Sixtysixdeuce, thanks for those suggestions. I will check them out.

 

zman17, yes, the #8 plug was so stuck, it took a 1/2 breaker bar and liberal amounts of PB blaster to get it out. In my experience, I've never seen a plug stuck like that in a functional engine.

 

You might want to find out how old and what kind of quality the plug wires are, if they are no good it won't really matter how you route them. And also take off the IAC and clean it, and the port it goes into the TB .

 

Ok, first things first. All I had time to dothis weekend was take off the cap and rotor. At first glance they looked in good shape. Then I noticed the center tower (coil) terminal was loose and turning. I put a meter on it and found that it would not conduct current consistently. I don't know if it was like that before, or if it came loose when I pulled off the coil wire. Either way, I needed to get a new cap and rotor, so I went over to A-zone and got one. What a cheap-azz POS! As soon as I tried to lower the cap over the rotor and onto the disty, Iheard something break off, and it turned out to be the center carbon rotor button. The spring on the rotor apparently caught it the wrong way and snapped it off. Well, long story short, I had to take some chewing gumon the endof along screw driver to fish the button remains out of the disty (I was thankfull for just being able to find it and see it!).

I Just went to the local Dodge dealer this morning and got a new Mopar cap/rotor and correct set of new plugs. I'll try the Mopar cap/rotor after work and see if that takes care of my problem. The saga continues. Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.

 

UPDATE:
Just installed a new Mopar cap and rotor. Engine seems to idle a little smoother in gear and doesn't seem to buck so much. Just to verify, I checked for spark at#8 by attaching the plug wire to an extra plug I had and just laid it against the valve cover. #8 sparked consistently, although it was orange, not blue. I'm thinking it was orange because the ground was not so great. (May need to check the coil as well.)

When driving, engine has plenty of acceleration and runs very smoothly above idle. I cleared the code and will see how quicklyit comes back! Planning on replacing all the plugs with a fresh set and running a complete compression test in the next day or two. Still not convinced that #8 cylinder is cracked. Also took some time to look down the TB throats and the bottom of the plenum looks oily, but not bad.

If compression test comes back ok, but P0308 code comes back, then I will swap #8 injector with another. If injector checks out, then I will pull the cover and check for broken valve spring(s). If compression test comes back with #8 low, and I'm talking <=100 psi or 40 psi diff than the others, then I'll need to decide to pull the heads or unload the truck and take a loss. I would hate to do that because I really like the truck.

 

Since it's a 98 and you say the intake looks oily but not bad, I think you should consider replacing the plenum gasket. A 98 is almost gauranteed to bad.

 

As expected, the CE came on just after a few miles.

I'm going to run the compression test, put in the new plugs, and make the plenum upgrade (APC I guess). Who knows, maybe even do the kegger mod!

If #8 (or others) has low compression, then I'll have to tear into the motor anyway.

Question: If I put new/rebuilt heads on a motor with 96k miles, won't that cause it to smoke? Seen it before.

 

i have a 2001 dodge ram 1500 4x4 5.9 with the same problem on cylinder #6

 

i have a 2001 dodge ram 1500 4x4 5.9 with the same problem on cylinder #6 ?

 

My #8 cylinder is setting off my CEL as well. Already checked the ignition side (new plugs all 'round, wires, cap/rotor) there's no prob there. Next is to move the injector and see what happens. If the cat is clogged how do you go about checking/cleaning it?

DOGG, you ever figure out what was causing your problem?