in then out of the cat to see if there is a problem. I forget what your suppose to look for though.

Clogged fuel line I think it read on here that you can tke them off and spray stuff in there to clean it out. How hard is it take them off and what do you use to clean them

Bad heads and rings i can just do a compression test and find out if anything is not normal correct?




Now if my plenum gasket is bad I am thinking about getting the huges plenum pan. The say that with it you'll never have the problem again. I like the sound of that. I'd rather not have to dig in there again. So where doI get the pan?


Also some of you mod your kegger. I'm kinda stuck on what mods I should do to my truck. I tow with it once in a while and i don't want to hurt the towing ability. So would messing wih the kegger hurt anything. I read on here last night some people don't even notice a difference doing the mods so whats the point in messing with it

Thanks for the help guys

 

brown & cruddy OK, pooling oil bad

hotter temp on the way out toward the tailpipe than coming in from the engine. If it's plugged it'll be cooler going out.

yes, a leak down test

carb cleaner, but borrow a fuel line pressure tester from a local parts store and check the schrader valve on the rail for correct pressure. you should be getting around 49psi at WOT

yes, again.

hughesengines.com

I noticed a difference, and none of it was negative. much smoother and faster acceleration through all rpms.

you're welcome.



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So what your saying is you wouldn't change the plenum gasket?

so the cat is working normally will cause the exhaust to get hotter?

How do I check the fuel PSI at WOT while I'm not driving? Can you blip the tb and do that to read it?


Oh and ha ha i forgot i wrote that the first time them was going by my list. I still gotta pull the plug as well and see how it looks

 

get a fuel pressure check gauge, it hooks on to the test port on the fuel rail.
Also are you sure that it is getting fuel, check the fuel injector, maybe you have a bad connection and that is why sometimes it works and sometimes it misses

 

I got around to pulling the plug and this is whatI found




IIRC when I put these in the same one was broke. I know at least 1 of them was messed up. What would cause this to happen?

Before I move on with this I would like to look down the hole and see if I can see the piece. Where can I get one of them scope things? Do parts stores rent them out or sell them? I kinda wanna look in there asap

 

that will do it everytime, lol, anyway i would think that the piece probably has blown out of the motor already, i'm not sure what would do that, maybe age or i dont know, maybe too much heat. Replace and see if it happens again. I dont think that it will though

 

they actually arnt that old. I would say not even a year at the most a year. it was hard as hell to get the plug out too. I have no idea how it got so damn tight

 

If it isn't just a bum plug, I would suspect that you are running hot in that cylinder. It looks as if the tip of the plug is slightly melted and I would imagine that high heat could break up the resistor as well. That would also explain why it was hard to remove. I would have the injector tested to be sure it is firing the appropriate amount of fuel. IDK if there's a scanner that can monitor an individual cylinder's A/F ratio or not, but that could be a way to go.

You can test the fuel rail at WOT by swinging the the butterflys open. Grab ahold of the throttle on the opposite side of the TB and manually work it back and forth, but watch out for moving parts, belts, etc. under the hood.

The only other thing I can think of is that certain years of Rams took stock spark plugs with a longer tip than others. I have heard if you cross them up, the piston could actually hit the plug, but I would think that would damage the tip, not the resistor.

 

ok so how do you test an injector? Looking at the plug it don't look melted to me I'm pretty sure its the way it was when I installed them.

I also agree with you that if it was hit by the piston the metal part would be smashed as well.

I thought I read on here last night somebody saying not to use platium plugs in our engines. Is there a reason for that? Could that be part of the problem?

 

You'd have to find a shop that can test injectors for flow and that the widings inside haven't become damaged. I ran platinums for a while and it just ran a little rough, but nothing like what you had happen.

RM_Indy seems to know a lot about injectors, I'd pm him on ways to test them at home.


If the pieces of that plug were small, then they probably did blow thru the engine. I don't blame you for wanting to check, but $300 is a lot for a scope and i just son't know how often you'd really use it. this might be the one time I'd take it to a shop and have them check it. I'd be worried mostly about a bent #4 exhaust valve or intake valve if the pieces were in there for any length of time. Past that, the only place that left for pieces to collect is right on the front side of the Cat before it goes thru the honeycomb in there.