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Wal
Dodge Dakota
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11/27/2004
18:26:25
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 Subject: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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My truck had a lope at idle and a little oil in the bottom of the intake when I looked in from the TB. I also noted light pinging under load and #6 and #8 plugs were oiled up. So, I decided to change the belly pan gasket. I also popped in a modified beer-barrel ;-)
This job is NOT hard. It is very time comsuming though, and you need to be methodical. I used masking tape and a pen to mark connectors and wires, and I used a piece of cardboard to put things in order like the alternator/compressor/idle pully bracket. I also d/l'd the instructions from Speedtweaks.ca for routing the plug wires per Mopar TSB.
When I pulled the manifold, I found my gasket failed in three places. One was a total blow out and two were bellied out and leaking. It wasn't pretty, and oil was all over.
In preparation for this job, I ordered new gaskets, new RTV and other cleaner sprays and gasket tack, etc. I bought my gaskets form Hughes and they did a bad job packing and they arrived damaged. With one call, they believed me and sent new ones out that day without asking me to pay again and return the old ones... etc. Good thing too with UPS's delivery sched (no del. on ground Friday and of course not on Turkey Day). Thanks Hughes! One bad thing though - I tried to buy injector o-rings from them and was told to just re-use mine that no one replaces them. Well, 4 of mine were torn and failed and were previously leaking. NAPA does NOT have them. The stealership does not have them. Pep Boys does! $2.95 for 4 so I bought 8. I bought a 180* thermostat as well.
While apart, I found that the thermostat bypass hose was leaking slightly. This is located under the alt/ac compressor bracket. Change it anyway if you do this job because it is a PITA to get to and tough to even see. YOu'll beat yourself in the head if it ever fails and you missed this oppurtunity :-)
My buddy made me a new belly pan out of 3/16'ths" aluminum sheet. I used the "Right Stuff" from Permatex to mount it. It must be sealing, because the idle is smoother then ever! The motor is smooth all-around now. I am impressed with how well it runs, I thought it would need time to "learn" before it felt this smooth. Maybe a few more days will show even more improvement.
My symptoms were very very mild, and I wondered if I was going to find that the gasket was ok. As it turns out, it was really bad! The truck didn't run all that bad, and still broke the tires loose and pulled 120mph before I backed off the pedal. Nonetheless, it was failed and failed badly.
Oh, another thing... the Felpro gaskets do not have markings to tell you which way to mount them. My buddy told me that the flat side goes against the head and the other side goes up. I followed his advice... I guess it was right? It works :-)
If anyone is doing this job, allow a LOT of time because you don't want to do this while rushed. Also allow for the possibility of needing a radiator hose(s) and other small unexpected items. If I had the o-rings and the rad hose before I started, then all I would have needed would have been the PCV vale I broke and some hose (oops!). I needed some hose to make my line for my PCV valve longer. My modded manifold is off an R/T and the vac nipples are different then my 318.
Oh, lastly, I used Sea-Foam to decarbonize the engine. I buried a neighbor's house in smoke, so be warned; it's gunna get thick and smokey. I went to my Dad's to do it b/c I knew it was gunna smoke, hehe.
If anyone wants to talk about their upcoming project, drop me an email if I can help with details.
Wal
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HSKR
Dodge Dakota
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11/27/2004
22:42:45
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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What do you consider time consuming? I can do a manifold swap in about three hours without rushing. Of course I have done about 5 of them. You can buy gaskets and o-rings from just about any parts store. If they don't show any listed for a Dakota, ask for some for a Ram. For some reason, I think most parts places don't think people actually buy Daks with V-8s so don't list the parts. Most of thee time you will be able to re-use your injector o-ringss with no problems, but every now and then they do get ripped.
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Wal
Dodge Dakota
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11/27/2004
23:01:00
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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I've never done one before, and I needlessly labeled everything with masking tape and took bolts out and put them into cardboard with drawings. If I did it again it wouldn't take anywhere near the time it took this time around. I spent about 2.5hours on careful disassembly and I didn't time the reassembly. I had to stop along the way and wait for some parts (including the belly pan) and then I had to drill the holes for the belly pan and fit it. I also needed to hunt down the o-rings, I had to buy a hose, a new PCV when I cracked mine (dumb and 33*F). A first-timer should set aside the whole day so they aren't rushed.
My point wasn't to define time-consuming, but to point out to someone thinking they might hire the stealership to do this (for fear of their ability to DIY), that it isn't hard work that requires special tools and knowledge. This can be done with simple tools, a good in/lb torque wrench, and patience.
I think someone doing it 5 times should be able to do it in their sleep. I can recite bolt locations, sizes, and torque specs and tightening sequences from memory right now, and I only did one. Of course, to anyone reading this that is considering DIY for the first time, your houghty 3 hour claim is irrelevant to their project.
Wal
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ewraven
Dodge Dakota
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11/28/2004
21:03:39
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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Good work. Thanks for posting this; I have an appointment tomorrow to get a Dodge dealer to look at mine. I bought my Dakota at a Honda Dealership; but it came with a 3 month 3000 mile warranty, I've got 600 miles left of this warranty. The Honda dealer said this was above them; so they sent me to the Dodge Dealer and they said that if this is the problem, there warranty will cover the repair. This still makes me nervous though; I honestly do not trust any dealer and especially not there service departments.
Thanks for posting though; I really had no idea how difficult a job it was if I had to do it myself.
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prple-gaseatr
Dodge Dakota
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11/28/2004
23:49:20
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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yeah, its not that hard at all, just a little time consuming. i did mine last week and it took about 3 hrs. that includes the break i took for breakfast. hey wal, how do you like the gains?
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Wal
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
00:11:04
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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So far it is a little hard to tell. It's been raining off and on and the roads are too wet; when I gas her the rear end comes around, hahaha.
I'll need a day of dry weather and maybe enough time to think the PCM has learned (to be a fair comparison). My gut reaction is that I lost a hair on the bottom and gained power in the midrange and top end. Overall it is faster then before. My MPG seems to have dropped a little though too. The PCM might improve MPG over the next few days... we'll see. I also wonder if the Autolite 3923 plugs are too cold, now that I am running the 180* stat.
Anyway, I still need to remove the step in the TB and I really want to get a set of 1.7 roller rockers. So, I'm not done yet ;-)
Last time we typed, you were heading out to shoplift ;-). I'll have to shoot you another email when I'm going to be around up there.
Wal
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prple-gaseatr
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
00:33:38
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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shoplift??? yeah, i lost quite a bit on the low end too. definatelly picked up on the upper rpms, but im still gonna buy the m1 cause it looks cooler and i noticed more from that when i put it on my friends r/t. ill tell you what, i put the 3923's in my truck, didnt notice any improvement,i gapped them correctly and it still ran rough. some of my buddys that work at the dealer say that these motors are really picky about the plugs so i put new stock champions in and it runs alot smoother now so im happy with them. im gonna get the 1.7's too but i gotta stop on my dak soon, i got a dart in the garage thats begging for my 340 & 904 to be put inside of it. yeah, shoot me an email dude
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Wal
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
06:17:42
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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I was reading a ton about the intakes before I made my choice, and I think I am where I want to be on the intake part at least. The 360 you and your buddy are running seem to like shorter runners better then my 318. There's a guy on DTO that provided some great information via computer models based on runner size and porting/no-porting. I still tow and haul a lot with my truck, so I want to preserve the low end as much as I can. I plan on dropping 4.10's in when summer comes.
I need to find someone around here with a DRB to fix my fuel synch still though. So there might even be a few hidden ponies yet to find with this setup.
Wal
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prple-gaseatr
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
17:05:31
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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why dont you buy the mopar performance comp? that advances spark and more fuel
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Wal
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
17:35:20
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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Three reasons:
I have the Superchips micro-tuner
You have to run 93 octane
You can't tow with it.
The fuel synch is off from when I had the truck apart chasing a problem I did fix. I tried to get it right with speedtweaks.ca instructions but it didn't work for me. So, I need a DRB scantool to get it right.
I thought Larry posted other instructions on this site as to how to do it, but I can't find it with the search engine.
Wal
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ewraven
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
17:51:41
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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The local Dodge dealer took a look at my truck this morning. The mechanic did a vacuum test and looked down the throttle body and saw no signs of the belly pan leaking. I also looked down the throttle body and though there was some oil caked up around the insides of the opening; I didn't see any oil sitting or splashed around on the bottom.
I'm thining that the knocking is my own fault. I'm coming from a 2002 Sentra that had a 6 speed and an excessively smooth motor(with a knock sensor). I could start off going uphill in 4th gear in that thing and I wouldn't even realize I had it in 4th instead of 1st. I guess I must've been bogging down the 5.2L in my Dakota with the 5 speed out of my inexperience with the vehicle. Add to that; that it has 3.55 gears and that's probably what it is.
I am still hearing what I think is Pinging though, though I'm not 100 percent sure that's what the noise is. It happens under hard acceleration maybe between 2500 and 4000 RPM. It's a loud almost metallic clicking sound. Does anyone think that sounds like Pinging to them? When accelerating hard; I'll hear two or three of these loud pings or clicks.
I found this TSB this morning. http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1998/18-48-98/18-48-98-v8.htm
My truck has 72k miles on it and I don't even know if it has had any sort of tuneup. I'm going to change out the rotor, distributor cap, plugs and wires. While I'm changing out the wires, I am going to try and reroute them according to that TSB.
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Wal
Dodge Dakota
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11/29/2004
21:25:08
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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I found a description from Larry in a better search. I went out to the truck and dialed it in better. Based on this new setting, the rotor was advanced a whole lot. I reset the PCM and took a ride. The truck is more responsive for sure. Also, nailing it from a dead stop and holding her to about 70 was the quickest ever. I'm pleased!
I popped out the #1 sparkplug when I was finding TDC and I think the center looks a little too white; lean. I'll give it a while with the new setting and then check again to be sure that I am not running lean.
Purp - do you have access to a scanner that can verify my fuel synch setting?
Wal
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prple-gaseatr
Dodge Dakota
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11/30/2004
00:30:40
| RE: B-pan gasket +more... DONE!
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wal,
i forgot you allready had the micro-tuner. i dont have access to a scanner, i thought the superchips would take care of adding some fuel, but i guess it dosent. im not too familiar with injected engines, i know the basics, but i think upgrading to a higher pound injector should help. somebody might want to clarify that for me...i never messed with my fuel system yet so im not sure
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