I have a serious problem and hope to get some advice. At this point, I don’t expect to get a happy answer… I own a 2004 and a half Dodge Ram 3500 crew cab short box with the 5.9 Cummins with 188,000 kms. It has the Juice chip with Attitude monitor. Stock filter and cold air intake, but with 5” Magnaflow exhaust. If it matters, it has the leveling kit and a 3” lift and 35” tires. About last January, I noticed she was burning through about 3 litres of motor oil (Rotela) per 1000 km. It wasn’t chuggin out the blue, but it was the normal black, with a noticeable blue hue… about 4 months later, it has completely stopped burning engine oil and the smoke is back to a healthy black. No! It’s wasn’t leaking the oil… Two weeks ago at work I checked my oil level 3000 km after my last oil change and it was spot on the full line. PERFECT! I was so happy that the oil burn “magically” disappeared! But of course, Murphy’s law hit hard! When I started it after work that day, it idled VERY rough and is CHUGGIN blue smoke like a 73 Toyota Celica… I also now have massive blow-by coming from the blow-by vent tube. It smooths out considerably when I increase the rpm and start driving, but idles rough and chugs blue again when the rpms come down. She still seems to have plenty of power when I punch it and I don’t hear any extra engine noise. When I’m cruising 60 – 90 km/hour, the exhaust seems okay, but when I punch it, the blue fog appears. I’m sure this is more that a quick fix but I just wanted to get some experienced opinions before I take her to the shop on Monday for diagnostic. Thank you!

 

I dont know anythign about trucks..yet on a car though could be bad seal or head gasket. im subscribing though to learn what the outcome is.

 

Bought a car once (V8) that was running extremely rough and smoked blue smoke like crazy. The engine sounded good and had lots of power. Bought it cheap because I figured I could fix it easily and cheaply. All I did was install new exhaust valve seals. Did it without taking the head off. After that the engine purred and no more blue smoke.

Hope your problem is as easy and cheap to fix as that.

 

There are several things that can cause blue smoke. Had the oil been changed recently? It may be possible that the oil rings are wearing. I recommend a compression test. Be sure to check for play on the turbo shaft, as that will indicate it is going bad. This would present some blue smoke. You can easily do this test for shaft play yourself. Please keep us updated on the condition.

 

The oil was changed about 3400 kilometres ago. I was told it could have been a leaky turbo seal on the intake side but there is no trace of oil in the intake tube.

 

My first gut feeling is a broken ring or two. At higher rpm it doesnt have time to pull as much oil past the two parts and at idle or lower rpm it pumps oil like crazy and of course it's blue smoke.
I'm in agreement, compression check and don't forget the turbo.

 

Well, I took the truck to my buddy's 4x4 shop. He hooked it up to the computer but it didn't show any warnings. I'm not sure what other test he performed but it showed that the #6 cylinder is "dead". Since I plan to do the work myself, his recommendation was to pull the #6 injector and have it tested. Then go from there... His gut feeling is a broken ring... Or faulty injector that washed down the cylinder. I've heard online that the #6 rings seem to break on these motors more often than the other cylinders... I need a day or 2 for clearing out my garage so in the meantime, I welcome any opinions or recommendations?!

 

wish you the best, take some pics and share what you find