hey i got a 2002 dodge 24 valve, i keep reading about puke bottles what is the puke bottle? and could it be causing a oil leak on the front area of my engine?

 

On the front cover of the engine on the top right you will see a rubber hose that comes off a breather and loops up and down to a black bottle. This bottle was intended to catch the "oil spray" that our engines make sure to blow by gasses in the crank case.
However since the bottle has holes to let the blow by gasses out it can only hold so much oil before it startes to over flow. Causing Overheating due to clogged radiators, to a Very messy and oily engine and front axle... They say you should empty and clean out the "puke bottle" every oil change. But most of us get tired of the greasy mess. I ended up extending the tube to behind the front axle closer to the ground, to elimanate a clogged radiator and the puke bottle was thrown away years ago...

 

As lovinCTD59 noted, the bottle is mounted on the front of the engine. But, the problem isn't when the bottle is full and oil spills out. The problem is the engine blowby air comes out of the engine loaded with oil and that air vents out right behind the engine fan. The bottle is supposed to give a place for the oil to collect so you can dump it occasionally. So what happens is the fan thereby blows that oil engine vent all over the place, also sucking it back into the radiator. That oily air in the radiator fins then collects dirt and debris, eventually causing massive air flow restriction through the radiator. The only way to fix this is to pull the radiator and clean it with degreaser and a hose. Also, you cant really visually see the problem either unless you use lights and mirrors. Adding a 3/4" hose connector and running an additional length of 3/4" rubber hose down under the engine will stop the problem. You can also run the 3/4" hose as far back as you like too but just make sure that there is NO spots in the hose where is droops far enough to allow oil to collect and puddle otherwise the hose will become blocked and you'll pop an engine seal.

 

hmmm alright well thanks for the info guys! this is my first dodge diesel and still trying to learn and fgure it out haha so one last question would that cause a smaller drip of oil underneath my engine near the front when the trucks idling??

 

No. Even though the engine vent vapors are oily its not as much oil as you're thinking. And understand that the reason for the catch bottle is to provide a place for the oil to collect over time.....not because oil is pouring out of the engine. I occasionally get a small drip, and I mean small, on the garage floor. Not a big deal but if that's unacceptable then you can mount the catch bottle somewhere else far from the radiator or I've even seen someone go as far as build a custom polished aluminum catch box with filtered vent that was mounted to the frame. Obviously more extreme than most would ever bother with but it was cool looking. Point being is just to get those oily vapors away from the radiator.