98 5.2 plenum gasket$

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rwb77w

Junior Member
Joined
May 27, 2013
Posts
1
Reaction score
0
Location
dirty south FLA
Ram Year
1998
Engine
5.2 318
I just bought a 98 ram 1500 2wd 5.2 less than a week ago. So far I have replaced the fuel pump. Had a trouble code for random misfire, changed plugs and wires, as well as re routed the plug wires. New distributor cap and rotor. Misfire code went away. Its hard to say, because I've only had the truck for a few days, but I believe its showing signs of a faulty plenum gasket. Saw very small amount of oil inside the throttle body, and checked the pcv. It was shot, so I replaced it. Still pinged a little, so I put $20 worth of 93 fuel along with a gumout fuel system cleaner in the tank. Seemed to help a little. That was before I researched about this "chronic" ilness the magnums suffer.... the plenum. I am comfortable doing the repair, and found the kit from hughes engines, plan on replacing the O2 sensors and possibly removing the cat(no emissions tests in FL). The vehicle has 143k and had one previous owner, an older gentleman who seemed to care for it well. It sat for a while prior to my purchase. My main concern is, how do I know if any internal damage has been done to the engine. Is it too late? Tranny is fine. Runs good, well seems to anyway. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 

Bigtman07

Registered User
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Posts
9,329
Reaction score
287
Location
Piqua, Ohio
Ram Year
2000
Engine
Cummins 5.9
Well welcome to the site!! The plenum is a notorious problem. Most of the time the only damage that you will notice is excess carbon build up and fouled plugs and O2 sensors. After I did my repair I seafoamed my engine and clean all the valves and that fun jazz. I do it once a year on my v8. Good luck to you on the repair! It is a lot of steps but totally doable!
 

mumbles84

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Posts
108
Reaction score
2
Ram Year
1998
Engine
5.9 magnum
i just took my intake off sunday havent stuck back together becuase i want to mod the throttle body and build a new plate for it. the front two bolts broke that mount the intake to heads butt thats common. mine has the devider in it dont plan on removing i hardly go past 3500 rpms so no need. i recommend buy new coolant hose while you are in that deep i found corroded wiress too. for resealling the plenuim gasket i plan on using an old diesel trick put 518 on both side of the gasket witch will make it like concrete.
 

RamV10

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Posts
102
Reaction score
1
Location
Western Central NV
Ram Year
1999
Engine
V10
There is a member on this forum that use to sell the plenum update plate. He was cheaper than Hughes & the plate was very good quality, he provided great service & shipping. Do a search.
 
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