Cool, I'm just curious to know if it might have been leaking between the gasket and steel plate, and it just wasn't falling apart yet.

 

Honestly, thats EXACTLY what it looked like to me. There was a LOT of oil in the intake and I didn't see that much coming thru the PCV valve, but there was no inward bulging of the gasket. There were several spots that looked like the oil may have leaked between the gasket and the plate. Will post pics in a day or two.

 

Hey Zman finally got a chance to get some pics of the gasket. It didn't come off the plate in one piece though. Here is the pic
The only places that were really stuck were right at the edge of the bolt holes. The gasket between the bolt holes was loose enough for me to take the blade of a knife and slide it between the gasket and the plate.

 

Thanks for posting the pic. I'm thinking it was leaking.

 

First time poster here (been reading for a while now)...

I'm about to do the plenum repair (just ordered the HughesEngine Plenum Repair kit today). Basically just making sure I'm on the right track here and a few other questions too.

Oil in intake but also in the PCV valve hose.
Losing about 1 quart every 1,000 miles.
Pulling vacuum from the crankcase (intake gasket leak, no doubt).
Used to ping under hard acceleration, high rpms (stopped once I started using 89 octane).

So far so good, right?

Next question(s): I unscrewed my pre-cat O2 sensor to see what it looked like. It was whitish (have pics if needed). Drove around 10 miles with it unscrewed and no CEL came on. Could this be a sign my O2 sensor isn't really doing anything? Or does there have to be x amount of key cycles/time before it sets?

Will post with more info if needed.

Thanks,

D.K.

 

I'm not sure of the number but I believe there has to be a certain number of cycles before it will set a CEL.
As for the oil it could be a combo of plenum and pcv valve. You are better off using a dealer pcv valve; some of the aftermarket ones let a lot of oil thru.

 

That's what I figured. As for the PCV valves, I have read/heard that from many different places. Gonna wait on that until after I've fixed the plenum/intake issues. Just did the VC gaskets and I couldn't really see any build-up inside the PCV valve itself, only in the port that it connects to.


After reading a little more, it seems the 'white' O2 sensor is carbon fouled. More than likely, I'll just replace it. Pretty sure that it is stock.

 

My nephews 97 Ram 5.2L has started to lose power, run a little rough and consume a quart of oil every 500 miles. He took it to the local Dodge dealer and they diagnosed a bad O2 sensor. Can they be any more dense? So I told him to tell the dealer to F off and bring the truck out here on Saturday morning. It'll be my first plenum, but I'm actually happy because I'm going to have to eventually do it to mine. Plenum, gasket kit, O2 sensor and PCV valve. I'm not missing anything am I?

 

Coolant by-pass hose. Runs about $4-5 at your local auto store.

Assuming 'gasket kit' means intake gaskets? Pick up some black silicone for the corners and sealing the bypass hose.

 

Coolent bypass hose and if I were to do it again I would do the timing chain