Hi I'm new to the Dodge Forum just bought a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 and love the truck and had it for about 2 months now and added some nice add-ons.

I was driving and I was going to get on the interstate so I stepped on the gas to speed up quickly to get on and it let out a spit/sputter noise from under the hood. It only has done it once in a while when I speed up quickly. It idles perfectly and when I'm sitting still and rev it up it hasn't skipped at all. There hasn't been any check engine light come on either. I haven't checked anything out yet, but was going to just do a tune-up of plugs and wires and 02 Sensors.

I saw on another forum that mopar plugs don't like water or attract water and cause a problem and that's what I have in my truck. Just wondering if anybody knows anything or has an idea would like to hear and get it fixed as quickly as possible. Thanks.

 

Is it a ticking/pinging sound? If so, it is probably spark knock/cylinder misfire. I don't know anything about mopar plugs, I use the champions like came on the truck from the factory with good success. If it is spark knock, a tune up may be a good idea. I'd recommend replacing the dist cap and rotor button while doing the plugs and wires. Prior to doing anything, I would pour some heet or some other fuel treatment in the tank and see if that helps, you might have gotten a bad tank of gas. If none of this helps, you may have a leaking intake plenum. You can search the forum for "plenum" for more information on the plenum than you'll want to read. How many miles on the truck, and what size engine? Good luck and welcome.

 

There is 108,000 miles on the truck and it is a 5.9L V8. Is that plenum leaking a common thing to happen on a ram?

 

It also sounds more like a knock than anything just a quick knock and it does seem to burn a lot of oil I just put about 2 quarts of oil in last week and only had it for about 2 months. It's mostly only a weekend driver for me sometimes during the week to work. I'll try that bottle of heet today after work.

 

"Common" is an major understatement. If you have that many miles on your truck, if it hasn't been repaired correctly in the past, pretty much a sure thing that it is indeed blown. Best way to check it is to yank the throttle body, and peek around with a flashlight, and mirror. If you see oil accumulating in the corners, time for the intake to come off......

Do the tune up, see what you plugs look like when they come out. If the rear plugs are ash/oil fouled, that is another good indication of blown plenum syndrome.

 

Okay definitely going to try that then as soon as possible. How much does that run "ballpark" to get fixed?

 

If you can do it yourself, parts run about 140 from hughes. (new aluminum plenum plate, gasket, intake gasket set, and bolts, You MUST replace the intake bolts, they are NOT re-usable.) Then oil, filter, and coolant. If you have to pay labor...... you are looking at 3 to 6 hours flat rate, I think, at whatever the shops rate per hour is. (so, anywhere from from 150, to 600 bucks......) You only really need basic hand tools, and the one esoteric tool... a torque wrench that will do inch pounds. (and not many of them at that.....) Biggest problem I ran into was the front two intake bolts broke off in the heads. I had the advantage of a fully equipped shop to play it, so, it was just time consuming to drill holes in 'em, and blow them out with a torch. If you don't have the torch available, it can get a bit more interesting. Soak the two front ones with chemicals for a few days before trying to take 'em out.

 

HeyYou thanks a lot I'm going to probably have to take it in to fix it cuz I just started a new job and work like 15 hours a day so extremely busy. I will get it done and post pics of the new additions on the truck also.

 

I had the same problem on my 01 5.9L so I replaced the cap rotor plugs and plug wires, when i look under the cap the #6 point had corrosion on it. After that never happened again. Just pull the cap and check for corrosion!!!

 

Probably is the plenum gasket if its burning very much oil. However, I always try the cheapest and easiest fix first and go from there. But, yeah, if you burn 2qts oil in 2 months, the plenum gasket is the culprit.