My 1998 Dodge Ram's 360 Magnum engine's valves have recently...

<< Back to: rec.autos.makers.chrysler FAQ, Part 1/6

Answer by KnowPlay
Submitted on 12/25/2003
Rating:	Rate this answer:
Cam and/or valve failure isn't common, but certain conditions leading up to them are. The "clacking" of valves is fairly common on the 94-98 engines. The sound is actually predetonation caused by a faulty gasket on the magnum intake. Dodge has released a TSB(Technical Service Bulletin) reguarding valve clatter and oil usage. The problem is the plenum plate gasket on the bottom of the intake, it leaks and thus allows the vacuum created inside the intake to draw engine oil inside the intake. Remove the intake and replace the plenum/intake gaskets. The Magnum motors also are quite known for excessive timing chain rattle when 60K+ miles. This is due to slack in the chain from wear/stretch. Replace timing set ASAP or run the chance valve timing troubles. Fix these two known issues, keep an eye on oil usage and run the Magnum motor hard-they love it. You'll have a great motor for some time to come. KP

Answer by Scott_boston
Submitted on 5/18/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
KP, hey you sound like you know alot about these Magnum Motors. I just got a 99 V6 ram. I'm looking to get some better performance out of it, more horses and some better throttle response would be great. I will definitely go and replace the intake gaskets and set up an appointment to get the timing belt replaced. Is there anything else you can recommend? I'm looking at getting the K&N ram air kit for it and a 40 series flowmaster set up. Does anyone make a 670 high flow carb for it? Also one more question...When I get on the gas the engine takes a long time to cycle down. It seems to me this would be bad for gas and performance. Is the engine just tired or does something need to be adjusted? It has 115K on it. Other than that it runs great. thanks for any help any of you guys here can give me. -scott

Answer by 1dennis3
Submitted on 6/4/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
I have a 1999 Dodge Ram with the 360 with 55000 miles. I have installed the K & N cold air intake system as well as a throttle spacer, dual Thrustmaster exaust and reprogramed the computer chip. All this in an attempt to get better mileage. Before all this I was averaging about 9 MPG and now I average about 12 MPG. Over the past weekend I drove it to a lake (300 miles one way) pulling my boat that weighs about 7000 lbs. It cost me $250.00 in gas and burned 9 quarts of oil! I went to my Dodge dealer and told them of my experience and the mechanic said "I'll bet it was pinging pretty good to" Yes it was. He said that I need an intake gasket. He said that this would solve the problem of burning oil and would help the MPG as well. Has anyone else had this experience?

Answer by '98R/T
Submitted on 8/12/2004
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
If your plenum gasket is blown (most magnum engines will have this happen at least once) replacing the gasket is only a temporary fix. It’s like putting a band-aid on the actual problem. The problem is that the aluminum intake and the block heat and expand at different temperatures causing the gasket to tear. There are a couple of ways to truly fix this 1) purchase an M-1 intake that will replace the stock manifold (aka kegger) 2) Hughes Engines or APS Precision make good plenum kits that will replace the thin plenum plate with a ¼ inch billet aluminum plate 3) Go to your local garage and have the mechanic give your PCM the “Death Flash”….while this will fix your problem, it is not recommended as it retards the timing significantly. As far as power gains, you should start with airflow. The truck needs to breath well….intake and exhaust. A throttle body spacer does not gain you any power unless it is taller the ¾ inch, anything ¾ inch or shorter is nothing more than an expensive paperweight. Should you decide to keep your stock manifold, port the interior and remove the runners. It would be a good idea to modify and port your throttle body while you’re at it, you may as well throw in a 180* thermostat while your in there. Once you are this far, a good step would be to upgrade your PCM. Either a Mopar Performance PCM (MP PCM) or a tuner (Hypertech and Superchips make very good tuners….leaning more towards Superchips) will eliminate your speed governor, push back your rev limiter, move your shift points from 4,800 to 5,200-5,300 rpm, change the fuel curve…..and several other things. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for and horsepower isn’t cheap.

Answer by JesseD
Submitted on 9/11/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have a 1996 Dodge Ram with a 5.2L V8. I have it fully prepped with: Mo-par Performance parts headers and 3" exhaust, a knn cold air performance kit, a jet stage 2 chip, an f&b 760 cfm throttle body, backed with an msd blaster ignition system. My advice to you all is to run the engines hard. The magnum engines are actually built to be pushed to their limit. AS FAR as maintenance is concerned I have had to replace the intake plenum gasket, the water pump and u-joints. I use it to pull an 8000 RV. With all the modifications I have to admit I get above 19mpg. All I can say is that it is a very good durable engine adapts well to modifications. I have 115,000 miles on it and I am going to switch from a 318 to a 360. The blocks are the same and they fit the same.

Answer by JoJo
Submitted on 10/31/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have a 94 Grand Cherokee 318 and I get some pinging at about 2200 RPM's I have gone through the plug wire rerouting and regapping the plugs to a larger gap and I have not been able to get rid of the pinging, the only success I have had is using 93 octane but with gas prices so high I cannot afford to run 93 octane. I do not believe the Intake gaskets to be the problem, I replace my engine a lil over a year ago, apparently was caused by a severe detonation problem which I never noticed, I thought it was due to some overheating or something (end result: bent crankshaft, shattered timing change cover, hole in block, and snapped timing chain) Well I already had a spare engine and I swapped the intake manifold from my engine to the new engine and replaced the manifold to head gasket along with the plenum gasket and now I get this rattling noise (pinging) when under load around 2200 rpms. I thought my engine problem was caused by overheating (engine ran at around 210-235 degrees, everyone says this is normal temp, but shortly after I put in the new engine about 3 weeks later my radiator side tank blew (10" long crack) and bought a new radiator and my temp immediately dropped from running around 235 in the city to about 180 degrees in the city. Now I know a big cause of detonation is overheating so I flushed my coolant system and swapped in a 160 degree t-stat, well the jeep then ran about 150 degrees with ambient temp around 90 degrees but this did not help my pinging problem, I still have it, I really would like to get it fixed before I have another engine problem and also to help my mileage currently at 10.8 MPG. Would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions thank you.

Answer by GARY
Submitted on 12/18/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have also had the plenum gasket fail in my 98 ram, 360. When this happens the engine oil is drawn into the intake causing oil usage, the crankcase vapor compounded by the vacuum leak cause the "ping".I pulled the heads off to seat the valves and found them to be carboned bad, both heads had to be replaced because they were cracked between the valves in the # 7 and # 8 cylinders. Heads from a salvage yard had the same problem 7,8 and 4 were cracked, the third set of heads were good. The signs leading to these problems were oil usage, preignition on acceleration, inside the tail pipe was black as thou it was running rich. I was not loosing anti freeze and water temp remained normal but the heater was air locking,apparently enough compression was leaking through the cracks and settling at the high point which is the heater hoses. The heater could be flushed pushing the air out and would work for a few weeks and then loose circulation again

FAQS.ORG makes no guarantees as to the accuracy of the posts. Each post is the personal opinion of the poster. These posts are not intended to substitute for medical, tax, legal, investment, accounting, or other professional advice. FAQS.ORG does not endorse any opinion or any product or service mentioned mentioned in these posts.

<< Back to: rec.autos.makers.chrysler FAQ, Part 1/6

[ Home | FAQ-Related Q&As | General Q&As | Answered Questions ]

Question by Tim
Submitted on 12/1/2003
Related FAQ: rec.autos.makers.chrysler FAQ, Part 1/6
Rating:	Rate this question:
My 1998 Dodge Ram's 360 Magnum engine's valves have recently started clacking. A friend of mine has a 1997 with the same engine. He had to replace his top end of his engine last year because of valve/cam failure at 100,000 miles. Is this typical for these engines?

Answer by Wrick
Submitted on 1/16/2004
Rating:	Rate this answer:
I don't know a whole lot about engines but I do know the basics of them. I've recently bought a Dodge Dakota with a v6 magnum engine in it. In a nutshell, could you please explain to me the basic features and flaws of this engine? Most appreciated. Wrick-

Answer by Jim
Submitted on 6/17/2004
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have had to have the heads replaced for sunken valve seats twice now in 95,000 miles; the first time at 85,000, and now at 95,000 what gives with these heads? no oil consumption, leaks, overheating, pinging etc

Answer by Gecko1739@msn.com
Submitted on 8/21/2004
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
Where can i get a plenum pan gasket for my 98 ram 1500 with the 5.9L?

Answer by Fordzilla
Submitted on 11/5/2004
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
i have a 1999 360 cid magnum engine in my ram. automatic transmission. I have close to 98,000 miles. At appx. 83,463 miles the tranny went. I'm not too fond of the fuel mileage i put a jeg's exhaust on. also airaid filter. oil was always leaking from the valve covers so i went and torqed them down.now when i stop at a stop sign i hear a pup,pup,pup,POW! the mechanic told me that it may be the timing. But i dont see how because it is all controlled by the efi. isn't it? could it be the timing chain?

Answer by bo-98-SS/t
Submitted on 12/5/2004
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have a 98 SS/T with just over 30k miles on it . i have installed the K+N Gen 2 cold air intake and put custom dual Flow Master ehaughst on my truck also . I have been looking into buying headers for my truck , I have heard ceramic was the way to go ???? If anyone has any experiences for headers , i would apeaciate an responce . thank you Bo

Answer by john
Submitted on 12/9/2004
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
If your Dodge RAM is consuming oil, but there is no oil under the truck, be sure to check the intake manifold plenum gasket. This is a well known defect of the engine. I have had the gasket blow twice now. see TSB 09-05-00. The Dodge TSB site has much more info and repair procedure. This is so well known that Hughes motor and APS precision have after-market aluminum parts to solve the problem. The issue is heat dissipation, and the bad design on the dodge causes the heat to prematurely damage the gasket.

Answer by scott_boston
Submitted on 1/9/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I Just moved out to southern californian from boston. I have a 99' V-6 magnum. I was pulling a 6' X 12' uhaul with about 3,000lbs in it and another 500-600lbs in the bed. It took me two and a half days driving time and approxamitly 3600 miles. It only cost me $648 in gas ans I changed the oil about 1800 miles into the trip. The truck ram great and pulled the trailor like a dream. My only complaint is that it still lacks power off the line. It'll tow all day but doesn't have the get up and go I'm looking for. any suggestions?

Answer by brandon
Submitted on 1/9/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I am 16 years old i have a 1998 dodge ram that i love very much,and of course i don't know much about engines, i mean i know enough to keep my truck running in top conditions. with the help of a few mechanics and all of you i have come to an assumption that my plenum gasket has, or is going out, and need to be replaced. i don't have $500 dollars to get it fixed so i must do it my self. i am not sure where to start so i was wandering if any of you guys or even girls might have some sweet tips for me or some cool web sights that might help me out. or if not whats the worst tha this leak can cause. thanks a lot, Brandon

Answer by Mark
Submitted on 1/30/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
Hi, i have a 1997 V6 3.9L Dodge Ram and i was wondering what type of flowmaster muffler to put in? 30 series or 40 series?

Answer by BadDodge
Submitted on 2/15/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
My dealer is telling me that I have 2 cracked heads, resulting in the low compression and miss fires that I took it in for. No coolant or oil consumption. The cracks are between the intake an exhaust valves. Is this a known problem.

Answer by Duane K.
Submitted on 6/15/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I needed to replace my intake manifold gasket last year at 83000 miles. There is a bulletin out on the 360 intake gaskets leaking. I had to add a quart of oil every 100 miles while towing my trailer from Ohio to Kentucky and back

Answer by lizardfootprints
Submitted on 6/20/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
1Dennis3, I have had similar problems that you have listed. My 98 360 magnum has 72000 miles and since I bought it, it has lost 5 quarts of oil in 3000 miles. there are no leaks, so I must assume that the engine is burning it. Thanks to KP, I asked my dealer, and they fixed the problem, no more oil consumption, no more valve knock, and better mileage.

Answer by jef in orlando
Submitted on 9/12/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
The heads twice in 10k miles? well, valves I should say. Thats remarkable. I would be looking elsewhere for the cause - giving the valves is the effect. they are iron heads and I don't hear much of this happening. try a rebuilt motor if you dont want to chase the gremlins. They can come with a decent amount of power for less than what your paying for heads :) I hope your not going to the same mechanic still. Sounds a bit fishy .. good luck jallantaylor@aol.com

Answer by bill tucson
Submitted on 9/29/2005
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have a 98 turbo diesel 24value. automatic. can I tow in over drive on flat groud?

Answer by TINTOP
Submitted on 10/5/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
HAVE JUST DONE ENGINE SWAPON 360 BUT NEW HEADACHE ARRIVED IN THIS FORM,, TRUCK WILL NOT START IN PARK ONLY NUETRAL AND WHEN YOU SHIFT INTO PARK OR REVERSE IT STALLS ???? NEED HELP

Your name or nickname:
If you'd like to create a new account or access your existing account, put in your password here:
Your answer:

Answer by Roddy
Submitted on 5/15/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
Ok, well that guy that needs the gasket, thats called a plenum gasket. I had mine replaced b/c of the same reason. My 5.9 has 130K+ and runs like a charm. May I suggest Lucas Oil Stabilizer and regular 3K mile changes, and no smokin tires!

Answer by d-dawg
Submitted on 5/16/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
my 98 dodge did that and all i had to do is replce a valve spring and put a new push rod in it and it ran perfict and the clanking or peking what ever you call it was gon

Answer by mario
Submitted on 6/18/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
I have a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9L 360. I just rebuilt the whole motor and dont know where to time the motor. I have it at 5 degrees beford TDC, and it is still missing a little bit. Does anybody know where the timing should be set? I live in FL, temp 70-90 degrees.

Answer by traveling pipefitter
Submitted on 7/15/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
i have a 2000 dodge ram truck 360 magnum had to replace heads at 67k internal cracks in heads were leaking coolant into oil. fr main also replaced, rear end and tranny problems (auto) slippes in overdrive

Answer by Mopar-Monster
Submitted on 10/19/2006
Rating: Not yet rated	Rate this answer:
dodge is a high performance engine i kid you not you can do alot of things in a dodge that you wouldn'teven think about doing gin a Chevy and like all great things if it isn't taken care of properly then something little can cause something big to break and that ain't good i have been working on dodge motors since i was 9 and have built several high performance motors and i have taken a few new motors apart basically all you need to do is if you upgrade one thin it is usually a good thing to upgrade other contributing parts and to keep in mind about wear and tear