Truck

Asked by Guru1NRZH Sep 14, 2019 at 09:26 PM about the 1999 Dodge RAM 1500 Laramie SLT 4WD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I went on a short drive and noticed I was loosing
power, not battery power but acceleration power. I
slowed down and lost all power completely and it
seems like oil spit out all over the underhood from
the dipstick tube, and white smoke(I think it was
the oil burning off the engine.) Let it sit for awhile
and it roughly started back up, drove it back with
more smoke than usual coming from
exhaust(open pipes no cat.) My buddy thinks I was
just running it too hard with too little oil, which was
a little low. Added a few quarts which decreased
the smoke some but it still seems to be lacking
some power. Idk if its the piston rings which he
suggested or if I should just top off the oil and see
if it's good to go. It seems to run fine under low
rpms. Bringing it into the shop is not an option at
this point, and rebuilding/swapping the engine is
really not an option. If anyone could help out I'd
really appreciate it, I can give more details if
requested. I drive a 99 dodge ram 1500 5.9 liter v8.

1 Answer

101,555

I'd check the crankcase was breathing properly, make sure breather wasn't fouled up, same for PCV. If crankcase is over pressurized it can blow oil out dipstick and cause loss of power. Among the things that can cause that are 1) overfilled oil, 2) excessive blow by in piston rings, 3) It may also be due to the head gasket or a cracked block. If breather & PCV are ok, may want to run a leak down test and compression test.

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