reedy175

Honestly, checking my gauges and keeping my fluids topped off, I would drive my truck across the country any day, but I may want to fix the leak sometime. Attached is some pics of where the oil is dripping onto all my front end components, but I cant seem to pinpoint the leak. I just changed the VP44 a month ago, I changed the steering box too. (does not appear to be PS fluid). I have driven almost 5000 miles this month so there is that too. I already know I have a leak coming from my vacuum pump, but its not an issue. I suspect it is the front cover, any other opinions would be truely appreciated

AggieJustin

Have you checked the breather bottle? From those pictures, it looks like the bottle is full and the contents are being scattered around by the fan.

That bottle was Dodge's solution to a rust free undercarriage.

reedy175

Couple things on that comment; What exactly is the breather bottle, where is it, is it common that it gets full? Cause I actually thought I filled it with too much oil the first time I changed it this month cause it did appear to be coming from the overflow, but now the level is perfect, but it is still leaking from somewhere.

kurt eric

Are you sure it's engine oil and not transmission fluid? I know its a dumb question, it would be obvious for sure..... The transmission cooler line at the plastic tube/hose clamp looks pretty broken down. I just replaced all three of mine having first thought it was engine oil at the case. It's worth a better look, you can get a pin hole in the rusty part of the line, it weeps out and when driving the air rushing under the truck will spread it every where! AggieJustin is spot on with the breather bootle too!

reedy175

Great point, I will check on that. One time I mistaken coolant for oil, so Im not beyond checking for sure.

AggieJustin

If you look at the front of the engine, directly in front of the injector pump, you'll see a round cover with a hose coming straight up out of it. That hose then does a 180* and heads straight down in front of the engine. Unless the bottle has been lost over the years, there will be a black plastic bottle on the end of the hose that has holes in the sides. This is the breather bottle that I was referring to. It will generally build up some oily residue and the holes in the sides allow the oil to get thrown around by the fan blades. It results in an oily front and bottom of the engine and usually ends up clogging the radiator fins as well as oil gets pulled through the rad by the fan.

If you did overfill, it's possible that some of the excess oil got sent out of the breather hose and contributed to the big mess.

The bottle is supposed to be drained and cleaned at each oil change, but that still doesn't prevent the mess. You can re-route the breather hose (plenty of topics on here about how) or you can pull a sock over the bottle to help prevent the oil from getting slung around by the fan. The sock isn't foolproof, but it does help things stay somewhat cleaner up front till my next oil change.