Just bought my Ram a week ago and one of the things the previous owner complained about was it using an excessive amount of oil, now I imediately thought 95% when I bought the truck that it would be the plenum gasket and I confirmed that with the pcv valve & breather test as well as seeing oil residue in the intake. I've yet to take the plenum off yet because of financial reasons but I was just wondering if any of you who have had a plenum blow out have had intermittent puffs of blue smoke out of the exhaust with it? I don't think my valve seals are the issue as cold starts don't puff the classic blown valve seal blue and its just random blue smoke at idle after running a little bit and you can smell the oil burn off, I also have a misfire with this as well so I'm assuming its all fault of the blown plenum gasket.

I am going to be changing the plenum this week but with license & registration & title fees as well as insurrance alone I'm looking at $186 just to drive it lol so I'm hoping my valve seals are ok and its just the plenum leak itself causing the random blue smoke. I changed the pcv valve and oil consumption is only a 1/4 inch off the stick after 110 miles of driving,couple stop light races & 200 combined feet of brake stands & donuts that I've done since buying the truck last week.


heres an example of the blue smoke I get, its faint in this video and I didn't specifically make this video for the blue smoke problem, it was a general rev up of the engine & exhaust sound video lol.

Anyway just was wondering if anyone had any blue smoke symptoms with their plenum blow out.

 

You're on the right track. The valve seals are probably worn enough to warrant replacement but it doesn't sound to me like they are an issue.

You're correct to focus on the plenum gasket. As the oil pools on top of the pan it slowly makes it's way to the runners and probably gets sucked in a few drops as a time. You're also correct that it's likely fouling at least one plug which can cause some bigger issue with the CAT and O2 sensors.

When you change the plenum gasket I recommend new plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. They're all cheap and easy to replace and this is the best time to do it.

 

plenum, to use that much oil.
+1 on cap, rotor, maybe wires, while intake is off. good quality parts are good enough. no need to go overboard on high dollar wires. if money is an issue you can skip them. they're not terrible to change later, not as hard as the damn cap.

 

Thanks guys,

I was hoping everyone would agree & say it sounds like the plenum, because I really didn't feel like doing a valve seal job right away. I'm pretty quick at taking these intakes off now so I'm hoping thats all I gotta do.

I'm going to do the plenum gasket change with copper permatex & shorter bolts (can't see $50 for plenum plate I'd rather change it again next year if it fails again).

I'm also going to go with a new cap & rotor and a reasonably priced 8mm plug wire set and Autolite plugs.

Thanks again though guys, I'm really excited to get in there and fix the plenum & misfire.

 

the stock 7mm wires are good enough. 8mm's are not going to make your truck go any faster.

 

And if you can afford another $50 to $60, I would recommend chanign to a double roller timing set. You are nearly there when you pull the intake.


Keep in mind that the oil goint through the cat will cause premature cat failure, so I would not delay fixing the plenum and replacing the PCV.

 

Speed or performance wasn't really my concern with going with the 8mm's, it was for more insulation, I was hoping to reduce or eliminate the effects the TSB says about cylinder crossfire & misfire with wires being close to eachother, as its kind of unavoidable at the distributor cap.

Is that really all the issue people claim it to be? The previous owner had the coil wire & whole passengers side wires zip tied together lol. I laughed when I seen that to be honest.


Going to start on fixing it tonight actually After I pick the parts & gaskets up.

 

my original stock plug wires were each wrapped in 3/8 inch black plastic split loom. i don't know if this was a factory setup, or something previous owner did. it looked nice.

i replaced the plug wires at about 125K with a lifetime warranty set from either autozone or napa, don't recall which. they were 7mm. i ran them in the most direct route, without consideration of the TSB. i did put the looms back over them so they didn't touch anything. my passenger side plug wires and coil wire lay in the same pile, each in its own loom.

i've not had any problems with misfire.

 

Just went and got all the parts, figured I'd make a list of what I got so people can cross refference how much a general plenum repair & tune up costs & where to get the cheaper prices ;-)

I settled on the following parts for my Plenum gasket repair endeavor....

#1. $19.99 Felpro Intake & Plenum gasket set (I'm going to copper permatex the plenum plate so it can expand with the steel plate) From O'reilly Auto Parts.

#2. $12.99 New BWD Select Distributor Cap From O'reilly Auto Parts.

#3. $5.99 BWD Distributor Rotor From O'reilly Auto Parts.

#4. $22.50 Napa 7mm Plug Wires

#5. $12.80 on 8 Autolite 3923 Copper Core Spark Plugs (Wal Mart)

#6. $4.99 180 Degree Thermostat with Gasket from Advanced Auto Parts

Thats about all I think I need at the moment, only things I may still need are the metal bypass tube incase that breaks or the short intake bypass hose, both of these broke on my sisters truck last year when I took the intake off when I replaced the lifters on that, hopefully my truck will be more kind to me and my wallet.

 

Just get the bypass hose anyway. There is no better time to replace it, and if you don't do it now, you can bet you will be doing it in about two weeks.