I used to own a 99 Power Stroke, but bought my dodge in 03, so i am still learning about the Cumins. I have noticed a slight oil leak on the front driver side of the engine. Front diff and front end has slight oil residue. Oil pressure is fine. I heard that that is normal for cummins. i think it is some breather tube that hangs down. I've been using royal purple in it for almost 60,000 miles now. Is is the synthetic oil? me and my family have used this oil in everything we own and have put over 200,000 miles on our fords. Im an infantry officer in the Marine Corps and am leaving for my 2nd tour to iraq on april 8th and would like to get this fixed or find out if it is just normal. Any Advice would be a big help.

 

most likely is the blowby tube. easy way to check is wash the under side of truck and then extend tube further down temporily and see if the oil comes back. when I switched to synthetic oil I notice more oil residue under the truck. from what have read it is normal

 

It could be the front overflow

But it could also be the vaccum pump seals.

I had this happen to me. Its like a $60 part from Dodge for the seal kit. But its kinda a PIA. Took me a few hours.

Look underneath and see if oil is coming out from inbetween the engine and powersteering pump.

This is a very common problem, apparently my Dodge dealer stocks like 8 of these.

It could just be the overflow, as I thought my seals went again only to figure out it was the front overflow.

 

Vacuum Pump Seal is very common leak area. It often looks like the breather bottle. Dodge says their Vacuum pump in non repairable and must be replaced ($600+) but this is no longer true!

Read here.... http://fixinrams.com/id21.html

Not a fun Job... but $59.00 is a lot better than a new pump! Clean it off well and watch it at idle for 10-15 min. Should start dripping if that's it. Mine leaked for 6 months without getting much worse.... a qt @ 3-4,000 miles.

Keep your head down.... and THANK YOU!

RJ

 

Thanks guys, i am greatly appreciative of the information.

 

I don't know if your oil is Synth, but I do know all synthetic oils have a greater moleculer affinity...Basically they oil sticks to things better then dino. That means that the tiniest leak will spread thinner and look bigger. Worried the crap outa me whan I switched my first more then 20 yrs ago. I looked into every source to be sure that the weeks pay I had just dumped into my baby wasn't eating it apart.
Turns out that the property that makes people nervous is the same one that makes it better then reg oil. If it sticks and spreads then it forms a better barrier to things like water and other metal parts.

 

the seal kit from cummins is less than ten dollars...if you need the part # here it is ,4089742 seal kit comes w/ instructions