Please help!

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tipsy01

Junior Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2017
Posts
1
Reaction score
0
Ram Year
2001
Engine
5.2L
Ok, so I'm at a loss now. Ill explain everything in detail that lead to my disarray.

I have 2001 quad cab 1500 4wd laramie with the 5.2L. 261,000 miles. was running acceptable before this "work". Started right up, didnt burn oil bad, that i could tell, just put it on the road a week ago. sat for a good 8 months before.

So three days ago it started smoking under the hood as i got to work. i did some research and found that the plenum pan is known for failing and the tell tale signs of smoking, and oil residue on the throttle body and in the intake manifold could be a result of this. So i said ok, saturday project to be had. at the end of that same day i later realized that a transmission line had split and was spraying fluid onto the exhaust, easy fix, smoke gone.

However since learning about the plenum pan possibilty and still having oil deposits on/in the throttle butterflies/intake i still thought cleaning this condition and repairing the possible cause was in the best interest of the motor. Common sense tells me that a motor this tired you dont mess around with to much unless you have too cause it just leads to other issues. i didnt listen and here i am.

So, i disassembled the whole top end, not the valve covers, pulled the intake manifold. removed the entire front end components; water pump, AC, alternator etc.

replaced the wires, plugs, water pump gasket and the intake gaskets including belly pan.

Now ill explain the course of events that may help you guys help me with possible resolutions: 1st, i snapped two intake bolts and a third was found snapped. i PB blasted all three and heated them with propane. one broke free. the the other two , the far two in the rear of the motor i choose to weld a nut on the them and wrench them out. it worked. to do this i pulled ground for the mig at the battery terminal i was leary about this but again, probably another bad choice.

Next i started replacing plugs and wires, one for one at a time so as not to mix them up. they were horrendous to remove so i decided to copper anti sieze the new ones goin in. i also die electric greased both ends of the boot connections. the coil connection was rusted, hot and corroded. cleaned the post and die greased the boot.

When replacing the the intake gaskets, both suffaces where wire wheeled sparkling clean and cleaned with carb cleaner. i lightly ultra black RTVd both surfaces before mating the rubber end pieces and the graphite head gaskets. bolt assembly was in proper order and torqued to spec.

Sadly, later on i noticed that a vacuum line was pinched in the rear passenger side between the manifod and the head, i loosened the bolts, wiggled it out and re torqued everything.

Reassembly of all other components went smooth, all connections were made and verified. I told the wife it'll be a miracle if this starts right up. Of course it did not.

So, now what it does is this: It doesn't turn over unless the throttle butterflies are slightly open. Very high suction if not. When it does turn over, it putters and has no power. Obviously not firing on all cylinders. I depressed the port on the fuel rail, it sprays out. i took a timing gun and it flashes on the firing of the spark wires. I verified wire, cylinder, cap configuration correct, verified fuel injector connectors correct to each cylinder.

So i let it run a bit with throttle manually held open, maybe to burn off and gunk or solvent left inside the motor and noticed it getting stupid hot, but the temp gauge in the cab was normal. i then noticed the exhaust manifold getting red hot , immediatly shut it down and came running to you guys. This is my first time on any forum , so im hoping it pans out. Im at a loss currently with direction. Money is tight as it always is so im reluctant to just start throwing sensors at it. could be a cam sensor, crank sensor, map sensor, engine coolant sensor, throttle sensor. so any direction with a why is immensly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time!
 

Yeret

The Village Drunk
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Posts
938
Reaction score
178
Location
Under the hood fixing/breaking something.
Ram Year
1999
Engine
5.9 Magnum
Sounds like a plugged cat to me. Remove the upstream O2 sensor from it and try running the engine. If the running condition improves, you've found your culprit.

Plugged cat obviously won't let exhaust flow. The hot exhaust basically gets stuck in the manifold and will generate a ton of heat. Eventually it just backs up into the cylinder and dilute the air/fuel mixture which kills your power. Eventually, the mixture won't fire and, combined with the increased cylinder pressure, the engine will lock up.
 
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