Hello guys, Let me introduce myself: I have been in the background here for a while and finally have the time to participate. (Well hopefully I can contribute something along the way) At this point let me give you a little background. I had a 04 ford 250 p/s, which let me down several times. I was working with a great dealer, but the truck left me stranded with my trailer and riding buddies to often. I tried a gas truck f250 5.4 3 valve and it had a transmission issue (loud clunk going into 3rd), which Ford said was normal operation. Long story short I’m done with Ford.

Now, karma owes me one so I guess that’s why I ended up in a 2500 CTD 6-sp Q-cab. So far the truck has been great. It just pulls and pulls with no drama. I do have several questions and welcome your opinion.

The truck has an oil smell but no leak, I just changed the oil (rotella15/40 ci4+) @ 1250 miles and theirs nary a drip. I did notice a drain tube on the left side, which I assumed was some sort of pcv and the hose had a small drip. Has anybody else had this problem and is it associated with break in? I found a post about this and it implied it was the additives in the new oil vs. old oil. Kinda sounds like B.S. to me.

I have lots and lots to learn about these trucks and hopefully I won’t be so **** long winded next time. Thanks for your time.

 

Welcome back - I too am an ex-Ford owner, though I didn't have the problems you mentioned.

The smell you're getting is what a lot of us call the 'Rosmella' effect. For some reason Rotella absolutely stinks in these trucks for about the first 100-200 miles after an oil change.

My only experience with other oils in this truck is Valvoline Premium Blue, which is actually the Cummins 'recommended' oil. It doesn't stink.

I'm sure others will give you some additional opinions soon.

 

Congrats on your new truck, I love my first CTD. I still have my 87 6.9 with banks turbo and it was and still is a great truck. All of the new ones are not going to be as trouble free as the old ones with mechanical fuel inj and no computers,(IMHO) but they sure do drive and pull good. Have not changed my oil myself yet as the first one was free at dealer. Lot of posts on here though about stinkin oil after changing, mine didn't but I don't know who makes Mopar oil.Valvoline?

 

Thanks for the fast replies, Next oil change I'll try the valvoline/cummins blue. So far the truck has exceeded my expectations. Man these inline 6's just pull!

 

I switched from Rotella to Delo 400 because of the stink.
And congrats on the new truck!

MikeyB

 

I swiched to Rotella synthetic the last 2 oil changes and the first one stunk and the second one did not. I dont know why but Rotella seems to stink for the first few hundred miles. I agree abought how well these things pull. My budie with a Dmax dont like beeing ribbed abought how I get more power out of 6 cylinders than he does out of 8. He dident even realize the Cummins where I6's till I strated giving him crap abought it. Enjoy the new truck.

 

Dandy, Welcome back from the darkside! (me too 3 dmax, 1psd). While I never had a stink, I've used synthetic from the 1st oil fill. PetroCanada for first 100k at 12.5k intervals and with good oil reports, Then once we upped the power significantly, Royal Purple, and now CenPeCo. Yep that tube is a "breather" tube and there is a TechServiceBulletin on it....If you want to continue using Rotella which is an excellent oil....dino for first few changes then go to synthetic....just extend that breather back about three feet so that you don't get any fumes into the cab air intake....that should help elliminate most of the stink. All the best. ks

 

Try the chevron delo 400 or mobil delvac 1300 verses the rotella,I think this will reduce your smell. coobie

 

Thanks again for your time fellows. I have thought about extending the tube, but I'll wait until my next oil change and see how things go. I'm relieved that this is a normal yet stinky condition.

 

After having the so called oil change smell everyone talks about on here. I looked into it a bit farther. What I found the smell was on my 04.5 is when they are new the varnish on the exhaust manifold needed to get real hot and burned off. It seems that just driving around town never realy got it hot enough to burn it off. But when I towed something or giver hell on the freeway it had that smell when I came to a stop.

 

As above the Rotella it's Smelly for the first few hundred miles. Go to another brand of oil, I use Delo 400 and no smell. Also Cummins recomends 15-20000 miles before using synthetic. Lets the engine break in better. Otherwise takes a lot longer to seat rings etc.

 

I like synthetics that is why I run the Valvoline premium blue full synthetic.

Rick

 

Welcome, you made a wise choice on your cummins. What do you like about your current truck over your old one? You know, other than the fact that it RUNS... JK. You'll find more info than you can remember here and lots of good people...