hello everone,
i have a 99 1500 dodge ram 4x4 extra cab short bed 360 truck, it might just be me but i think the truck should have more power and better gas milage. it down shifts on about any hill on the interstate, and i am only getting 10 to 11 miles to the gallon. i have search all over the forum and came up with a few of things that might be some of the cause.

1. vac leak becouse of the plate mounted on the bottom of the intake.
2. the computer has been reflashed in 01 by the dealer.
3. its a dodge lol

i gutted the cat the other day thinking it was the prob but it only helped a litte.still low on power

any other ideas would be great

 

When is the last time it had a tune up? Air filter? Fuel filter?

Pull off the air cleaner, and look down your throttle body, see a lot of oil in the bottom of the intake? Time to yank it, and reseal that..... the stock steel plate was a poor design to begin with. Check the Hughes, or APS plates.

 

i just got the truck 2 weeks ago(might need a tune up), i checked the air filter it was good, i have already looked down inside the intake it looks alittle dirty and oilly not bad though (prob is leaking).

another question: i gutted the cat 4 days ago and it has not yet tured the check engine light on yet. i did it to a chevy truck a few years back and it came on less than 2 mins, any ideas ????

 

Some trucks will throw a CEL and others won't, mine didn't throw one for about 6 months after i gutted it. How are your sparkplugs and distributer cap/rotor?

 

10-11 mpg's is average....you bought a truck, dont forget that.....

also do the plenum....this will help ALOT....use the search feature and you'll find hundreds of threads on the plenum, and power loss.

 

you have the answer

1. vac leak becouse of the plate mounted on the bottom of the intake.
2. the computer has been reflashed in 01 by the dealer.
3. its a dodge lol

so fix the Plenum..tune up. get superchips or sct tune.... and still bad problemly need a new o2

 

i plan on doing the intake asap. i dont see how 10 to 11 miles to the gallon is right my nabor has a 05 gmc 2500 4x4 xtra cab with the 8.1 that get about the same milage. and as far as my truck power goes my 96 chevy 4x4 xtra cab 1500 with a 305 had more getup and go with way better gas milage. i have not compared the weight of the two truck yet

 

10-11 is low, in city i used to get 14 and hwy 16-17 and we have just about the same truck. my plenum is shot now so thats my next step as well. because i am in the same boat as you.

 

16 to 17 highway sound more realistic to me, i can deal with that.

 

i just called my local parts store they cant get the gasket for the plate on the intake. anybody know where to get them.