Hi everyone! I'm new here so go easy!
I bought a 99 Ram from a friend last year and it runs pretty good. I have a few issues and maybe you guys can help.

I have read several threads about the plenum gasket and the symptoms.
My Ram displays some of these symptoms.
It will jerk or misfire at lower RPM's while in overdrive. But if i take it off OD it will run smoothly.
I do get a few pings while accelerating.
I have experienced some oil loss with no visible signs anywhere of where its going. Its not real bad however, i may have to put a quart in every two or three months.
I had the codes pulled today to see why my check engine light is on and the guy said it was misfire on #4. So i will change wires, plugs, cap and rotor this coming week and see if it alleviates some of these problems.

What i have read so far about the plenum gasket failures makes me think mine has failed or is about to.
I have read the procedure on how to check and will do this. I have to go get a vacuum gauge 1st.

I looked down into the intake for "puddling" of any oil inside but did not see any and this is my question.
Am i supposed to see black oil puddling down inside?


I do not see this but i do see brown stain from oil either from the crankcase or whatever.

No "puddling"

I sure hope i do not have to tear into this thing to replace the plenum. I can do it but i don't like working on cars anymore.

She is my work truck and i need her to bring home the bacon. I hate it when she jerks like that on the HWY in OD. Thats only at lower RPM though.

 

Whassup man,

You might have saw my post, Its goin on right now. I replaced my belly pan this weekend.

I had very similar problems as you are describing.

two things:

1. If you park on a hill, the oil will be all to one side... (obveous I know, but something to consider)

2. Your engine is sucking the oil out of there all the time while its running, so chances are, you won't see all that much. my gasket was somewhat bad, and I saw only a small pool.


so, theres my 2Cents on the matter. It took me 9 hours to replace everything and all that. I could prolly do it in 5 now that I have done it.

Get a 180 degree thermostat if you tear into it. It reduced my tendency to ping greatly.


Good luck,

-lataz

 

if yours has never been replaced, its probably leaking some. the leak creates a lean condition that causes pinging. also causes oil loss.

its all a matter of "how bad is it". mine was leaking a little, but not pinging with stock tune. when i put the hypertech on it, it pinged severely, but, 89-92 octane would silence the ping.

the black stain you see is oil stain from the pcv. its normal.

reset your pcm to turn off the cel and try a tank of high octane gas and see if your ping/cel goes away. if so, i'd say your plenum gasket has had it. you can replace it, or just continue to run higher octane.

lurching/jerking at low rpm in OD is a sort of nomal. mine does it a little. mine's also sluggish at lower rpm due to the bigger tires. i drive with OD off when not running higher speeds.

 

Hey Max.
Yes i have seen your post. Today was the 1st time i have started to try and figure out the problem. I found these forums and all the threads about the plenum failure. This sucks and i wasn't expecting something like this.

There is plenty of information here on how to do it and what to buy so that will help. I can do it i know that, i will just buy everything and find the energy and time to do so.

What was the hardest part of the procedure max? IYHO?

 

Thanx Vaughn!
I really dont know much about a Dodge. This is the 1st one i have ever owned.
How do i reset the PCM?

 

Honestly.... scraping the gasket off... lol

I freaking hate cleaning stuff... that thats so incredibly important to get really clean and pretty before you go any further.

Make Absolutely sure that you tighten the intake manifold down properly. with the right tightening sequences, and tork specs.

thows are the two critical parts.


any one part is not really all that hard. Just keep track of all your bolts and stuff. Put stuff in zip lock bags pertaining to parts, and label all wires

Im sure you can easiley handle it.

 

Thanx Max.
I did a de-carb today, not with Seafoam just intake cleaner. Ive done this before and she does run good after doing this. I carry a ladder rack and a few heavy ladders and she spun the tires while ago after de-carb so that was good. LOL

I will change the plugs and all that stuff tomorro and pick up a gauge to test the plenum gasket. I hope she checks out as far as the plenum, but it will eventually have to be replaced if everyone else has had to do it, i will also.


Thanx guys.

 

haha...

Its always entertaining to watch a work truck do a burnout... =P

 

Well it started running real bad today. Missing and stalling at lights. I had to drive about 75 miles and it started doing this on the way home. So i picked up everything i needed for a tune up. Plugs, wires, cap, button and a can of seafoam for de-carb.
When i got home i put the seafoam in the brake vacuum line, then went to work replacing everything.
#4 PLUG WAS TOAST! No ceramic. They were bosch platinum plugs. I hate bosch plugs. They arent worth a flip! Who ever did last tune up wasted their money.
Replaced those with NGK. The rest of the plugs looked alright. No burning of oil apparent.
Replaced cap, it was toast.
Replaced button, it was toast.
Replaced wires, routing them correctly.

After about an hour i fired it up and she started and bellowed white smoke from the seafoam. Let her run for about 5 minutes then hit the road. Bellowing smoke as i went LOL. The smoke cleared up and she was running strong!
No more herky jerky at low RPM in OD.
No more miss.
No more stall.
No more ping.
Ran good!

Got home. Drained oil, removed oil filter. Replaced with good oil and new filter.

Still need to pick up a vacuum gauge and test plenum, but for right now she runs strong!

I did not reset PCM because speedometer sencor is toast and needs replacing. That showed up as well when i pulled the codes.

I should have tuned her up months ago but i have been lazy.

I hope plenum checks out, i hate working on cars. I used to love it, but years of street racing, replacing blown motors, trannies and everything else i got to where i hate working on automobiles.

 

disconnect negative battery cable and turn ignition switch to start for about 30 seconds. this discards all learned values from memory and resets pcm to default settings. also turns off cel.

also - if you have the digital odometer, you can read your own codes by turning ignition to..... on - off - on - off - on. then watch the odometer for code display.