I'm getting a couple of drops of oil out of what I think is a breather tube. It's not a lot - maybe a couple of drops every three or four days...

The tube I'm referencing is located above the front differential on the drivers side. I read a couple of posts that state that this may be from overfilling. When I check the dipstick the oil level is between the hash marks, but there are oil 'smears' ( I guess that's the best way to put it ) much higher on the dipstick than the hash marks. I hope that makes sense. When I first pull the dipstick out to check the oil is a lot higher on than the hash marks, but when I clean it, re-insert, and check again it's between the hash marks.

That said, do you think I'm overfilling it? I've put in close to 12 quarts each oil change (maybe 11 1/2 to 11 3/4 quarts each time including the pre-fill of the oil filter).

Or, if this is 'normal', any ideas what I can do to keep this thing from dripping oil when it feels like it? I think it's kind of nutty to have a brand new truck leaking oil in my garage and it be normal. Wife keeps asking why I have to leave kitty litter on the garage floor under a new truck.

Thanks....

 

It's normal but usually it blows off the tube as you drive. I've had mine leave a little puddle one time when it was new and I had just driven about 300 miles at a "good" pace. It hasn't done it since but there is always a drop hanging at the end of the tube.....
Many people attach a bottle to catch the oil so it doesn't leave a puddle. In my 98 the tube was at the front of the engine and I just hooked up a used oil bottle and just dumped it out on occasion. It takes a long, long time to fill the bottle. On the 3rd gens I think you might be able to re-route the blowby tube and do the same thing.....

 

Ever wonder why DC done away with the bottle? maybe there client base changed?................Yuppies!

 

Totally normal. The more you over fill the more blows by.

 

Just park it on the front yard!

 

It is very important to make sure the end of the tube is not submerged in oil that has collected in the bottle. The end of the tube needs to be exposed to atmospheric pressure