I know the plenum issue has been covered ad nauseum, but I haven't read anything regarding what I'm about to ask... So, I've experienced the loss of power and rough idle and blah blah blah. Granted, I haven't actually removed the TB and checked for oil inside (so you can lynch me for that) but, the other day I purchased a Lucas fuel additive, and it seemed to remedy the issues listed above, until I used up that tank of fuel. The question is, could the reason for this be that the additive increased the octane of the fuel to where it could be burned efficiently and counteract the effects of the bad gasket?

 

Most fuel additives increase octane. If it was one off those tiny little bottles of lucas, it won't raise it much, but it might have loosened up some carbon in the cylinder that was causing a hot spot.

Run a can if of seafoam deep creep or better, mopar combustion chamber cleaner into the throttle body as directed and let it sit overnight. Then rev it out in the morning. If it runs even better, you have found a culprit.

That carbon is usually due to the plenum being blown though, so check it and take care of it if necessary

 

NVM I wont be mean.

 

Steel and aluminum expand and contract at different rates and can damage the gasket. Dodge created the "death flash" as a result. Still not seeing how that relates to fuel additives.

 

Well I guess my edit was to late. The reason for the fix was pinging. That can be fixed by going to a hotter or cooler burn, higher octane burns hotter...........

 

Thank you, aim4squirrels for your constructive, non-dickheaded reply.

 

Alright guys. Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the rookie questions. I'll get the hang of it. I'm just hearing of this stuff for the first time after the dealer couldn't figure out the cause of my issues.

 

Look don't go away mad. We are here to help but there are countless threads pertaining to this issue, why it happens, and how to fix it. There people that come in here and ask questions about stuff that is still on the front page, I have done it, pretty much everyone here at one point has done it.

Aim is nice most of the time, I like being a dick.


Octane boosters are snake oil, you pay a crap load of money for a product that does very little.

Also, TB spacers are a joke, and dealers will rip you off every chance they get.

 

I gotcha, man. I'm not going to cry over a little ribbing. I'd probably get annoyed by the same question being repeated over and over again. To tell you the truth I had never even heard of a plenum before, som I'm just trying to connect dots here. Just learning as I go.

 

All good, I learned what I know by doing and reading. I have spent countless hours reading about my vehicles. I can honestly say I have paid some one to do something to my truck or jeep unless there was no way I could do it myself. The only thing I have paid for is alignments and a coolant flush.