Trying to figure out why my truck is so weak?

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Lesnocker

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Waiting on the body shop to finish all the rust repair. Next question. My father Had a 2001 std cab long bed. SLT laramie. 360 automatic. This truck was a monster in High school I used to run mustangs with it. No idea what ratio.

Mine is a 00 std cab long bed. 360 5speed Guess a St? crank Windows vinyl floor. it has a 355 ratio. HD package? Skid plate and alternator towing crap. On a hill I'm in 3rd pushing 3 grand fighting to keep it above 50. Trucks are known since new.....not a lost power issue. Wonder whats different between the 2?
 

dodge dude94

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Gears and a blown plenum would be my two guesses.
 
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Lesnocker

Lesnocker

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Plenum was done under warranty....granted 15 years ago lol.

Truck needs lockers Desperately. Light off roading it gets stuck quick. Considering changing the 355. We're in the mountains and with a bass boat climbing 7% grades I'm down to 40 mph in 3rd pulling almost 3600 revs.

If its a noticeable increase of power I may consider swapping rings. Rather not open up the front though.
 

dapepper9

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360 5spd =nv4500. Nv4500 is a dog.

What size wheels and tires?

Plenum under warranty=probably needs done again. Dealer never does what actually needs done
 
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Lesnocker

Lesnocker

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It's got 203k on it. lol probably time for a rebuild in the future. Im looking to make it into a decent off roader that can pull a boat. It's going to be a Daily for a while and eventually be used only when were up camp. Once the body work is finished. But the current setup I'm worried about throwing a rod.

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Yeret

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1999
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Could be a plugged catalytic converter. Any CELs? Also, 15 years on a plenum repair combined with having a dealer do it who, as Pepper noted, may not have used a proper revised gasket, is very suspect to me. How are your spark plugs looking?

A second-gen Ram would need some considerable mods to run with a Mustang, even a Foxbody generation. But then, gear swaps seem to work wonders on these trucks, especially with a tune. You should ask your old man what he did to his. If he did absolutely nothing to it, I'd say the 'Stangs you were racing were pretty toasted. Many moons ago, my dad had an '86 Trans Am, 305 feedback carburetor, 100% stock, and he raced a V10 second-gen Ram for a parking spot. He won. The same guy then challenged my dad's GSX-R 750 with a Harley Davidson 1100, certain he was gonna win because "my Harley's got a bigger engine." You can probably guess how the race went...
 
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EvilSpirit

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Both the plenium issues and a plugged converter are good suggestions.

With the engine off (LOL) open the throttle all the way and look down thru the throttle blades - if the plenium gasket is blown, you usually see a wet, oily film. Most of the time engines with leaking pleniums are lazy and have spark knock. Then, after a while, the burning oil can plug the converter. Point is one many times causes the other.

People keep mentioning the 3.54 gears - is it still lazy in low range?

My truck was owned by a high school auto shop teacher and was run quite a few times by him and students at the high school drags. '96 1500 extended cab, 2wd, 5.9, 9 1/4 suregrip with 3.92 gears. No tune; might have had shorty headers on it then. It usually ran in the 16.10-20 range. Not fast by todays standards, but it doesn't lack power, either. Even with 275/75R16's it has no problem accelerating in O/D.
 

Shadow_Death

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Plenum was done under warranty....granted 15 years ago lol.

I agree with dapepper9 and Yeret, I'm willing to bet this is your problem. More than likely they replaced the gasket and kept the original plate. I also read somewhere that they used to also issue the death flash as part of the fix.

These days you can get a plenum repair kit which corrects the issue.

Right here: http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/products.php?partid=27091

With it being done 15 years ago it's probably possible that the gasket is toast again.

I'm not too sure how well these trucks detect bad cats. My truck is currently blowing straight through and has no idea, which reminds me I really need to fix that because man it stinks.
 

EvilSpirit

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I'm not too sure how well these trucks detect bad cats. My truck is currently blowing straight through and has no idea, which reminds me I really need to fix that because man it stinks.

If your truck is one of the early '96's that was still made with the OBDI omissions package, it won't have a downstream O2 sensor, so it wouldn't have a way to detect cat presence or function.[/QUOTE]
 

dudeman2009

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As far as the Plenum rair goes, replacing the gasket with a thicker one solves the issue for a long time. Trimming the bolts or just getting shorter ones along with a thicker gasket solves the issue for as long as the truck will last.

I'm partial to Fel-Pro for gaskets.
 

EvilSpirit

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Yeah, I agree. I've never had to go back and fix one that I had repaired. Probably wouldn't want to, since I contact cement the gasket to the cover - then use a premium sealant, like Right Stuff, to seal it up.

As to the billet plates mentioned - IMO they are overkill on a normal engine. I think they were developed after people started putting the Paxton and other blower kits on the engines and started ballooning the plates, or blowing them off the bottom of the intake.
 

dapepper9

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Plates aren't the issue, crap gasket and shallow bolt holes are. Mopar even developed an updated gasket and that is the only gasket i recommend
 

DodgeDude99

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The plenum gasket was replaced on my ‘99 sometime in ‘00, kegger was yanked a year or so later for the M1. Fast forward to this July for return to stock to sell, that gasket was blown when I shelved the manifold.

The front O2 sensor could be lazy/carboned up as well causing performance issues, replace it with an NTK brand only.

But your motor also has 200k on it. I wouldn’t expect it to be any sort of powerhouse. Loose timing chain, worn rings/cylinders, carbon build up etc.

A 20 yr old converter could use a replacing as well.
 

dapepper9

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The plenum gasket was replaced on my ‘99 sometime in ‘00, kegger was yanked a year or so later for the M1. Fast forward to this July for return to stock to sell, that gasket was blown when I shelved the manifold.

The front O2 sensor could be lazy/carboned up as well causing performance issues, replace it with an NTK brand only.

But your motor also has 200k on it. I wouldn’t expect it to be any sort of powerhouse. Loose timing chain, worn rings/cylinders, carbon build up etc.

A 20 yr old converter could use a replacing as well.
Wouldn't have that m1 still by chance would ya? ;)
 

Shadow_Death

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If your truck is one of the early '96's that was still made with the OBDI omissions package, it won't have a downstream O2 sensor, so it wouldn't have a way to detect cat presence or function.
[/QUOTE]

Nope, mine was a late model 96 with OBDII as well as both upstream and downstream O2 sensors. It just doesn't care for some reason and MPG hasn't really suffered. I've been averaging 14ish MPG since I got it.
 
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Lesnocker

Lesnocker

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Plugs looked well worn but nothing as far as oil. Intake looks dry but I really didn't crawl up in there to really look. Truck is back together. Did notice it was pinging. Threw in some injector cleaner and filled it painfully with high test. 30 miles later Ping is gone. Almost rust free.....may just have the engine rebulit. Then may play around.

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