Ok I have noticed when sitting at a stop after the engine is good and warm smoke from the front of my 1999 dodge ram. I inspected and learned it is coming form the blow by tube. Any thoughts or suggestions? Please tell me it is not a major expensive repair?

 

Very common. A good way way to see if you need new rings is to take the oil cap off when it's running, turn it over and set it on top of the hole. If the cap bounces around, you have too much blow by and need new rings.

 

Does this work on an 03 common rail as well?

 

Blow by is blow by in any engine......you either have it or you don't.

 

How pricey and involved is replacing the rings? Also I am not sure if it applies or not but i saw something on a google search about the vacuum pump having a bad seal and leaking air into the oil line which causes it????

 

I get the same thing once in a while, especially summer time, while idling after towing.

Mine is more consistent with 'steam' or vapors, as opposed to 'smoke'.

Pretty sure it's all normal.

 

How many miles on the engine?

Service interval known?

Any other symptoms?

Price and involvement for replacing the rings will be ridiculously high, might as well go for an entire rebuild at that point, or find a lower mileage donor motor....

 

139k miles on the engine i want to say i have kept the engine serviced well oil changes every 5k miles and io have always used the same oil (even though it has changed names quite a few times over the years), it was originaly diseltal now I think it is castrol tracton or something like that.
As I said I did read something about a vacuum pump seal causing simalar issue (I think) I checked the vacuum pump with a gauge hooked directly up to the pump output it has a strong vacuum of around 25 inches but as soon as you turn the engine off within 20 seconds it looses all vacuum (down to 0) . If I take the oil cap off I can see the white smoke, haze, or whatever you want to call it coming out of the hole. Other then that the truck seems to run fine and I have not noticed any issues. oil pressure at idle with the engine warm is around 30psi and as soon as I push the pedal some it goes up to about 60psi.

 

When the vacuum line on my pump broke I had excessive blow by smoke. I also only had air coming out the defrost vents. No idea on the cost of new rings. I would say your miles are pretty low and shouldn't need new rings.

 

I would not worry about it unless your are burning excessive oil like a quart every 3K miles or worse. Mine has had white smoke/steam since new, especially when it's cold out. I ran a 3/4" hose out to the rear of the truck to keep the oil off the engine. It's been there 12 years with no problems.

 

Any thoughts on vac pump not holding

 

There is no reservoir for vaccum reserve on these trucks, I would begin by checking the connection at the firewall at the top rear of the valve cover. It should tee off and have the other connection capped off. The cap on mine rotted away at 100K.

Then check the axle disconnect lines at the front axle and transfer case. The interior lines usually don't degrade or get pulled off.

would not worry about the blow by issue, sounds like normal venting you would not notice without having the oil cap off...

 

If the vacuum system is causing the condition it isn't generally the vacuum pump itself causing it, it will be a vacuum leak somewhere in the system that is allowing the vacuum pump to suck in air and vent it into the crankcase.

If you removed the line from the pump and measured 25 inches of vacuum at the pump, what you need to do now is TEE your vacuum gauge into the intact vacuum system and see what the reading is now at idle. If there are no vacuum leaks anywhere in the system, your reading should still read close to the 25 inches. If it is quite a bit lower, you need to go hunting for a leak.

 

Do a solvent based motor flush. Often if you get the pistons hot the rings get stuck in the lands on the pistons. This causes excessive blowby and some of it is vapor of unburnt fuel giving you the white smoke.

Unlikely that this is vac pump related. Vac pump will not make the white smoke, only high levels of blowby.

The rings get stuck because the piston has a set taper that swells the high end more to fill the bore. Heat it up slightly higher than normal and it swells slightly more and the rings get stuffed into the lands. The lands on almost any engine with any kind of use will be full of carbon deposits, so the rings get smashed into the carbon.

The motor flush loosens up the carbon freeing the rings, and also helps prevent it happening again by cleaning out a lot of the carbon buildup in the oil control ring and the oil cooling jets on the bottom of the pistons.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to wear out rings in that kind of mileage. Even if you ran with no oil till it seized the rings wouldn't wear out. They might overheat and anneal though.

Also, the piston temperature is not the same as the engine temperature. The pistons are cooled by the oil, and contact with the cylinder walls/wrist pin, and inlet air charge. So it is possible to have rings get stuck simply from making a hard run at full throttle. Or loading the engine after a cooling system service without the air all burped out.

If the motor flush doesn't sort it out, then you may have ring woes. Unless you have overheated it badly, I doubt it though.

 

But again I ask with the vac gauge hooked directly up to the pump shouldn't it hold a vacuum for a few minutes?" Mine looses vacuum almost as soon as the engine is turned off. If it should hold a vaccum won't that say theere it a bad seal or crack in the vaccum pump that is allowing the air to get sucked in and vent into the crankcase?