Got the urge to look under my CTD the other day and I think I may have an oil leak. I am no mechanic so bear with me please. It appears that there is some dirty oil residue on the bellhousing(?) right behind the oil pan. The residue is even on the vertical surface where the tranny connects to the engine. Could this be the rear main seal going? It looks like the vent tube is close by to this location , could this be causing it?

I ended up paying out of pocket on my dakota when the rear main seal went out on my Dakota. It actually started well within the warranty period But I assumed it was other vehicles leaving the drips in my drive since it was newer. I don't want to make that mistake again. Any suggestions? I have about 12K miles on the CTD now. Anyone else with any leaks on their 3rd gens?

 

Check to ensure that the oil is not coming from your oil overflow tube. If you have too much oil in your truck it will come out the overflow and blow all over everthing... The 2nd gen 24 valves had the overflow at the front of the engine, and I learned my lesson about having someone else change my oil, I had oil everywhere.... Good starting point.

 

mine does the same thing. I emailed cummins about the problem and they told me that it was just blow-by, they say it will stop the more miles you get. We will see.......

 

I was crawling under mine last week and low and behold I thought I had an oil leak....however after further investigating I noticed that it was from the oil vent line. Apparently when cruising at highway speeds it blows a fine mist of oil on the oil pan...needless to say I was relieved that it wasn't a major leak.

 

The same thing happened to mine and i ended up retorquing the oil pan bolts and the next time i checked the leak had stopped. The bolts were on the loose side. Hope this helps !