Hello all! So i've got 98 ram1500 with a 5.9. Lately it has been burning some oil (like a quart every 1000 miles). I was wondering if this could possibly be a plenum leak? I've read a little bit about this but not too many details. Also i was wondering what you guys thought was the best performance chip for the 2nd gen. I want a chip that allows me to correct my speedo, bc i just got bigger tires. I have aftermarket exhaust and i have a cold air intake on the way. I'm just looking for a few ways to wake up my dodge. I have also read stuff about fastman throttle bodys and also a kegger mod? could i get some info on some of those things or maybe what you guys think. I'm up for any suggestions. Thanks for the help guys.

 

Lower intake gasket(plenum), cat, plugs and precat o2 are all most likely shot! SuperChips and Hypertech tuners are capable of changing tire sizes.

 

The only way to know where the oil is going is to do the tests. There's a plenum gasket test procedure in the TSB that is easily enough performed. A stuck PCV valve will eat that much oil, too, so just replace the thing without a second thought. If neither of those does the trick, you may have leaky valve guides, worn rings, etc. that can be isolated with more testing.

BUT if it's an early '98 the Superchips can't correct for tire size because it can't talk to the ABS. I went with the Flashpaq because it can correct for tire size and found out the hard way that on my truck built in September of '97 it can't.

Oh, and a word of caution: Fix the oil consumption problem before flashing the PCM for performance. The potential for catastrophic failure is too great if you throw an aggressive tune at an oil burner.

 

do the plenum fix....after that, do cat/02 sensors, and when you want a chip, get a SCT tuned by Hemifever.

 

If you still have the SC, try getting online and updating it.

 

It's fully updated, but from what I understand it's a pointless exercise because the tunes for these machines haven't changed in quite a long time are aren't likely to change again. I tapped on Superchips via their forum and their tech support guy gave me the scoop and recommended a speedo gear change for the fix.

 

So i went out and took a look at the PVC valve. I struggled to get the PVC valve out of the valve covers. I'm going to buy a new PVC valve and hopefully get it replaced this next week. Hopefully this takes care of the oil burning i've been experiencing. Also I've been looking at the Hypertech chip. Looks like it has all i want. Anybody have troubles with hypertech? Also someone said something about replacing the cat and O2 sensors. Is there a way to test these and see if they need to be replaced?

 

tap the cat with a hammer and listen for a rattle... you'll need a volt meter to test the O2 sensor

 

If your oxygen sensor has more than 80,000 miles on it now, you might just as well replace it and forget about it for another 80k-100k miles. While you can more or less kinda sorta but not really test the thing with a voltmeter, there are failure modes that you cannot detect with one. To get the whole story you need an oscilloscope, preferably a digital storage 'scope, and some way to drive the exhaust stream very rich (like injecting propane gas into the inlet air).

If you're looking to get some more grunt out of the engine, chucking the old cat in favor of a higher flowing unit is a very good idea. Rumor has it that in some instances it's the second biggest bang for the buck you're going to get, behind only the PCM tuner. It seems a plausible enough rumor and I found that I got some additional giddy-up when I replaced my entire exhaust behind the manifolds with a high flow direct-fit cat and a better system behind it. Both went on at once so I can't attribute the additional pep more to one than the other.

The plenum mods are on the forum here somewhere -- try the search feature.

 

I agree that you should probably just change it but if have a scan tool that reads live data such as the Innova 3140. It lets you monitor the sensor as it switches from a lean to rich setting in milli volts...