All right guys and gals, my truck has been leaking oil out of the oil breather bottle since I bought it. Right now it is leaking about a quart a week (that's ridiculous.) It is still under warranty but I need my truck and I don't want it out of service. I talked to the diesel mechanic at my local dealership and he told me that there should be a hose that runs from the valve cover to the breather box (sounds like a pcv valve to me.) He said that it was clogged up and that was why it was blowing so much oil out. When I started looking for it I couldn't find it. There is no hoses going from my breather box other than the one that goes to the motor and there is no way it could be clogged up. So has anybody else had this problem and if so how did you fix it? Thanks.
Ross

 

Alot of guys will run the tube into a fill bottle to catch excess oil. The only time mine leaks is when I over fill the crank case. Have you tried running on the lower side of the dip stick?

 

sounds like you have a high blow-by issue with that engine, if your under warranty , have it check out for high blow-by , number of things could cause that along with vacumn pump , turbo , worn or broken piston rings.

 

My truck is still under warranty and I took it to the dealership this morning and I'm sitting here at the house waiting on them to call me. This is really more agitating than something that would be really serious. I have let it get about 3 or 4 quarts low but that doesn't slow the leaking down any. When ever I stop I still end up with a puddle the size of a basketball under my truck. I'll let you know what I find out.

 

Take the truck for a drive and if it isn't fixed don't take it off the lot. They do play this game and you will lose or be very fustrated till it is resolved. Should have left mine at prince george bc dollarshop. when on the first visit back........ Rant off for now.

 

well i went monday and picked it up and they told me that the power steering pump goes into the front of the motor into a vacuum pump. that vacuum pump pumps oil somewhere, anyway the gasket on the front of the p.s. pump is leaking around it. well, they can't just get the gasket they have to get the whole pump which will cost me with the labor $636 with the mechanic giving me a break on the labor. he said it would take him about 4 hrs to do because he would have to tear down the front half of the motor or something like that. but the ps pump isn't covered under the 5 year 100k powertrain warranty because it is bolted onto the motor its not actually part of the original motor is what i was told. i'm thinking about calling DC and raising some cane for a little while and see if i can't make them cover it. if i thought i could get the pump off and get the right gasket without screwing something up myself i would, but i don't really want to take that chance so i'm going to take it to a local diesel mechanic and see what he says it will cost me. now its starting to annoy me.

 

It sounds like your vacuum pump seal is leaking. The seal is cheap but is a minor pain to repair, but is not too much for a weekend warrior mechanic. Mine was leaking about a pint a month and I replaced it myself....

Gary

 

So you stated that the "bottle was catching the oil" but the tech is saying "leak from around the vac pump". Quite a few holes in this story.... Do you know for certain that the oil catch bottle was full? Have you personally emptied it out? ....and the "hose" from the "valve cover" is actually located on the very front of the engine on a big round screw on cap. Hose runs from this cap to the bottle that you should rid of or relocate anyways.....and neveragain now has 211 "rant" posts .

 

if it is still under warranty, i would have iit fixed as so.......

 

Are you sure there isn't something more seriously wrong with your engine? At 128K miles I may be down a quart in between 6000 mile oil changes. I would have to drive a year to let it get down 3-4 quarts.

 

I thought that it was the breather bottle that was leaking. When the mechanic looked at it he found that it was leaking from the vacuum pump seal as scuzman00 said. He told me that unless you cranked it up and watched it for 20 mins or so you would think that it was leaking from the breather bottle because of where the leak is coming from. I really think I could probably replace the seal myself but I would rather not screw anything up, so I am going to take it to a diesel mechanic that is close by and let them replace it for me. If it was covered under my warranty the dodge place would do it, but its not, so I'm not going to pay the 75 dollars an hour for labor while they fix it. I also do not see the point in buying the entire power steering pump when it is just a gasket that is leaking.
Ross

 

get the seal kit from cummins its under $10 and has ALL the seals and gaskets to fix it. i did mine in two hrs . seal kit also has intructions!cummins part # 4089742

 

i dont know if you fixed your problem yet but see if this helps any http://fixinrams.com/id20.html

 

The kit from Cummins has the same seal in it that caused the problem in the first place!!
I think it's more than $10.00... but not sure.

The kit from Fixinrams is $59.00, comes with instructions on a DVD and will never have a problem again... period.

RJ

 

I had bgt this kit when I posted above... but had not, as yet, installed the replacement seal!

Did it this weekend.... 3.5 hrs for someone with no familiarity with doing this job before. Had a mechanic helping (actually I was helping him).

It's not the easiest part to get to, and I would not call it a fun job, but it sure beats $600+ labor for the replacement Vacuum Pump.

I bgt two kits, but due to limited time, we did not install his kit. It's for sale in the Classified Section, for anyone interested!

RJ