[cgex]

I was just interested in what everyone does when they do a tune-up. All I know to do is change the oil, oil filter, air filter, etc and I also cleaned the throttle body. My 96 1500 4x4 5.2l runs pretty sluggish so I'm trying to give some new life to it. Also what kind of plugs, cables, and distributor cap do you suggest?

 

[RAM MAN]

first off

WELCOME TO THE SITE !!!!

Your dead on the right track

oil, filter, air filter, pcv valve, spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap and rotor

I always used the ACCEL distributor caps in my (former) 98 Ram because they had one with brass inserts, (better electrical connections) but NAPA has one like that as well

as far as spark plug brands go: thats as opinionated as what kind of oil, but again my choice was always to go with NGK (specifically I used the ZFR5F11's)

a lot of people say when they switch to NGK, their idle is a lot smoother

Seafoam is another great idea - but do it BEFORE you change spark plugs as it has a tendency to foul plugs

(do a search here for seafoam, its a popular subject)

and I used Royal Purple syn engine oil and had some in the rear diff as well ...

always stuff with Mopar brand AFT4 in the tranny fluid

and while some people don't always agree with this - when I had higher mileage vehicles, I would run a can of engine flush thru to get all the old gunk and varnish cleaned out... again, some people think this may dislodge something and may lead to other problems, but it never happened with me ...

here's one other thing, (not part of a normal tune up, but offering as a thought) I had the radiator professional cleaned out - back flushed and the works

One last question: is the cat converter original ? How many miles on the truck ?

 

[cgex]

I don't have a cat on it right now and it has 174,000 on it. I've noticed that just cleaning the throttle body has made a huge difference. It starts up a lot stronger now and I has having issues with it stalling on me when stopping at redlights and what not which has now stopped.

 

[RAM MAN]

good to know

the IAC sometimes goes out and will cause a stalling problem

cleaning out the TB does make a world of difference

the other thing to check is too look down and see if you have a plenum gasket leak ...


(several posts here about that particular problem as well)

 

[1998 Ram]

Well on my truck, my tuneup consists of the following: Autolite 3923's spark plugs, these seem to be very good plugs and alot of people on this site use them. Next, get u a good set of spark plug wires. I just put on some autolite professional series wires but its really up to you what you want because there are tons of options. After that i would also get a new distributor cap and rotor button. While your down and dirty, i would change the oil with valvoline full synthetic oil and a wix oil filter. Thats my favorite oil and filter but we all have oils we like. It would also be a good idea to change the pcv valve and clean your throttle body. This is really all u need to do to get that good ol dodge purring like a kitten. Well, good luck with your project.

 

[Big Joe SS/T]

My tune ups usually end up becoming some heavy modification such as my bags or my body drop.

 

[w0rm]

I hope you're not just doing the oil and oil filter when you do a tune-up. Your PM (preventitive maintenance) should be oil and filter, grease anything you can, about every 5,000 km.
Tune-ups you probably would only have to do once a year depending on if you drive it alot. New designs of spark plugs let them last a very long time. Inspecting them can tell you alot about how your combustion is acting though.
I would suggest what RAM MAN said and look for a plenum leak, if you have to change it, it's a great time to do the cap and rotor once the intake is off. Or else you're changing it half blind, laying on your engine.

 

[cmh2007]

in mine i run the champion Truck series plugs. cost a little more, but much bigger diode and electrode. supposedly better for towing, and offroad use, and absloutely no pinging with normal gas, but minimal with that 10% ethenol crap. it helps to also clean your sensors on the intake every once in a while or replace them. that will make a difference in mileage as it gets them running more efficently. and finally listen to RAMMAN as he know what he is talking about

 

[cgex]

Thanks fellas. I went ahead and ran up to Autozone and got some seafoam. Put 1/3 in my intake, 1/3 in my oil, and 1/3 in my gas tank like it said. It had a good bit of smoke coming out of it but not as much as I thought it would be.. stopped smoking after about 30 seconds of running @ 2,000 rpms. I'm new to this so I'm learning as I go but I have no idea how to check the plenum gasket so looks like I'll be doing some reading to figure out how to do it.

Question: Does it make much of a difference if you polish your throttle body compared to just cleaning it with some carb cleaner?

 

[LoudRam]

Thanks fellas. I went ahead and ran up to Autozone and got some seafoam. Put 1/3 in my intake, 1/3 in my oil, and 1/3 in my gas tank like it said. It had a good bit of smoke coming out of it but not as much as I thought it would be.. stopped smoking after about 30 seconds of running @ 2,000 rpms. I'm new to this so I'm learning as I go but I have no idea how to check the plenum gasket so looks like I'll be doing some reading to figure out how to do it.

Question: Does it make much of a difference if you polish your throttle body compared to just cleaning it with some carb cleaner?

Sure, you can polish your TB but you won't see that much of a difference.

Did you see those walls around your TB opening when you took your air cleaner off? I cut them off, ground it down and polished it to get it smooth for better air flow. That is where you'll see a difference from polishing. I did this when I repaired my plenum gasket because you should take off the TB when doing this.

If your looking for some performance gains the general rule of thumb is open up the intake and exhaust and then get a programmer or a custom flash. That's what I did and I love the gains I got.