I have a question, I have 22,000 miles on my truck and i got it with 19k. I am wondering if the old owner did the rear end change before i took it in. I noticed on my old truck and other dodges that there is a white mark going across the fill hole cap to the diff cover. Is this where the factory marked the placing of the cap when they installed it after filling for the first time? The mark is not lined up, so this is my only way that i know if it might have been changed. I would hate to change it only after a few thousand miles.
is this what the mark is for? would there be any other way to check if its been changed out? (probably not )

Thanks for the help,
Eric

 

If it was done correctly, you should be able to tell if the sealer around the cover is factory or replaced.

I said "correctly", but if you saw the mess I made, you'd know if it had been done or not.

 

thanks for the responce
how exactly would i be able to tell the difference?

 

The factory sealing job is usually neater than after it's been removed.

 

aww gotcha, I'll give that a looksee

 

Change it anyway. Why take the chance?

 

dodge used reuseable gaskets on the 3rd gens, there is no need to use sealer. If it has Rtv then I would guess that it was changed and the factory gasket was thrown away.

 

Whats everyone think about the white mark across the cap? anyone notice it?

 

I took the caps out of the front and rear diffs in order to inspect them for low fill levels from the factory. I put the caps back in quite snug, but I forgot to line up the factory marks on the caps, and found that I had a small leak (seepage) a few days later. I was checking the fill level on the transfer case, and noticed the seep around the fill holes on both diffs. I got the wrench out, and found out that I could tighten the the diff caps even more, and I'll be gosh darned cause those white marks from the factory somehow managed to line up again!

So yeah, I didn't notice the white marks across the cap before all this. Now that I had a leak, and put things back the way they should be, I pay more attention to it!

 

I don't think I'd take the white mark to mean anything. If it's not lined up, it could mean someone checked the oil level once. If it is lined up, perhaps it torqued back into the same position after a fluid change.

The gasket is indeed reuseable, so that's no help. Also, I know at least the local dealer prefers to vacuum out the old oil instead of pulling the cover...

Can the dealer check their computer to see if the truck was dealer serviced?

If not, I think I'd just change the oil and know for sure that it was done.