Alright first post, my names brandon I'm 19 I traded my 1997 subaru impreza wagon that had buku amounts of problems for a 1996 ram 1500 extended cab 2 door 4wd with the 360 magnum and 46re transmission the previous owner has sawed the exhaust off probably about where the front of the muffler was so it's way loud

So the first day I had it I took it to the store, seemed good till about 2000 rpm in here and it sounded like it was choking unless I pushed the pedal a little harder, didn't think much of it a few days later when I went out to start the truck to move it the battery was dead so I jumped it off started it up and as soon as it was on it fell on it's face and stalled, started it back up, same thing, did that again but this time I have it some has to keep it alive, as soon as I let off the gas it died
Pulled the battery completely told the truck to kiss my butt kicked the tire put the battery on the charger
While the battery was charging I started looking around, pulled the air filter cover off and seen that the throttle plates were covered in gunk so I figured the idle air control was too, pulled the throttle body, pulled all the electronics from the throttle body and cleaned her up real good, put a new gasket under it and tightened it up everything back installed, put the battery back in it so I could move it, it started up fine, no falling on it's face moved it where I wanted it and let it idle for a while to warm up all the way turned it off and left it for a few more days.
Went back out to start it and it was dead, took the battery to go get checked and it came back dead dead, so I pulled the battery from my moms explorer (that I bought she hasn't payed me back and she's not driving the thing so my battery now)
Put the battery in it, started it up so I could move it again, started fine started gathering heat toms started dropping, hit about the 500 rpm Mark and started to idle rough, hit about 400 rpms then all I hear is this huge sucking sound, rpms come back up, sound goes away, rpm drops, sound comes back, rpm comes back up, after a few minutes the rpms seemed to hold steady a hair below 500 rpm which results in a sick cammed sound (not sure pretty sure It's not cammed)
Never once has the truck smoked or anything other than condensation out the exhaust till today

So today, it's 65 degrees (truck has a thermometer sweeeeet) started up the truck moved it forward and backed it back into a better spot because a friend was coming over, the crack heads behind me thought since I started my truck they were gonna start their mustang which is a v6 and sounds like crap tbh
They revved there's I revved mine, I had a whistle kind of sound when I blipped the throttle they turned their car off cause they knew that they had been best by a big old mopar and I hopped out to see a huge cloud of blueish smoke, oh crap

Truck dosent smoke on start up, truck didn't smoke after I had revved it, oil pressure is still at the 40 mark
This is the first time I've smelled smoke and it really didn't smell Just like oil it was like a oil and gas smell which looked kinda scary coming up from under the bed and in between the bed and cab

Truck has 237k on it, not sure if the original engine or not, was owned by a mechanic before me. What did I mess up
Everywhere I look there's plenum this and plenum that, when I cleaned the throttle plate I looked down and didn't see any pools of oil, just seen a little crap that I figured was carbon build up


Also I have some more weird bugs, like I don't have any interior lights, my 4wd light never goes out, my low washer fluid light comes on all the time even though it's full, I have two wires tapped in on the power block (fuse block under the hood) both have fuses on them and go through the firewall to the dash and I haven't pulled it all apart to find out where they go, my brake light on the cab don't work and looks like it has water in it. All fun stuff I'm gonna fix but right now my main concern is the smoke. So any help will help. Thank you

 

you need to READ EVERYTHING on the site here.. sounds like you have a multitude of the usual 2nd gen ram issues to sort out.. you fixed the first one which was a bad battery and when bad they cause a lot of problems on their own..


you probably need plenum gasket fixed and a complete tune up

 

Read the plenum sticky at the top of this forum. Lots of good information there.

Probably have bad valve seals too.

Interior lights is probably the IOD fuse. (it has a little cover on it in the fuse block on the side of the dash.)

 

Start reading the FAQ's. Lots of info you need to learn.

 

Agreed! Be sure to do the timing chain when you're in there too!

I once bought a vehicle off of a mechanic, the vehicle had so many bad issues that the mechanic didn't want to deal with it and he didn't take good care of the vehicle either. Just cause it's from a mechanic, doesn't mean it's in good shape.

 

A mechanic gets paid to work on OTHER PEOPLES vehicles, he has to pay to work on his.... Doesn't necessarily imply that he does.

 

Most All the mechanics I personally know daily drive vehicles that are literally about to fall about.

However, they often have a wicked 69 charger or a fastback under a car cover at their house.

 

I'm hoping it's not valve seals, I think I'm gonna skip repairing the stock intake manifold and go to the air gap, while I'm in there I'll do the double chain maybe even a cam, this trucks is quirky. But it was the first time seing smoke So I kinda flipped out

 

Do a compression test first and see where you are at. If you've got that much mileage on an original motor, I wouldn't cam it without rebuilding it as well. You'll have lost so much compression that camming it would not be a good idea. Hughe's Engines, for example, recommends 165 PSI Minimum to install one of their cams, and I'd be surprised if your truck has that with that mileage (if original motor).

If you do a compression test, you'll probably find that the cylinder heads are cracked as well (common on these motors in cylinders 7 and 8). If doing serious work on the motor, look into a set of good cast heads too.

 

I may buy another engine from the yard or eBay that runs but with less miles, get the intake done to this one and get it running good and then build the spare up. If I. I got a lot of plans for a kid thays broke