I bought my 01 Ram 5.2L used with approx 65K on the o.d. I changed my oil about 2500 miles ago and used Mobil 1 oil and a K & N filter. I just checked it today and it was a quart low. I believe the capacity is 5 quarts with the filter which is what I used when I did the change. The truck now has 70K miles. What is normal oil consumption for these engines? How do you know if/when the plenum gasket is going bad? Would this be a sign? What other signs should I be looking for?

This is my first Dodge truck. I owned Chevy before. I know that even on their new trucks they say 1 quart between changes is normal but I don't know what to expect on my Dodge. Any help would be great.

Thanks

 

id seriosly check your intake plenum gasket... number one cause for the oil consumption your describing.. obviously is there any puddles under the truck?

 

turn engine off. remove the air cleaner housing on the throttle body. open the throttle and look inside. If there is oil puddled up on the floor of the intake, continue to diassemble the intake and replace the gasket. check out aps presision for the update kit to fix this problem. When you reassemble install a fastman tb[8D]

 

Havent seen any puddling under the truck. If you're saying a quart between oil changes is too much for these engines then there must be a problem. I can look down the TB for puddling, but I'm not sure if it is that I would be able to change the gasket. Any idea what someone might charge to replace it?

 

labor time is 4.2 for a one piece manifold and 5.4 for the 2 piece. find a good shop to do the repairs. Had a friend take one to the local shadetree mechanic and it wound up costing him an engine. The nit wit left all the gasket gunk he ground off the heads in the lifter valley, over a short amount of time the bits of gasket and whatever else made its way threw the oil pump and into the bearings[] ick!

 

What viscosity oil are you using? What is the ambient air temperature where you live?