Checking for Plenum Gasket Leak - Second Generation Dodge Ram 1500 - Part 1 

Thank you G

Just for my clarification cause I'm no professional mechanic just a guy who knows enough to be dangerous. You're referring to the air intake correct?

@@prezzle208 Yes, take the air filter box off. Just push open the throttle body and look though it.

@@polarisboy67 thanks for getting back to me.

I suspect my intake gaskets are had ...I can actually here a large leak...I will look down the throttle body today and see it there is oil showing....no oil in coolant no coolant in oil...no white smoke on start up.....but trying to pump up coolant system is almost impossible you can hear the leak and the temp gauge will go to hot when it's running. I thought head gasket ..my friend says intake and to get a kit new gaskets new bolts and new intake pans....

Wait my truck is doing the same thing.. was yours backfiring through the intake when you stomped the gas?

@@kamerongatlin6075 yep but pull all the spark plugs and clean them up wire brush them put dielectric grease on the plugs itl keep moisture out of the plugs also do dielectric grease on the distributor plug hasnt did it since but yeah check your passing gear cable known as the kinckdown cable youl have two cables on the throttle

depending on the mileage,these engines are notorious for stretching timing chains within 85k miles and the valve springs are anemic on them stock,the stock pressure on these engines 208 valve open and 85 on the seat pressure,with roller cam design these number are a 100 lbs off,seat pressure should be 135, open valve pressure 300 lbs,good for 5200 rpm and 200k miles of running with many oil changes,these are damn fine engines once you take the ridiculous cheap design practices they employed in this line of engine,i worked for chrysler from1968-2003 on the line, engine trans rear axle,these are good engines,change your oil and filter every 3500 miles for 3 drops,after that, every 5000 for 3 drops,this will keep your oil pan clean,then go back to the 3500 i've 458k on a 383 magnum,with 3 timing chain changes and 3 sets of valve springs and two main and rod bearing changes,when you throttle up you pay

Pressure in your crankcase, meaning something is plugged and has no vacuum

Yeah, and did you find your problem? I just rebuilt my whole damn engine and also put on the aftermarket hughes plenum plate.. Finally get everything together and running and the truck has a massive vacuum leak. I don't think it's the plenum plate but I've already eliminated the brake booster, the accessory vacuum, and the PCV valve by selectively blocking each off. I'll check the engine crankcase but wtf. I wonder if it is the IAC after all. Who knows.

97 and older yes, in 98 to 02 they reversed sides

@@scoutsniper8688 My 99 is on the passenger side, I think they changed in 2000

@@scoutsniper8688 so opposite sides from the video? I have a 98

Mine does the same thing. Possibly blowby?

Mine does the same. No idea why

I believe that if everything is working properly you should be getting some positive pressure from the crankcase from blow-by gasses. That's probably what your seeing as solmoke and fumes coming out of that hose.

I have the same question

Wow, that's awesome! How does that work?

@@mattpayne4087 Here is the link dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen-ram-tech/422353-p-code-decoder-tool.html#post3433582 It's just a little program that has every P-Code this truck could possible ever throw and what it is. I made it for you but shared it with everyone. You might not even have this truck anymore but I did step by step what you said in your plenum gasket rebuild. I bought everything you had in that video and even did the same thing to my old bolts to make alignment studs with the old ones. After having a little timing trouble my truck runs like new now. I can't be-leave I was able to do this job myself. I would have never even tried it without your help. With your videos and step by step showing just what to do I did it. I made the tool as a think you for all your time you put in to help people you don't even know.

So does mine. Also a little smoke

Could be your IACV (Idle air control valve)

Same thing is happening to me minus the whole idle thing. Did you find out what it was? I’ve gone through 7 qts in 6 days

Yupp same crap lol

Yeah it’s gonna have the same issue unfortunately unless the plates already been redone this is an issue across all 2nd gens with a 5.2-5.9 engine

The air inlet tube goes over the exhaust. Most likely its to keep heat from soaking the incoming air... poor-man's CAI

U know what I think so because that happened to me but I have a 97 ZJ and I have just been starting to deal with gasket issues

My engine is like yours. pcv is on the right side breather is on the left

It’s a pre 99 my 94 is the same as your guys 🤙🏻

It doesn’t matter which side the valve is on it still works the same

Valve seals

Yes it will

Yes, absolutely - that's actually what made me suspect my problem when I first discovered it 4-5 years ago. The truck was driving extremely sluggishly. A plenum leak will rob the engine of power partly because (I believe) the PCM can't reconcile the amount of intake air it expects to be entering the intake manifold via the throttle body with the ACTUAL amount of air entering the intake manifold (because a bunch of air is coming in through the plenum gasket leak). This throws off the fuel trims. The other issue is that the intake air will be contaminated with oil from the crankcase, which affects combustion and can also clog up the catalytic converter over time. Basically, a plenum gasket leak is going to significantly affect engine performance.

The 5.2 is also very weak HP-wise. I owned an 01 Ram w 2wd/5.2/Posi, could barely break the tires loose w only 46k miles

@@mattpayne4087 when you shut the truck off does it make a hiss sound? Mine does and I'm thinking it might be the plenum gasket cause I have never replaced that. I am at 298K miles and it is very sluggish and every now and then it will idle rough and you can hear it sucking air from somewhere but I can never find it. If thats the case then its been doing it for a very long time. I never knew the plenum gasket going bad was even a thing.

The stock gasket is failure-prone because the stock plate is so damn thin. If it is not *perfect* it will leak. Best bet is to use the Hughes Engines plenum plate kit which uses a thick aluminum plate instead of the flimsy stock steel one. It's around $160...

Wrong, back pressure is a myth

No. 100% myth.

Nope these trucks were built before egr's

@Chad Parsons they have an EGR valve not a whole system

@Chad Parsons *on the trucks / 318s from 94-01 sold in California have an EGR valve

@@finaldrivetv3669 Not true. Some 5.2’s were built with EGR’s, and were completely phased out by 1996/7.