Long story short, i have been on the internet for about an hour and a half now trying to find how to remove the air filter housing to access the air filter in my 1998 dodge ram 1500. I saw on TV that a dirty air filter in part can cause low fuel mileage, and i am getting around 10MPG(keeping my RPM's around 1500 while accelerating). Everything is stock, and i just bought this truck(it is my first vehicle, and i do not know anything about vehicles) and i am having a lot of problems. I would like to learn how to do "simple" things like this myself so i do not have to pay each time for someone else to do it. I have also searched this forum to no avail, please help me. I am so pissed off right now that i do not know what to do.

thank you all

 

teres a gear clamp on the base where it meets the throttle body. takethe long piece that goes to firewall off, then it pulls right out

 

i'll try to explain

its a simple thing to do, but a real pain in the ***

you have to remove the airbox from the throttle body, its held on by a band clamp, unscrew it using a flathead screwdriver, then undo the 3 clips that hold the two halves together and wrestle the bastard out, the put a 14x3 on it, b/c the factory box is nearly impossible to put back on, also check the gasket between the airbox and the throttle body


part of your mileage problem may be a bad plenum (do a search)
and your driving a dodge with the Mangum V8, our gas mileage sucks

 

First of all buy a Haynes manual at your local parts store, and you wouldn't be having this problem. There is a large hose clamp at the bottom of the housing where it meets the throttle body that needs to be loosened. Make sure it is seated correctly when you reinstall.

Second, the air filter is NOT your mpg problem, the lower intake gasket, pre cat o2 sensor and the cat is, do a search for plenum gasket, and you'll read about all the info you need on that.

 

+1 chances are your plenum gasket is blown. when you get the air breather off the throttle body. look down into the throttle body with a flashlight. if you see pools of oil, plenums shot.

i changed my plenum and im getting about 13-14mpg city now. i have a 5.9 4x4 1500 SLT Laramine

 

You watch too much TV.

Get a manual and familiarize yourself with your vehicle. These trucks take some effort to maintain, so either start learning how or start saving up to pay someone to do it for you. Chilton and Haynes have manuals, neither is perfect, so I have both. Very much worth the $20 each they cost.

 

Thank you all for your help, i can see i am going to like this forum much better than others. On other forums if you make a post, you are attacked like you just killed someones mother. I do have one more question though,

" There is a large hose clamp at the bottom of the housing where it meets the throttle body that needs to be loosened. Make sure it is seated correctly when you reinstall."

The clamp has grooves which align to the filter housing and the throttle body, and i have tightened it with a screwdriver till i met resistance. However, when i lift up on the housing to see if it is snug(lifting up the air filter housing from the drivers side), there is about an eigth of an inch of play where the clamp attaches both units. Can anybody verify if that amount of play is normal, or if the housing should be clamped on as stiff as a board?

 

theres one way its supposed to go on (it lines up with parts.) and the screw should be facing the drivers side (tightening screw) and there is a gasket that goes here as well.

 

I see that there is one way that it goes on, and the screw is facing the drivers side, however there is no gasket that goes inbetween the parts of mine. This is probably the problem, i will go outside to see if it happened to fall while i was taking it off or something. Thank you again

 

is less than 2.00 if you need one anyways. when i changed my plenum and took the breather off, i never had one. and i had run it quite a bit since i bought it, but i didnt have a gap.

what i do is put the clamp around the breather first, then fit it around the throttle body, and hold the clamp when i get it n place, then tighten. i dont know how you did it.