I bought my beloved cummins 5 months ago from a dealership up here in edmonton alberta, and i started to notice oil underneath the truck and just shruged it off to a leaking gasket or a not emptied blow by bottle. The problem just got worse so i popped the hood when the engine was running and took a look, you can see smoke coming out of the blow by bottle with the truck at full running temp. the smoke is pretty thin and just a little white. The truck uses an estmaited 1.5 liters of oil to 5000km (3000miles) The oil is still somewhat clean when i change it, so that to me rules out somthing like a cracked ring or other devistating things. Now i wrench on heavy equipment so i am used to seeing big engines use 2 liters and not even think about it, is this somthing to be worried about, or is it somewhat normal.

I suspect the previous owner ran cheap dino oil and now i am running 5-40 delo synthetic for our cold winters, so now all the oils comin out.

One other thing, i have oil pooling infront of my turbo. Its about the height of what you would get on a dipstick and about as wide as a thumb... I have just a slight bit of shaft play well within spec and no in and out play.

First time posting be nice to me

 

is there a vacuum leak in it i know a fellow worker who has a 01 one and he had something along the same ines as wht you are describing. he found a rubber line i cant recall what for had rubbed through. it was kind of around the intake and TPS area if i recall correctly. i maybe wrong but hey imno mechanic

 

First post, wow, welcome aboard.

The thin, white smoke is pretty normal, on my 96 which doesn't have the bottle, you see the white smoke real clearly. Most engines smoke and drop a few drops of oil from the blowby tube. In fact, some engines actually have a steady drip of oil.

In terms of your oil consumption, my 01 burns about one quart every 4,000 miles or so, depending on how hard I drive it. I've heard some guys go 10,000 miles without using any oil, others add a quart every 1,000 miles. Again, I think your oil consumption is pretty normal.

However, I don't think oil in the turbo is normal. I think you may be looking at some bad turbo seals.

 

I have a steady thin wisp of smoke coming from the road draft tube on my truck once it's warmed up. I burn about a quart or so every 5,000 miles. The oil in the turbo is definitely not normal. I would side with DL1221 and say its bad seals.

 

good to see this smoke is normal, yea i have never seen oil in a turbo on a big truck (cat's) and ive seen some messed up stuff.

But to those with the smoke, is the entire front end of you truck coverd in oil (axel, steering and such) cause mine sure is. I suppose this is the reason for the blow by tube relocation!!!!!

i will check the turbo tom and see if there is any oil in it so i have an idea of how fast its coming out.

Thanks for all the great answers sure beats all the help i have been getting

 

Yep the underside of my truck is all "wet" as well.

BTW there is a get togehter planned for later in Feb with possibly a chance to play on a Dyno in Edmonton. You should check it out.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=127860

Just read the last few pages.

 

My axle, radiator and steering linkage were covered in oil until I removed the bottle and extended the tube down to the differential.

 

Can you replace the turbo seals or is it just best to get a new turbo...

 

Yes, you can replace the seals. I don't think the rebuild kits are that expensive. I would pay a little more and have a pro do the work that way you get a balanced shaft.