Plenum Intake plate time?

Hello everyone,

In a nutshell, about a couple months ago my truck started running rough. Surging every once in a while and idle jumping - some minor times it works perfectly. I hit the forums and researched and think it's probably a plenum gasket going bad.

Today I am replacing the TPS and Idle Air Control Valve and reconnecting the cruise control line that has broken in half with some rubber hose - I did all the spark plugs/wires/cap/pcvs a couple weeks ago (which bizarrely caused my electric issues below) and all plugs looked great.

While I had the throttle body off I took pictures of the plenum and also the replaced throttle body from ebay that was ported - of note the ebay seller is gone which makes me a little concerned but it looked great when I put it on.

This is what things look like.





My question is - There looks to be some oil down there how long do I have or is that normal? I already have the aluminum plate and gasket set off ebay but the project takes a little time.

I am also having some electrical gremlins http://www.ramforum.com/f62/ac_fuse_blowing_truck_running_rough_when_one-104159/ but I think this is unrelated to my idle issue.

Here is what my truck is now.

• 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9
• 66k miles (yes that is correct owned by my dad and now me)
• DODGE JEEP 52MM BORED PORTED THROTTLE BODY MAGNUM 318 5.2 360 5.9 1992-2003
• ( 261861377268 )
• Engine at idle surges to about 1500 - 2000 RPM at startup - figured this was a plenum issue, bought Ebay plenum and all the parts, not replaced yet as I didn't realize AC bracket was mounted to manifold
• This weekend changed out Dist, Dist internal, spark plugs, spark plug wires - note WTF did dodge put the Dist in the back that far under...
• Replaced battery as ABS was clicking after I reconnected old battery and battery was old
• Replaced PVC valves
• Noticed 140 amp alt fuse (fusible link) blown - due to cluster not working, AC fuse blown, and cluster gauge fuse blow - replaced all - AC fuse blows every time I turn it on, others are ok.

I changed mine. In one of your pictures it looks like the gasket is a little blown out but not horrible quite yet. Mine was missing in 2 sections and blown out in 2 others. Couldn't help you with the surging. That small amount of oil is ok. That's just from the pcv. If it was bad there would be a pool of oil soaked in and your plugs would be black from burning oil


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If your #8 plug came out fairly clean it's probably not the plenum

Just a follow up - my idle/surging issues are fixed (have not done the plenum yet) - and yes you are right all plugs were clean as a whistle

I did:

• TPS replacement - note the TPS actually looked fine but replaced it anyway, the two little knobs inside were not broken at all, which makes me think it was the IAC
• IAC replacement (I think this was the main culprit
• Throttle body gasket replacement
• cruise control hose (plastic had broke, cut it off replaced with rubber and hose clamps) - didn't fix the cruise control so don't think thats it

Also of note, I had previously done spark plugs/wires/dist/PCV valves

Highly doubt that plenum is gone. That tiny bit of oil is completely normal to have fruition the pcv system.

If the surging was while driving the tps is what fixed it. Iac is active only at idle

dapepper9 said:

Highly doubt that plenum is gone. That tiny bit of oil is completely normal to have fruition the pcv system.

If the surging was while driving the tps is what fixed it. Iac is active only at idle

Click to expand...

Good point - that obviously makes sense "idle air control". I replaced both in any case as they were fairly cheap and I was pulling off the throttle body.

What was odd was under load/flooring it, it didn't surge, it was always when I was lighter on the gas.

The PCV hadn't probably been changed since it was new which was ~16 years ago. It literally broke when I tried to take it off. My dad took meticulous care of the truck but the plastic/heat just gets old. Figured I would do that when I was changing the plugs/wires.

Engine still only has 66k on the clock. After the TPS/IAC replacement it is running extremely well - gas mileage has also gained like ~2 - 3 on the overhead guage just on city driving.