This is my second posting on this. At first i thought i smelled diff. oil in the cab. Now i know its rotella. When im idling with the fan on either hot or cold, it becomes nauseating in the cab. This has been going on for a few months now. I havent done anything that would have made it do this. About all i've done was put some fiberglass heat barrier on the ex. manifold and valve covers. It doesnt seem right that the HVAC system would draw air from inside the engine compartment. Unless its drawing it from where its supposed to and the engine just bay just shouldnt be making this awful engine oil smell. Any ideas? The truck is unbearable to sit in at a red light.

 

There should be a seal between the hood and the cowl, I've seen that loose/falling off on a lot of trucks.

 

After researching problem, i discovered i'm not the only one w/ this prob. I'm Going to extend the vent tube to the back of the truck and probably switch from rotella to dello. If that doesnt fix it, there might be a 97 dodge for sale.

 

I had the same problems as you and the fixes you're doing fixed mine also.

 

There's an additive that mopar makes that you can add to the oil that is supposed to get rid of the smell. I saw it in Genos.

 

My 07 does it after a fresh oil change. Careful on how you plumb an extension. Some 7.3 guys did that to eliminate the oil residue in the intercooler and tubes. Created oil leaks for some when water froze in low spots and created blockage. With the 7.3 I opted for IH444 vent tube that looks like what the CTD has, vented to atmosphere along the block.I don't now enough about it to have a valid opinion but I'd dang sure find somebody that did before going the extension route. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the replies. Theres a couple more things to look for before i do uneccesary work. I just cant figure out why its never done this until now. Ive had the truck for about 5 years.

 

We need to fix the reason why its getting into the cabin before finding work arounds to reduce the smell.. and possibly creating issues rerouting it (freezing, dirt, small critters, etc)

Diesels smell, period. These generations even more so than others. But, they do have fairly good sealed cabs. Even after a fresh oil change, you should NOT smell it in the cab. When you walk around the front of the vehicle, yes, but not in cab.

Look at all the firewall grommets, ensure the seal across the cowl like mentioned is there, etc.

Id be worried about the fumes that arent raw oil getting in the cab more so.

 

I'll bet it's the seal. It goes completely across the cowl and tends to not stay put! May not even be there.

 

I've heard quite a few folks complain that the new CJ motor oil smells more than the old CI rating. This applies to other brands besides Rotella including Delo.

 

I had the Rotella smell in my 96 and had it in my 04 as well but I switched to Valvoline Premium Blue and havent had as bad of a problem there is still an oil smell but not nearly as bad as with the Rotella.

People are mentioning problems with venting and such well do you have your vents on fresh air? That brings in the air from the outside where the oil smell more so is, try it on recirculate and if you have the same problem THEN I could see a sealing problem otherwise its normal.

 

I think its a sealing issue. It doesnt make sense that any fumes from under the hood should make their way into the cab. It has been a recent thing that its started to happen so maybe a seal has worn out. It gets far worse when the fan is on but it still gets to stinkin even when the fans off. At first i was thinking that somehow, the vent that draws air in might have had something happen to it to make it pull air in from the engine compartment. I'll go start looking for rubber seals and hopefully i can find something that looks like its come undone.

 

Odd that his is posted now. I just had a nasueating drive to work this morning, on a wet, cold, rainy morning (so no windows down, first time in a long time that way) and I really couldn't place the smell. I'm thinking blowby, but it's not easy to tell. It somehow reminded me of coal burning, more than anything else. Wonder if it's the same smell you're getting. Again, I changed oil 4000 miles ago (rotella), have owned this truck 6.5 years, and have never had this smell before.

 

Someone got it right when they called the smell B.O. Thats what it smells like to me. I dont even like to drive the truck, knowing thats its gonna start stinking whenever I stop.

 

You will also smell it more in the winter time because in the summer time and you are using your air conditioning the air is being recirculated from inside the cab and not drawing in fresh outside air like it is doing with the heater.

When I am on the freeway and I get stuck behind a livestock trailer hauling stinky cattle or pigs or chickens or someone in the car in front of me has a big stinky cigar I will always turn on the A/C to Max so I am not drawing in the outside air.

Mine also has little episodes of stinky and I will think about tomorrow checking it out and then it will be gone as quickly as it came.

The later years were an engineering masterpiece to put the puke bottle by the fan so it could blow it all over the place, what were they thinking.


Jim