Newbie with Question

scott.ragan · Jan 21, 2011

newbie to your site here (btw nice layout), been searching your forums trying to find an answer to my question and I can't seem to find it.

Wife's got a 98 Ram 1500 5.2 4x2. 255k miles, beat to hell farm truck but we love it anyhow. A couple months ago she blew the radiator going to the store and i replaced it and its been driving funky ever since. Well decided to troubleshoot it and found that the throttle body is warped? or something. It appears to be sucking in air on the back left corner where it bolts to the intake manifold.

I've tried cleaning the hell out of the mating surface and stacking a few OEM paper gaskets which seem to fix it until you start putting some serious pressure through it then the leak comes back and chokes out the motor. My question is does anyone know where to order thicker TB gaskets? I remember seeing 1/4" and 1/2" thick rubber gaskets for intakes back in the day but now that I need one i can't seem to find one anywhere.

Any thoughts? I was going to order a spacer plate for this from jegs to try and solve the problem but i thought i'd check here first.

Thanks in advance

v/r

KGBIGCOUNTRY · Jan 21, 2011

Welcome here bud and on that gasket question I dont think that will solve the problem. You will prob need to replace it with a new unit which being that year and model you can prob go to a pick and pay junkyard and pick up the parts for cheap.

Bigtman07 · Jan 21, 2011

^^^ Exactly Ken.

Welcome To RF btw. You could try a thicker gasket but I don't think that will work as you said you put a large amount of vacuum on the gaskets they will fail. you could go to your local parts store and get some of the make your own gasket. Those I believe come in different thickness and you can then cut it to fit. But some other things you may want to check out are if it's the intake or the TB. Could be either out of whack.

So a cheap and relatively easy fix is go to a pick and pull or just a junk yard in general and ask for the intake kegger and the TB. That should take care of the issue. Also you may want to change the plenum if you go to a pick and pull. The 2nd gen is notorious for blowing the plenum gasket and really messing with the truck.

But that is all based on what you have already checked out. What were the symptoms that it is giving you?? Sluggish poor performance??

scott.ragan · Jan 21, 2011

KGBIGCOUNTRY said:
Welcome here bud and on that gasket question I dont think that will solve the problem. You will prob need to replace it with a new unit which being that year and model you can prob go to a pick and pay junkyard and pick up the parts for cheap.

Found one at a yard for 65$. picking it up today after work. Much better than the 600$ autozone wanted for a remanufactured one.

Thanks for the advice!

scott.ragan · Jan 21, 2011

Bigtman07 said:
^^^ Exactly Ken.

Welcome To RF btw. You could try a thicker gasket but I don't think that will work as you said you put a large amount of vacuum on the gaskets they will fail. you could go to your local parts store and get some of the make your own gasket. Those I believe come in different thickness and you can then cut it to fit. But some other things you may want to check out are if it's the intake or the TB. Could be either out of whack.

So a cheap and relatively easy fix is go to a pick and pull or just a junk yard in general and ask for the intake kegger and the TB. That should take care of the issue. Also you may want to change the plenum if you go to a pick and pull. The 2nd gen is notorious for blowing the plenum gasket and really messing with the truck.

But that is all based on what you have already checked out. What were the symptoms that it is giving you?? Sluggish poor performance??

After she blew the radiator it ran like crap for awhile (barely getting to 50mph), would die if it sat idling. After starting it up you would begin to hear this obnoxiously loud sucking noise. Pulled the TB off and cleaned everything and replaced the gasket. Started her back up and same thing, pulled the TB back off and you could see a noticable mark on the gasket on the back corner where the air was being sucked in. Tried stacking two OEM gaskets together and it fixed it as long as you didnt get over 3k rpm, then it would start sucking again.

As stated in previous post I found a TB at a junk yard for 65$ i'll be picking up today, but yes that is exactly why i was trying to find a thick rubber aftermarket gasket because i'm not sure which is warped, the TB or the plenum.

RubberFrog · Jan 21, 2011

Let us know if the new manifold solves the problem for you!

KGBIGCOUNTRY · Jan 21, 2011

Agreed keep us posted and hang around here you will enjoy it

Bigtman07 · Jan 21, 2011

^^Exactly ken.

I say if that fixes it good deal. Sounds like it's just getting a bit much air. If it is loosing oil and you can't find where it is going then yea plenum is probably to blame. It will give similar symptoms. Aluminum and steel parts don't always play well together.

scott.ragan · Jan 21, 2011

Bigtman07 said:
^^Exactly ken.

I say if that fixes it good deal. Sounds like it's just getting a bit much air. If it is loosing oil and you can't find where it is going then yea plenum is probably to blame. It will give similar symptoms. Aluminum and steel parts don't always play well together.

Ya i figure the extra air getting through the leak is drowning out the fuel/air mix and causing it to die

Bigtman07 · Jan 21, 2011

Most likely. Well let us know how it comes out for ya. Also if you haven't already figured out the Throttle Position Sensor can be a pain to remove. Be carefull not to break it.

scott.ragan · Jan 27, 2011

Well got the new TB on also had to trickle charge the battery. Put half a tank of premium in plus a can of 44k since its been sitting for 6 months. Its running. Can get up to about 40 tops thou. Have to play with the gas pedal gently. If you give it to much gas the motor starts to stall and you hear a pop noise. Any thoughts?

Edit: forgot to mention she's idling around 500 rpm at the moment.

Bigtman07 · Jan 27, 2011

Hmmmmm sounds like a possible TB sensor. If you put it to the floor it pops and goes or pops and dies??

scott.ragan · Jan 27, 2011

Pops and starts dieing

scott.ragan · Jan 27, 2011

Ismy the tb sensor on the throttle body? Cause I just replaced that

Bigtman07 · Jan 28, 2011

Yea it's on the side of the drivers side of the TB. Hmmmmm When was the last time it had a tune up?? Does it seem to be loosing oil?

RubberFrog · Jan 28, 2011

How much gas was in it while it sat? If you have a bunch of old watered up gas in there, you're going to need to drain it.

ramhunter9 · Jan 28, 2011

Sea Foam works wonders .

scott.ragan · Jan 28, 2011

Practically no gas was in it while it sat. Had to use a gas can to get it started. I've changed the oil, new plugs, new plug wires, distro cap. Going back to the part store they gave me the wrong tps sensor

Bigtman07 · Jan 28, 2011

Ok change the sensor and give that a shot. I agree with RH maybe try some seafoam to clean the injectors and the valves. Runnin out of ideas.

scott.ragan · Jan 28, 2011

I'm alrea running some 44k through the tank half full that should clean the fuel system out pretty good. Just changed the tps sensor (had to buy a 98 sensor for my 97 truck. Apparently they changed it half way through the model year. What's standard idle on these 800-1000 like most cars?

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