318 slugish

[jaredssc17]

new owner of a 94 ram 1500 318 v8, 5 speed, 2wd. seems a little on the slugish side. may it be the truck has 137k. i picked it up on a deal and plan on doing some simple mods. it just seems to not have ne giddy up. i seafoamed the motor well, changed oil and filter. havent tuned it up yet. any ideas on some good plugs,wires,cap? summit racing makes a cap,wire,rotor kit. any one use it? also i just changed out the stock muffler to a flowmaster. all stock piping just changed the muffler. i hate the way it sounds. not really a fan of flowmaster, it was free, i see why. it has a pingy sound you can hearfrom the muffler. would it be ne better with a fiber pack muffler? like a magnaflow?

[Tbird100636]

New owner of a 94 Ram 1500 5.2L V8, 5 speed, 2WD. Seems a little on the sluggish side. Might be the truck has 137k. I picked it up on a deal and plan on doing some simple mods. It just seems to not have any giddy-up. I Seafoamed the motor well, changed oil and filter. Haven't tuned it up yet. Any ideas on some good plugs, wires, cap? Summit Racing makes a cap, wire, rotor kit. Any one use it??? Also I just changed out the stock muffler to a Flowmaster. All stock piping just changed the muffler. I hate the way it sounds. Not really a fan of Flowmaster, it was free, I see why. It has a pingy sound you can hear from the muffler. Would it be any better with a fiber pack muffler, like a Magnaflow???
There is no problem going with the stock plug wires, cap and rotor. Stock Champion plugs are sufficient as well. Have you checked the intake gasket yet??? The Magnum 3.9L, 5.2L, and 5.9L engines have an intake with a removable bottom cover for the casting of the manifold. The original cover gasket is a fibre one, and cracks and pulls out, resulting in the oil to be gradually to be sucked out of the motor, and in worst cases a very high idle. Pull the PCV valve out of the valve cover, but do not disconnect it from the hose. Disconnect the breather hose running to the PCV filter on the other valve cover at the air cleaner end. Block the PCV valve hole, then the disconnected hose. You should not feel vacuum on either one of these locations. Any vacuum indicates a blown intake cover gasket. To replace, you need the cover gasket, the cover bolts, the intake manifold bolts, the intake manifold gaskets, and the manifold-to-water pump bypass hose. Distributor does not have to come out to do this job. EDIT!!! Get a thermostat and gasket too!!! Easiest time to do it, tighter to do with everything installed.

It might have an aged O2 sensor. It might have an EGR valve on it's way out. Make sure the intake gasket is OK, tune up the motor, and see what it does. If it's still sluggish, try to find a scanner with sensor readouts and watch the O2 sensor. It should switch frequently between Rich-Center-Lean. A lazy O2 will switch slower.

Any of these trucks that have had Flowmaster muffler sounded decent to me, what series is the muffler??? The model # is laser etched next to the inlet or outlet. Most of the ones I've seen are dual outlet Flowmasters.

[jaredssc17]

well i've put some more miles on the truck it seems to be running better with good gas in it. i changed the plugs in it a few days ago. two plugs were light brown and the other six are covered white. the truck sat for about two years so im thinking some of the injectors might be partly blocked. im going to try to run some good injector cleaner in the tank and run it down the highway. witch gives me another reason to drive over to summit racing as a test to clean the injectors. by the way i did a fast test on the muffler. i put a cheap glass pack on it, in place of the flowmaster. that pinging sound is gone. so im going to go with a gibson muffler. the fiber packing muffler seems the have a nicer tone over thos chamber style flowmasters. a nother reason to go to summit also!!!

[MADDOG]

I just put on a Magnaflow 12276 single in/dual out muffler with new tailpipes and tips last week on my '99 5.2L. I really like the Magnaflow sound, got a nice rumble to it but doesn't sound like a hollow trashcan. When you are cruising they are pretty quiet. Get on it and folks around you know you got something goin' on.

[03warrior]

Try putting some injection cleaner or some octain booster to clean out any gunk that hasss built up in the lines and injectors. Also change out the fuel filter it could be clogged up to.

[jbracefan1977]

I just put on a Magnaflow (http://www.allexhaust.com) 12276 single in/dual out muffler with new tailpipes and tips last week on my '99 5.2L. I really like the Magnaflow sound, got a nice rumble to it but doesn't sound like a hollow trashcan. When you are cruising they are pretty quiet. Get on it and folks around you know you got something goin' on.

hahahaah!!! I got the Magnaflow exhaust (http://www.allexhaust.com/magnaflow/) 12276 as well. very nice rumble. and once its stepped on WWWOOOOOT!!! and I got them on a very discounted price here magnaflow 12276 (http://www.allexhaust.com/magnaflow/6734.html). gotta love them magnaflows. :D:D:D