5.2L Oil consumption ????

[RAM MAN]

Just rolled over 20,000 miles and when I changed my oil, I was a quart low . . . got an auto tranny, only thing I haul is a**, and haven't done a high amount of highway or city driving . . . don't know why I would have been 1 full quart low . . . . don't see any leaks around the top of the engine, valve covers etc, and don't feel anything in the tailpipe (like blow by)

Any ideas ?

[Christopher]

Sounds like the TSB I posted in a earlier post may be the problem.The intake plenum gasket has leaked on some of these and will use oil,but not always have a ping upon acceleration.

[prostockD150]

pull your intake you will find a blown in \out gasket in the bottom of your intake manifold it s called a breast plate gasket
i use to work for a dodge dealer replaced many of them not to hard good luck

[Mikey]

Did you lose any performance?

I go to Jiffy Lube every 3K and have found that if you bring your own oil, they tend to leave about a 1/4 quart in the bottles (they are in a hurry).

So then I top it off at home...even so, I tend to use about 1/4 - 1/2 quart every 3K.

[mopartec]

is your truck pinging if so and your using oil intake gasket leaking internlly

[RAM MAN]

I haven't noticed in real loss in performance (but honestly with the weather change I have slowed down. Between the deer running across the road and the black ice - I'd like to keep my truck a little bit longer !!!)

I haven't had any pinging either. I'll swap out the gasket - maybe I'm just catching it early.

Thanks for all the tips !

[9dodge]

My truck has just started to "act up".
Mileage has go in the dumper, 10mpg, and performance is way down. Haven't had any oil consumption yet. My truck is a 98 1500 with the 5.9. any ideas?

[RufusTheRam]

have a 99 ram with 15,000 on it... almost 3 quarts low at last oil change!!!! also have spark knock when i use anything but 92 or 93 octane. i thought it may be because i treat the engine like crap (i.e. shift at 5 grand pretty frequently, churn through mud bouncing it off the rev limiter, 100+ on the highway some) but maybe it's just this gasket. where can i find that TSB? warranty fix on this would be great....

[This message has been edited by RufusTheRam (edited January 20, 2000).]

[Mitch]

Just brough my 99 Ram 1500 in for service and complained about blue smoke at start-up. The intake manifold was defective.

[HankL]

I agree with the posters who warn about the belly pan gasket leak on the underside of the intake manifold increasing oil consumption - and the ones that say look for leaks at the oil pressure sender.

But even a real good sound engine with less than 30,000 miles will use about 1 quart every 2000 to 4000 miles. This is from normal oil film on the cylinder walls being burned, some oil vapor being pulled thru the PCV valve, and oil being pulled thru intake valve stem seals when the intake manifold has high vacuum - especially when idling or deccelerating.

If your engine NEVER uses any oil - many times that is a 'bad' sign rather than a healthy one. You may have gasoline contamination of the lubricating oil. Most gasoline evaporates back thru the PCV system - but some small part of gasoline are 'heavy fractions' and stay in the oil. These heavy gasoline fractions are also the stuff that makes varnish and goo elsewhere.

A fuel injector that is partially clogged will shoot an unatomized stream of gasoline into the cylinder that then 'washes' pass the rings.

[fox]

All you guys with oil consumption need to go to dodgeram.com and search oil cosumption.
A lot of 98 and newer rams have a leak at the inspection cover on the BOTTOM of the intake manifold.
I chose to change mine myself. The gasket itself was fine, the bolts did not clamp it properly because the holes were not drilled and tapped deep enough. I just added washers and the new gasket of coarse.
The best way to check this gasket for leaks is to seal off all the hoses, pvc etc. for the crankcase, then hook up a pressure/vacuum gauge and start the engine. DON'T drive it. Is the gauge showing pressure ( it should show a slight pressure), if it shows any vacuum the gasket is suspect.
Don't let anyone tell you a motor is suppose to use oil. Oil should not get into the combustion chamber. I have a 92 dakota that has NEVER been apart and it uses less than one pint in 5000 miles. It has always been on sinthetic oil ( mobil one ) since new. Last week it rolled over 272,000 miles. Going on one million!!!! Good luck trouble shooting!

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[Dakattack]

Is it just me or, is that belly pan the most stupid thing I ever heard of? Why is it there? What's it's purpose? Other than cause problems. I never saw an intake manifold with a pan "inside" the engine. My fathers Ram burns 2 quarts in 1000 miles has the spark knock and all. We are fixing it as soon as we can. I sometimes wonder why the dumb engineers made it that way. When we get around to it we may just weld an aluminum plate on the bottom.

[HankL]

Like Fox, I agree that the bellypan gasket should be checked. That is good advice. Also like Fox, I am a long time fan of Mobil One and have used it since 1976.

In the 1980s Mobil had a really excellent industrial lubricants division that sold bulk quantities of oil to factories and mines. In that division Mobil One was called "Delvac". The Mobil field reps were very well trained. At that time they would also do free oil analysis on the Delvac oils you would try in a new application as a sales tool.

One advantage of Mobil One/Delvac is that it is almost one pure chemical - a type of ester I think.

One clear advantage Mobil had in their oil analysis reports was to include a 'infrared spectrograph' in addition to the 'arc' or combustion spectrograph. This infrared spectrograph could tell you what percent of the used oil was still pure Mobil One ester.

Conventional 'dino' oil couldn't do this nearly as accurately because that oil is a mix of many naturally occuring things from a crude oil base.

It was from hearing the Mobil field reps explain lab reports to me that I learned about how gasoline can gradually substitute itself into lubricating oil.

This is one more of the many advantages of synthetic oils - you can spot even more stuff that should not be there.

[RufusTheRam]

had my intake gasket replaced around 10 grand RM for the same symptom. except i was burning about 2 and a half quarts a week!!