The typical symptoms are pinging due to running lean, misfiring, plugged cat, excessive oil consumption, and the presence of oil inside the plenum. Those are the highlights; wade through this thread for everything else you'll ever need to know.

 

Pretty much what John D said. I really first noticed there was a problem with some valve rattle, then one day while checking fluids I noticed my engine oil was slowly disappearing. I found this site by checking into a squeaking from the front end and that's when I discovered the plenum. I didn't take off my throttle body but I looked down the butterflies with a flashlight and it's all black and oily. Also had #8 spark plug misfire.

EDIT: I'm starting to look into changing my intake all together. Been reading through some old post's over the Hughes FI AirGap or the Mopar M1 2bbl. Hughes is expensive but I think it's an entire kit versus the Mopar you have to buy the install kits, which is still cheaper then the Hughes. Guess it's really a matter of opinion on which is better.

 

hmm. I looked on ebay and those plenum plates are not there anymore.

 

Hughes AirGap:
http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/p...p?partid=24773

Mopar M1:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DCC-5007381/?rtype=10

There are several other places to get the M1, but I don't think the price is much different, unless you find a clearance sale or buy a used one.

 

Dang, they don't give those away! The M1's for fuel injected?

 

I would think so.

There is a good discussion/debate over the Hughes and M1 at an old thread I found on DF
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-manifold.html

I'd read through it, might address some of your questions.

 

I purchased my 98 ram 1500 from a wholeseller cash about 5 weeks ago, changed the oil due to loss of oil pressure, thought it was oil pump or oil sending unit. Nope they are all reading correctly as I burned 4 quarts of oil in about 4 weeks. Did the throttle body check and compression test. Looks like the plenum gasket is blown. After all the money I put in this truck, I am going to do the job myself. For 100 bucks in parts I am not going to pay 3x that in labor. I can borrow a torque wrench but after reading the 18 pages of this thread I found some contradiction on the torquing. What is the definitive lbs and sequencing. I will have the pb blaster spray to take care of the bolts coming off but do not want to get triped up placing them on.

Great thread and thanks for any help.

 

You can get the factory service manual from the faq section here. The proper torque values, and sequences will be in there.

 

I have the plenum off of my engine right now and can't find a wrench to fit the coolant sensors. I've tried both metric and SAE. WTF???

 

I just got it off. I have changed flat tires that gave me more problems. I will put it back on tomorow when the gasket gets in. Thanks guys for the help. Dodge forums>>>>>>local mechanic.