I say rookie mostly because I just bought a 96 Dodge 4x4 with 5.9 gas. i was told ( and i believed him lol) that the problem on low compression was a leaking head gasket and now i'm not too sure, me thinks that the snow came a little too early this year and I got the snow job. The question is what is the problem with a compression reading Dry Then Wet
(1-125-135) (3-115-145) (5-105-145) (7-100-130)
(2-105-125) (4-105-125) (6-125-150) (8-125-135)
All the spark plugs were nice and dry and clean with no carbon except # 8 which was all covered in oil. What should the ideal compression reading be.
Can anyone advise me on what to do next as i am now stuck with this problem.

 

Welcome to the site. I will move this thread to the second generation Ram section,
FF

 

check the plenum gasket. they are known to go bad on these trucks.

take off the air cleaner and look down in the TB. if you see oil, the plenum is gone.

 

So how many miles on the truck? The compression readings are not terrible. I dont know the actual compression number.

 

but if u got oil prob on that one cylinder (#8) maybe bad rings on that one?.....but on second thought the compression isnt bad maybe that one is not firing? have u tried plugs? wires? cap? rotor?

 

My #1 plug was fouled up really bad and I couldn't figure out why. Took the valve cover off and found a pushrod through a rocker arm. Easy fix, and cheap. If its the plenum ( which I also changed) Its a little more expensive and very time consuming.

 

welcome to df and congrats on the truck.
125-135 is good, 100-105 is a tad low, but not terrible...

99% of the 5.2/5.9 engines have a leaking belly pan gasket on the intake, commonly called the plenum. if yours has never been repaired, its the likely cause of your oil consumption. it can also cause pinging/spark knock, clogged cat, and lack of power. its probably been leaking for years, so unless its pinging, there's no rush. if it is pinging, run higher octane gas to get rid of the ping. hang around the site for awhile and read the old posts. lots of good info.

 

We also prefer you use more descriptive titles. Welcome to DF.

 

youre readings look alright, number 7 seems a bit low, but nothing to bad, ive seen them with 30psi of compression in cylenders before. then just ended up replaced the motor. but check what everyone stated above, and itll get fixed, is it running rough or anythign?

might want to do a seafoam treatment, and clean the throttlebody.