dont do it... use the felpro gasket w/o any sealant. do a 3 step torque sequence to get to the final torque requirement. I used a felpro and never had a leak again.

what pics are missing? got a link? I could probably fix it.

 

Squirrel... pm sent.

 

squirrel, you installed the hughes or aps 1/4 aluminum plate didn't you ?
what are you seeing inside the plenum ? oil ? are you using any oil ? you don't reckon you're seeing pcv suck in do you ? a leaking plenum would explain your ping, but i'm questioning why it would be leaking. you just fixed it a few months ago...

also, the bubbles in the radiator. thats not normal either and i'm wondering whats up. is this a consistent string of bubbles for long periods of time. a compression and leak down test might be needed here.

in the meantime, if you remove the SCT tune and run high octane gas, can you stop the ping.

edit... and just for discussion, when i bought my hughes plate, gasket kit, and bolts a couple years ago, the plate had a gasket sealer painted on, and, i think (hope), the instructions said to bolt the plate directly to plenum w/o a gasket. there was no belly pan gasket in the kit, just the painted on bead of sealer on the plate. so that's what i did. i also used blue thread locker on all the little bolts.

 

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread...Make sure your plate bolts aren't bottoming out in the intake before they are properly torqued down..Read it could be a problem in other thread not sure if it was in this forum or Pavement sucks...

 

Pretty sure thats the case with the stock pan. Not the 1/4" plate.

 

Well, I'll give the Fel-Pro another go, and see what happens.

Can't believe this is the 3rd time on this SOB, at 4 hours a pop. I'm going to check the mating surfaces on both the intake and the hughes plate to see if it's truly flat.

Would there be any harm in a light coating on the top and bottom of the gasket of something like ultra copper to make it a little more oil resistant and fill in any small gaps in the manifold surface or plate? I know it can't really have any tangible thickness so as not to be uneven, but I'm trying to avoid doing this for a 4th time.

 

what do you see thats convinced you its leaking ?

 

vaughan,

I'm pretty sure it isn't PCV blow-by, as it's running right along the back edge of the plenum, it's substantial, and the center of the pan is clean as a whistle thanks to the MCCC.

Once I get this fixed I'll deal with the coolant issue. I tightened up every connection I could find in the coolant system and we'll see if that might not have been the case. I'm keeping a very close eye on the coolant level.

 

did you get new bolts for the pan last time? they are not reuseable. are you still using a steel plate or did you go to the aluminum?

lastly... when you do this fix, go with a 3 step torque on all the bolts to the last torque setting. I used the felpro, new bolts, no sealant & never had a leak in the 40k I put on it after the swap (& heads).

 

Steve,

Got the hughes aluminum plate, and all the new bolts.

When the 1st hughes gasket blew in Feb, I replaced with a Fel-Pro and all new bolts from the Stealership. I did the three step torque procedure, per the TSB (did it to all bolts, not just 1-4) following the pattern, going 48 in/lbs., then 84 in/lbs., then 12ft/lbs.

Maybe I'll try this pattern:
http://dodgeram.info/tsb/2000/09-05-00.htm

obviously bolts 1-4, not 1 and 4.

just baffled as to why this happened a 3rd time...