I have almost 30K on my truck and have been pulling since 2K. My trailer is about 8K loaded. It seems like I have a high amount of blow-by after pulling. This trip of 300 miles, my TT again has oil droptlets all down the sides, mostly on the left (drivers) side. The underside of the truck is wet with oil, but does not seem to be dripping anywhere but from the blow-by tube. Truck is stock with plenty of power, no other problems. Oil was changed 3000 miles ago. Oil level is in the middle of the range which is down slightly from when it was filled. This happens every time I pull. Between pulls the oil dries up after a few car washes and does not come back. Does not seem to be getting better. If anything, it's getting worse. On a trip from Texas to Florida I put it down to sustained highway speeds of 75 MPH. This short trip of 300 miles, I intentionally kept the speed down and there is more oil on the trailer than on the Florida trip. At 30K miles, with regular trailer pulling I'd say my truck is broken in and the oil is excessive. I'm concerned, and will be taking it in for the 30K mile interval service. Can the dealer really DO anything to solve this? I think they will just tell me its normal, and that it may improve with more miles. Thoughts? I'm talking with a guy now in the RV park with a 10K 5th wheel, identical truck and he has NO oil whatsoever at 12,000 miles. He says he's never had any oil on his trailers.

 

Valves? Rings? What oil?

 

I've had the oil changed every 6K at the dealer since new. The oil used has always been these Mopar - 1 gallon containers. I don't have the Mopar part numbers, but I'm pretty sure the oil is Valvoline. I buy all my other filters at Cummins. Oil, Fuel, and Air. My trailer has dirty oil all over both sides. I'm not very happy.

 

Some owners had issues with the breather on top of valve cover. May cause excessive blowby.

MikeyB

 

I've got 15 grand on the ticker, I don't tow much, and I get all kinds of blow by. I just figured it was normal. Power level feels the same as new.

 

It's at the dealer now. They are still trying to diagnose, but have mentioned they may need to pull the head off. The truck is completely bone stock. It's still running great with lots of power, but we can't live with motor oil all over the place. I'm hoping they find something today. Meanwhile, my wife and kids are down at Corpus Christi with the trailer, and I'm back in Houston trying to get it fixed.

 

I was going to suggest checking your power steering fluid to make certain it isnt coming from there....

 

Bummer, oil all over the truck from the breather tube isn't normal. Black smoke down the side of your trailer is. Well, at least for mine. It's fun to get off.

Keep us posted on what they find.

 

The truck has been at the dealer for two weeks now, and they are convinced they need to remove the head and send it to their machine shop. They mentioned valve guides as being suspect. The truck has never leaked or used oil driving around town which is 95% of the time. The underside of the truck is always dry and the breather tube does not even drip on my driveway. When I hook up to my trailer (less than 8,000 lbs fully loaded) and pull for a hundred miles or so at 70 mph, I get oil on the underside of the truck, and on the front and left (drivers) side of the trailer coming from the breather tube. The dealer also mentioned that there was oil residue from the muffler weephole indicating some oil was in the muffler. Since there was little to no oil on the right (exhaust) side of the trailer, I don't think there was much oil in the tail pipe. The engine only has 30,000 miles on it, and has no power loss whatsoever. I have always had the oil changed at the dealer inside 6,000 miles. I have no leaks on my garage floor or driveway from the truck. This appears to only happen when pulling a load. I am VERY hesitant to allow Dodge to pull the head from the engine at this point because the truck is running so well, but wonder if this problem will ever go away without major engine work. I am thinking about getting a second opinion from another Dodge dealer or even paying Cummins to diagnose the problem. Any thoughts on how to proceed? Should I just succumb to the process and let them do the work, or take a more conservative approach of steam cleaning the crap out of the underside of the truck and monitor for any oil usage over the next 6,000 miles, or take it somewhere else? To their credit, the dealership has offered the use of a loaner vehicle while the work is being done.

 

I would say a second opinion could never hurt. In my limited experience, I've found that some of these dealership's diesel tech. abilities are fairly lack-luster.