NEED HELP. 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 off road 4x4 360 5.9. 110,000 miles. 35" tires. I've been to 15 shops, 5 dealerships, 2 guys that build race cars. (all the fees could have paid for half of a new engine) About 20,000 miles ago I started hearing something at 5,000rpm. Now at 3,000rpm I can hear it. It sound like the valves need to be ajusted. Or like it is misfiring or preigniting. Some say knocking some say pinging. I gave it a full tune-up and it masked the problem for 10,000 miles. I've use almost every top and bottom end engine cleaner. Even cleaners illegal in California. I'm not burning oil. The spark plug @ 90,000 miles looked normal. I think my power is normal for having 35" tires. Any ideas would be great. Or if you know a GREAT Mechanic I will drive to him. He's got to be very good. I've already been to many places. More intrested in ideas.

Thanks,
WD-40

 

If you have been to that many shops I assume they have done the usual things.

The bad news is that Magnum heads have a bad habit of developing cracks across the ridge from intake valve seat to exhaust valve seat. The crack can be shallow and not yet go into the coolant passages. The edge of the crack acts like a 'hot spot' and can cause the pre-ignition you are hearing. Cylinders 7 and 8 are particularly bad for cracking.

Several years ago I wrote this:

http://dodgeram.org/tech/gas/Trouble/ping.htm

and it might still be worth a read but I now am firmly in the camp that
most pinging in 5.2/5.9 Magnum V8s is caused either by cracks or
by simple carbon deposits.

I don't know if you have tried Yamaha's Ring Free,
or Napa Echilin's two bottle fuel injector cleaner kit called 'Kleen'
but they are both 'the best of breed' and most engines
that don't have cracked head usually stop pinging after
two bottles of Kleen ($12) over two tanks of gasoline,
and then two bottles of Ring Free ($18) over two tanks of gasoline.

I hesitate to do this,
but I will post another way to remove
carbon deposits using the water from your Air Conditioner
since you write that you have tried so much already.
Think awhile before trying it at your own risk,
maybe wait until spring...
---
Caution:Potentially Dangerous Info follows !

You can buy a half inch internal diameter plastic or rubber hose about a foot
long and connect it to your AC drain nipple on the passenger side of the truck
underneath the AC filter/dryer. On a Magnum V8/V6 you can insert the PCV
valve into other end of this 1/2 inch hose and inject the AC drain water into
the intake manifold. It takes driving about 600 to 1000 miles to work, but
this water injection cleaned the carbon out of my engine so that it did not
ping at all on 87 octane. You need to put a second PCV valve in the normal
spot and run a
new hose to an unused intake manifold nipple. On my 5.9V8 I used a Purolator
PV1007 with the 3/8 outlet capped and a 4 foot 5/16 id hose on the other PCV
outlet nipple.
Proceed with extreme caution: The AC drain water goes into your engine
unfiltered. A valve cover breather filter inserted and securely taped into
the half inch hose before the PCV valve will correct correct this. The water
also sometimes causes the engine to stumble when accelerating lightly.
It is even possible the water could completely fill a cylinder and cause a
'Hydrolock' which might crack the cylinder head or piston. Most of the time
the water coming out of the AC drain is small - about 0.25 gallons per hour at
idle on a 90F day with 37% humidity - but it could be up to five times more
than this on very humid days.

 

Have you checked the Plenium gasket and heads for cracks?

 

Thanks to everyone trying to help me!

hometheaterman: No, but from everything I hear about a leaking Plenium gasket, dosen't sound like my problem. I loose no oil. I use Mobil 1 full syn. and filter. 5,000 mile after oil change, oil level is still good.

HankL: Very smart. I have heard of using water on a hot engine to break the carbon free, but not using the ac run off. The only change I would make is to remove the water souce before turning the truck off. It would scary me to leave any chance of water resting in the engine. (may be fine to have a little bit of water in there?)??? I have not tried it because it scares me, and I have tryed so many cleaners that I would think it would be all gone. Maybe I'll have to try it.

I am also going to try a compresstion check. Someone thought I could have a cracked pistion.???

Please write me if you have any ideas.

Thanks,
WD-40