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Jimmy9190
Dodge Dakota
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3/16/2008
01:41:19
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 Subject: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
Hello everybody.
I put on a v8 throttle body on my 2001 3.9 today. When the old one was off I got a good look down into the manifold. It had oil collecting at the front and back and on one side. It isn't much oil, maybe a teaspoon at the most. I am thinking the belly pan gasket is bad but there are none of the signs of a bad gasket except for a ping under a light throttle, which I thought was from carbon in the combustion chambers. I had the combustion chambers cleaned with a forced vacuum cleaner and put in a 180 thermostat and 3923's and the ping is gone. There is no oil consumption, it might burn 1/4 of a quart in 3000 miles and it gets good gas mileage and has none of the hesitation or blue smoke from the exhaust that you normally see when the belly pan is bad. Truck runs pretty strong and has good power.
Can the oil in the manifold come from some other place or be from some other problem? There is no EGR on my engine. I appreciate any help here.
Thanks
Jimmy
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
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3/16/2008
09:23:33
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
you may not have a bad pan gasket. if you got rid of the ping and aren't burning any oil. it could have come from the PCV.
there is a way to test the pan gasket other than just looking into it. maybe someone who knows how will chime in.
by the way Jimmy, you don't have to post the same question in all the forums. some really good responses to your post could go unnoticed.
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Jimmy9190
Dodge Dakota
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3/16/2008
09:36:58
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
Thanks Daddio. I guess I thought if I put the post in 2 different forums I'd get an answer faster. I am wondering if my belly pan gasket is blown or is the oil I saw a normal thing. This truck has no PCV, only a small vacuum hose on the side going over to the brake booster and another hose going to what looks like a PCV valve on the driver side valve cover. I thought the 2001 didn't have a PCV valve. None of the parts stores sell one for it. Hopefully someone here will be able to tell me what to test for or how the vacuum gauge should read if the belly pan is blown. I thought when the gasket goes, you get lots of problems and bad oil consumption. I only had ping but there is still a small amount of oil in the intake. It looks old and cruddy too so maybe it's from blow by in the vacuum?
Thanks for your help. I'll stop the multiple posts.
Jimmy
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daddio
Dodge Dakota
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3/16/2008
09:57:02
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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at an idle your vacuum should be near 20"Hg. do you have a gage to check it?
i know someone put up a post in here on how to check it. i'll search a little to see if i can find it.
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Jimmy9190
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
3/16/2008
10:08:23
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
I don't have a vac gauge but I am going to buy one and hope that between what I can learn from guys here and the Haynes book I can make sense of it. Advance Auto Parts has one for about $40.00. Haynes is not very detailed on how to read the vac gauge. I appreciate your help Daddio.
Jimmy
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dakownr
Dodge Dakota
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3/17/2008
08:53:30
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
Your PCV valve should be on the passenger side valve cover towards the back. I found a PCV valve for your truck on autozone's website. PN PCV1274
I had my belly pan gasket go bad in my '96 5.2, and there was also not a whole lot of oil on the bottom of the manifold. Hoever, mine did have the occasional smoky startup and mild smoke when either put under load or revved at a standstill. Oil comsumption was not bad at first, but it got ridiculous after a few months. I don't know if this will isolate it being the belly pan gasket, but you could remove your plugs and check them. I had a fouled plug around the same area that the gaket disintigrated. Like I said, don't know if that would isolate the belly pan, but if there's alot of oil on it, you may have to replace it.
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Jimmy9190
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
3/17/2008
14:19:26
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
Thanks Dakownr. I thought my 3.9 did not have a pcv valve. I know it has no EGR. I have what looks like a PCV valve, in the passenger valve cover with a vacuum line going up to side of the intake. I have tried to remove it before and was unable to get it out of the valve cover. Do you have to twist to unlock it some way? And when I did the first tune up I searched for a PCV valve for it at Advance and there was not one listed. I'll check it when I get home. If I remember right, the way to test is if it rattles when you shake it it is OK. Or even if it does rattle is it best to just replace it anyway due to age?
Thanks for helping me with this.
Jimmy
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J and J Auto
GenII
3/18/2008
01:48:17
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
dodgeram.org
here they will tell you how to check the pletium
gasket
no www. just the http://dodgeram.org
Larry
J&J Auto
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Jimmy9190
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
3/18/2008
08:57:21
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
Thanks for the website Larry. I got a vacuum gauge last night after work at Harbor Freight Tools. It was only $13.00. I also got me a new PCV valve. I am planning on checking it all out today after work.
Thanks for the help here everybody.
Jimmy
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Jimmy9190
Dodge Dakota
JOIN HERE
3/18/2008
18:35:07
| RE: Belly pan gasket?
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Message:
Ok I checked the vacuum with my new handy-dandy gauge and it reads right on the 20 Hg line at idle. Vacuum is correct on revving the engine too according to the gauge. I replaced the PCV too, odd it was in the driver's side valve cover. I thought it would be in the passenger side. The old one was gunked up but still rattled when I shook it, but it was only a few bucks for a new one.
Truck is running great with the new v8 TB, 3923's and the 180 tstat. MPG is the same or maybe a little better. Hard to tell on that one because of the new case of leadfoot-itis I got now.... I think the little bit of oil I saw in the manifold was from blow-by. Unless I see any of the other signs of a bad belly pan gasket, I am leaving well enough alone. Unless I decide to get new exhaust, that is.
Thanks again to everybody who helped me on this one.
Jimmy
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