Eagle Driver

Well, I didn't have anything better to do today, so I pulled the wipers off and went to work. Wow. I can not smell any fumes in the truck now, and now I can actually feel the air being sucked out of the intake (between the wipers), unlike before where i could hear the fan sucking air, but couldn't tell from where. Here's what i learned that I wish the other instructions would have included:

1. The wiper arms have a little spring loaded retaining tab on the cab side of the arm that releases the wiper arm when held out while pulling the wiper out.

2. There are two retaining hooks for the wiper area cover that hold the cover to the firewall. Pushiing down between the wipers and pulling out disengages them, NOT simply pulling out.

3. There is a piece of all weather aluminum tape already over the port on the passenger side of the truck. To access the two open holes that must be covered, you must remove this tape (shiny, approximately 5" x 7"). THE EDGES OF THIS TAPE WILL CUT YOU VERY EASILY. You've been warned, I wish I had...

4. There are a total of 4 holes that need to be covered, 2 sets of 2 on each side facing the fender. Make sure to leave a small hole for water to drain out (it's obvious which ones are the drain holes).

Total time to do this fix was 1.5 hours, above hints would have saved me 30 minutes. Email me or pm me if you'd like some pics.

Vittorio

If y'all are patient the whiff of crankcase oil disappears at about 5,000 miles (in my case).

cma1day

52,000 miles mine still there....my question is how do u fix the hood seal ??...this is one of the problems

rjweiss

The hood seal is easy, just take some 1" foam pipe insulation, the stuff with the split running down the length of it and piggy back it over the factory seal.

It adds some thickness to that seal and helps seal the cowl area.

Didn't d to much to stop the cab smell though

ron W.

cma1day

thanks ill do that as well as the other and hope

smiller

Well, FWIW I just got done with this mod (pretty straightforward except that dealing with the 2-piece plastic plenum cover can be a PITA until you figure out the tricks) and it seems to have completely eliminated the smell I noticed every time I stopped with the AC/heater/vent on.

One important item I would like to point out... it is very important to place weatherstrip on the bottom of the front lip of the plastic plenum cover where it contacts the firewall (note that this is in addition to the often-mentioned advice to add weatherstrip where the hood meets the cover, which is also a good idea). There is already some weatherstrip all around the bottom of the plenum cover from the factory but it is thin, hard, and pretty much useless, and if you look carefully there are some very significant gaps where the plastic cover meets the firewall which could admit a lot of air from the engine compartment. If you don't seal these by adding some better weatherstrip then you may be pretty much wasting your time in only blocking off the holes in the side of the plenum chamber - both must be done (at least in my truck) if you really want to seal the plenum chamber off from the engine compartment.

If you skipped this the first time and didn't get good results I would go in again and reseal at this point. You will have to remove the cover again but, hey, it's a lot easier the second time...

cma1day

plenum???? what is that???

alltork

I think smiller was talking about the black plastic cowling that runs from fender to fender underneath the wipers.

cma1day

ok thanks

smiller

Yeah, I did mean 'the black plastic cowling that runs from fender to fender underneath the wipers', but 'plenum cover' seemed shorter. Sorry if I confused anyone.

fanofthewolf

I'm gonna try it. Mine smells much worse with Delo oil, smell went away with delvac. But I must be, getting fumes without the stink to let me know, like sulfur in propane. Poor air quality, just no smell.

Lightman

I have no smell with delvac 1300. Remember crankcase ventilation fumes etc are always much higher when your oil is overfilled! No matter how long I drain my 04, I can't get a full 3 gals in. If I do I'm over the full line on the dipstick. Some claim to be able to...

alltork

When you plug the two holes on each side under cowling are you talking about the two elongated holes on innerside of fender ? I'm talking about two holes closest to inner fender that run up to down not any that lay flat under cowling? I'm just hoping I plugged the right holes.

smiller

Alltork - Yes, the two elongated holes on innerside of fenders are the ones you want to seal (well, leave a little bit of the lower one open for a drain). The big openings that lay flat under the cowling (one on each side and one in the center) should not be covered as they admit air into the HVAC system from the outside and will not introduce air from the engine compartment if the plenum area is sealed. Actually Dodge does seem to cover the one on the passenger side with that (sharp!) aluminum tape... not sure why they seal that up but I assume that they had their reasons. But there's still the other two holes so the HVAC should still be able to get plenty of air.

Tested again today and after the seal job I can detect no odor at any of the 'usual' places that I used to... so I'm pretty happy as it was starting to get annoying having to turn off the AC/heater whenever I stopped.

To the other posters: No, this problem has nothing to do with how old the vehicle is or when the oil was last changed, etc.

fanofthewolf

I did not get to really test mine this a.m. but I did not smell anything and I let it run a while before I went in to work.
Observation, covering the holes inside, would only seem to restrict air coming through the cowl. I did cover one anyway.
I think the fix would be to prevent under hood air from getting inside. As others did, I used the aluminum tape. Tape over the black plastic buttons that hold the fiber padding to the cab, tap the bottom and around the edeges where firewall meets the cab area and around the corners. I also taped the top part where the weather stripping that sits on the black plastic cowl under the hood meets the fiber padding. I would have like to have tried all that before taking it apart. Seems like preventing the air from the engine bay from getting into the cowl air space would be the answer.
Also there is a link in this thread with a PDF file and some very good pictures, but they did no match up with my truck.
Good luck.