My secondary truck is a 99 dodge ram 2x4 with a 318. It was my first truck and i recently purchased it back and have been repairing his screw ups sense. I took it to dealer and had the distributor sinc done and it runs a hell of alot better but then started idling hopping bad and spark knocks if u get on it and was hard to start. So i changed the timing chain and gears ( Had alot of slop) and started it back up. Same thing. Also have tried iac valve and unhooked battery to reset each time i tried something. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Have you checked the plenum yet? It's possible it's bad and the cat is clogged.

 

Not every problem is due to the MFing plenum ffs. Jeezus.

Have you checked for spark on all 8 lately? Fuel? Sounds like guy who did your dizzy phukt something up if it ran like crap shortly after. Take a timing light to it and check that it's not completely out of whack. Check the essentials then ask for help.

 

No...But it takes 3 minutes to check it, and it's the source of many problems including symptoms such as the OP's spark knock and idle problems.

 

Lmao bud you only have 66 posts get used to it.

 

How do you check it? and don't say look for oil in the intake. Cause two words pcv system.

 

Unbolt the TB and look for a pool of oil. I've been under the impression that the PCV system would not cause a big 'ol pool down in the keg.

 

At last, someone that has half a clue and doesn't just regurgitate the same BS over and over again. I've been lurking here long enough to know that the plenum gasket is the end-all-be-all of every issue known to man on these trucks.

 

Mainly because it is pretty much a universal problem on the 2nd gens, and it does contribute to quite a few of the problems we see here. Maybe not directly, but, from the end results of the truck being driven with a blown plenum for quite some time. (clogged cats, bad O2 sensor, cracked heads, all sorts of evil stuff.) It is the first thing that is generally asked, simply because it IS so common, and can cause a great many issues.

 

Op sorry off topic here, I apologize for that.

Ok the youngest motor for these trucks is now 11 years old, so the pcv system has been putting oil in the intake for that long. Next as this is a open plenum intake there are air vortexes inside the intake that will pick up that oil and deposit it in the same spot all the time, hence the oil pooling areas. There is only one way to tell if the plenum gasket is leaking and that's to remove the intake and inspect it. HeyYou is right the leaking gasket will play havoc to certain parts of the motor. To me it's a 50/50 call if the gasket is leaking.