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2nd Gen Ram Tech1994-2001 Rams: This section is for TECHNICAL discussions only, that involve the 1994 through 2001 Rams. For any non-tech discussions, please direct your attention to the "General discussion/NON-tech" sub sections.
Unplug the front O2 sensor, go for a drive, any better? (plenum being blown will suck oil in, which then burns, and does horrible things to O2 sensors......)
Replace the cam position sensor. (parts store will call it 'pick up coil'....) It sits under the distributor cap. It controls injector timing, has nothing at all to do with ignition timing. Clear codes, go for a drive...... See what happens.
You do need to fix the plenum..... given the mileage, you should do the timing set at the same time. Go with a decent double roller timing set. You will be pleased at the results.
After that, see how it runs.....
Another question I would have would be: What gears in your axles?
38" tires on the stock half-ton axles is asking for trouble. Was yours an Off-Road Edition by any chance?
Hey everyone. New to the forum. Hoping to gain some more knowledge about these trucks to save some money and learn some more about the engines. Here is a little info about my truck:
01 Ram 1500 5.9L v8 360.
150,000 miles.
3 inch body lift
6 inch fabtech suspension lift
38" Toyo M/T tires on 19 inch rims.
I bought the truck for cheap knowing that it had a few "minor" problems. The steering pump was just replaced and the previous owner informed me that the steering gear box will need to be replaced soon as well as new shocks. No big deal IMO. I looked under the truck and noticed the exhaust had been "customized." The previous owner removed the cats, put spark plug spacers on the 2nd downstream o2 sensor to try and trick the engine. Muffler was added and then no tailpipe after the muffler outlet. Check engine light was throwing o2 sensor codes. Bought the truck and then drove it 1 hour home (approx 45 miles). truck drove fine on the highway and everything other than a little bumpy from the shocks. All is good.
The next day I decide to change all fluids, filters, and vacuum lines. I add a tailpipe in order to stop the muffler noise from resonating in the truck cab. add a three foot tailpipe with almost a 90 degree bend at the end so exhaust exits out the side. Put some seafoam in the fuel tank and then the rest in the vacuum line until the engine stalled. waited 30 min and then started the truck up, ran the sh*t out of it until white smoke stopped coming out. all was good.
Now all of a sudden after driving for about ten minutes, the truck starts to lose power and bog down. I try to rev the engine and get it back going but most of the time it bogs down and stalls out. I have been reading that the plenum gasket goes on these trucks so I checked for symptoms.
Opened up the throttle body and it was gunked up so I took it off to clean. IAC was new so I just cleaned the little bit of grime off it and then cleaned the throttle body. Looked inside the manifold and noticed that oil was puddled in the back of the intake (from what I have read on here that means that I need to replace the plenum gasket and possibly the plate). Fine with me so I ordered the parts. Put a new gasket on the throttle body and put everything back on.
Today I go out and the truck is throwing a P0340 code. My scanner tells me this is a camshaft position sensor circuit malfunction.
Before I spend thousands of dollars, I want to get some opinions on exactly what I should do. I have been reading and some scenarios sound similar to mine but not spot on. I would like to know what exactly to replace (exhaust, o2 sensors, headers, plenum, camshaft position sensor, distributor, plugs, wires, etc.).
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
UPDATE:
took the 90 degree angle pipe off the end of the tailpipe tonight. took the truck for a drive and it seemed to run fine. accelerated and idled perfectly. There is no loos of power anymore. Could anyone explain this situation? I have read about engine back pressure but I can't imagine something this small could be causing the problem.
I am still planning on replacing the plenum gasket when the parts come in. Anything else I should check/change while Im in there (distributor, plugs, wires) in order to make life easier? If I'm going to have the intake off, I would prefer to change any distributor parts now while the access is easy.
Thanks for the advice, HeyYou. I will take the front o2 sensor off now and take it for a drive. I am planning on replacing the plenum gasket after looking in the intake and seeing all the oil. I cannot possibly let it go untouched after seeing it. I have ordered the parts and will replace all gaskets when they come in.
As far as the gears go, I have no idea. I will ask the previous owner and see if he knows. I know the transmission was rebuilt last year and the mechanic put in a new "shift kit." not sure what this will do. What gears would you recommend running in this truck?
I am new to the whole lifted truck life. I bought this truck as a toy/business vehicle for my paddle boarding business so it is not and will not be a daily driver. all I know is the whole front end is brand new (bushings, rods, etc). The shocks are in need of replacing. The steering gear box also should probably be replaced in the next few months. other than that, it seems to drive nicely even up to speeds of 75 mph (other than the power issues I have been experiencing).
Unplug the front O2 sensor, go for a drive, any better? (plenum being blown will suck oil in, which then burns, and does horrible things to O2 sensors......)
Replace the cam position sensor. (parts store will call it 'pick up coil'....) It sits under the distributor cap. It controls injector timing, has nothing at all to do with ignition timing. Clear codes, go for a drive...... See what happens.
You do need to fix the plenum..... given the mileage, you should do the timing set at the same time. Go with a decent double roller timing set. You will be pleased at the results.
After that, see how it runs.....
Another question I would have would be: What gears in your axles?
38" tires on the stock half-ton axles is asking for trouble. Was yours an Off-Road Edition by any chance?
HeyYou,
Unplugged the front downstream o2 sensor (before the cat) and took the truck for a drive. I ran it for about 30 min and there seems to be no problem whatsoever. The truck is accelerating nicely and is idling fine.
What are my short term/ long term solutions? (how long can the truck run like this?/ what can I do to fix the problem indefinitely?).
I only need the truck once in a while right now for short hauls. Other than that it will be sitting in my complex garage until my business season starts back up again (Middle/end March). Will the truck be ok to drive like this for a little while? At least till I get the plenum gasket in and have time to replace/ fix any other problems?
I am in law school and own a business on the side. I enjoy working on vehicles and learning more about the many engine components. I would like to be able to fix these problems on my own so that I do not have to pay the costly mechanic fees.
Just leave the sensor unplugged until you get the plenum fixed, then, install a new one. (NTK or Denso brand please, the Bosch fellers don't seem to work too good in our trucks) Your gas mileage will suffer a bit, and the CEL will be on, but, aside from that, no real drawbacks.
When you replace your steering box, don't bother with the parts-store reman units. Go for a Redhead, or Borgeson box. (and shaft as well, with the borgeson box) Some of the reman units are worse than your stock box.....
As for gears, I would hope you have at least 4.88's in there..... I think that is the best you can do.... (I haven't seen 5.13's for the half-ton axles......) I would be tempted to lose the body lift, and move to 35" tires. (this is taking a wild stab in the dark, and guessing you actually have 4.56 gears......) That would remove a fair bit of stress off the driveline. Our transmissions were notoriously weak to begin with. That depends on what all was done in the rebuild on yours though... They CAN be beefed up rather nicely.
Hope to help someone with this info. I've done mine after alot of reading but I guess it was still good.
My 5.2 99 dakota with 59,000 miles on it was using some oil and after I looked inside the plenum through the TB valve and saw some oil in there I was almost sure it was leaking.
I did replace the PCV valve prior to that and also did the crankcase pressure test, which showed the plenum gasket leak would be very small if any, but once I was using about 1/4 every 1,500 miles...
Decided to take it apart and not use the thick aluminum plate, just keep the OEM steel pan. There is a great series of videos on youtube posted by Matt Payne, very good info, he had to re-do all his Hughes kit work after a few days because the plenum pan bolts got loose, always use thread lock.
Thing is I think it was not leaking and the oil in there was coming from the PCV, even the new PCV valve allows a substantial amount of motor oil to pass.
The original gasket was stuck to the steel pan and not to the aluminum plenum, but in 1 piece, not warped and there was alot of oil on the plenum pan but I am almost sure all came from the PCV valve.
I had some hard work to take the gasket off the steel pan, it came out in pieces.
I didn't have to touch the radiator, just the AC compressor.
The inside of the plenum was really dirty
The intake gasket cleaning was the worst part I think
I washed the plenum and pan with gas and a paintbrush at 1st, then steelwool, steelbrush and after I give up let it overnight in a drum with tide like soap and water...
It was not perfect but good enough for me at that point
In my case I could verify that the OEM plenum bolts were not too long so that was not the issue, the original plenum bolts did bottom without the pan plate
I know what people say but I used the Dorman kit. The bolts that came with the kit have some thread lock on it but I put a small amount of black Permatex on both sides of the gasket the gasket and bolts (have to be quick)
The Dorman kit also has the new intake bolts, I did not use the thermostat, rather keep the OEM but the kit comes with all gaskets and O rings
I did torque the plenum pan bolts with black permatex and re-checked them twice. The plenum gasket provided in the kit has a metal sheet in the middle and doesn't look as good as felpro but with the permatex I am pretty sure I am ok.
The work is not difficult at all just time consuming, took me 14 hrs total but I take my time.
I think the aluminum plate fix may be better but a number of engines did come with longer bolts that were the issue because they did not allow proper torque to be applied to the gasket, not in my case.
I think if not turbocharged, mine will be ok for another 60,000 miles. I put only about 8,000 mi so far because she is not a daily drive anymore.
Yes the oil consumption is the same as before, I did install an oil catch can that collects some good amount of oil but I think I have one or more valve stem seals leaking too (smoke when start).
Did a compression test and cylinder 7 intake valve leaks a bit showing 120 PSI all other cylinders show 150 psi, guess it is not like new but rings are still good for me, wet compression test shows increase of 25 PSI on all cylinders.
If you plan on doing this plenum fix because of oil use and you are not sure, I suggest to do the crankcase pressure test and cylinder compression test before.
As far as the PCV valve you'd be amazed to see how much oil it can suck, after the oil catch can, cfm being sucked by the intake reduced alot too.
At that mileage and compression the oil use concerns me. If I were you I would swap out my valve stem seals. My engine had a lot more miles and new stem seals solved the oil loss.
Where are you getting your PCV valve from? The aftermarket fellers don't always have the correct flow rate. One member is installed a catch can, and is going to run a test, comparing the amount of accumulated oil in the catch can running both stock, and aftermarket valves. Will be interesting to see the results.
Where are you getting your PCV valve from? The aftermarket fellers don't always have the correct flow rate. One member is installed a catch can, and is going to run a test, comparing the amount of accumulated oil in the catch can running both stock, and aftermarket valves. Will be interesting to see the results.
Yes I did check the flow rate through the old PCV valve and the new one I got on ebay and the seller says it is OEM (shows a star on it and looks just like the one that came in the truck). I have to look at the results but I know the new PCV valve had about 75% flow at iddle when compared with the old one but that was not enough to stop sucking oil from the valve cover.
I noticed that if you turn the pcv valve 90 degrees the flow rate changes too. I put together my oil catch can based on some I saw online using a diesel oil filter housing that I modified and I think it is very efficient and will not restrict flow.
I also noticed that despite the fact my catch can allows good flow when I plug it the flow rate drops quite a bit. If there is no oil on the hose on the other side valve cover the flow should be enough. I have even measured the blowby this truck does to compare with the PCV flow, if you are interested I could post that some other place. I really think I have one or more bad valve stem seals at this point.
02-13-2016, 06:05 PM
