oil level

[JHumphries]

3 gallons of oil * . 05 (percentage of fuel in the oil) = 0. 15 gallons.
Less than a quart of diesel over at lest 3000 miles.
So, if the level is an inch over full after service, it is not likely fuel. That would be obvious in the dealers test.
Since the oil filter is new, just change the oil yourself without changing the filter, using the venting technique, and see what the level does. If you have the stuff for samples, one oil change shouldn't be too bad.
I admit the dealer should be doing this stuff, or at least be doing something.
Was this your first oil change? First at this dealer?

 

[Metalaram]

matkinson6054, You do realize that sag2 is a Cummins tech right? He is a pretty smart guy and has given out some good advise over the years.



Why don't you try (like sag was saying) taking the oil fill cap off and letting it sit for at least 15+ minuets on flat ground and then check your oil. If it was pressurized that would solve it.



It is obviously just reading wrong on the stick as I don't think that much fuel could get in the crankcase that quickly. Do remember the 6. 7's read 1/8-1/4 inch high normally even on my deleted truck with exactly 3, 1 gallon bottles of oil put in.



Bottom line, Try the first thing I said and start listening to sag2!

 

[Jim W]

The dealership told me that both the oil samples they took had no fuel in them. Thats what bothers me. And I dont know what the west coast has to do with anything but I live in Wisconsin if that makes any difference. If it goes over full again I will do my own oil analysis. We have the kits at the farm and do them all the time on the tractors and semis.

The way you were discussing your problem and not having your signature filled out fully. Sag2 guessed at what area of the country you live in.



Now my question to you is. What was the soot level in your oil from the two samples that the dealer sent in? These are record from the oil samples that are sent in by you or the dealer and provided in the oil sample report. The soot that is placed in the oil by the EGR system will increase your oil level also.

Jim

 

[matkinson6054]

I havent seen the oil sample results. The dealership just told me that there was no fuel in the oil on either of them.

And yes I realized sag2 was a diesel tech and I appreciate his advice, but not his attitude. Telling me to just drive the truck and never check the oil kinda threw me off. I never knew it was a bad thing to check the oil and be concerned when its a gallon over full.

 

[matkinson6054]

I understand that the crank case is holding pressure. If you read back I said in an earlier post that the dealership thinks the crank case is holding pressure. So now we come to the question of how is the crank case getting pressurized? Because it took a month for the oil level to go up that inch the 1st time. Thats what the dealership is trying to figure out is what is causing the pressure to build up.



Im sorry I didnt make this clear earlier but I just realized that I never really got into detail about what the dealership thinks the problem is.

 

[Jim W]

Another question for you. When you and the dealership check your oil level do you let the truck sit for 15 min's at rest then check your oil level? Or do you shut the engine off then check your oil?

This is in your owner's manual to let the truck sit for up to 15 min's to allow the oil to drain in the crankcase to read an accurate level on the dipstick.



Jim

 

[matkinson6054]

Every time I have checked the oil it is after it has sat over night.



As far as the dealership I would assume they let it sit beecause the 1st time I took it in for the oil change it took them about 3 hours to change the oil. But they did the oil sample and spent time checking everything to see why the oil level would go up. So I cant speak for the dealership but in my mind I would like to think that they are smart enough to let it sit for a while like you say.



Even my old gasser took a good 20 minutes for the oil to drain back into the pan after it was run. So to me its kinda common sense to let it sit and I hope the dealership has some common sense to let it sit.

 

[matkinson6054]

So I took my truck in yesterday for the two week "checkup". Two weeks ago they drained oil level to read full on the dipstick and yesterday it was up over full again. So the tech took the valve cover off and found that the inside of it was gummed up with a fuel oil mixture. So I dont know what happened with the two oil samples they took that they told me came back negative, but now they are saying it is fuel in the oil.



They think its a faulty injector, so they called chrysler and somebody is gonna come look at it today to help them figure it out and advise them on it.



So I dont know wat happened that they ruled fuel out in the first 2 visits and are now contradicting themselves, but as long as they figure it out and fix it Im happy.

 

[Beast2B]

how did the dealership do the first two oil analyses? i don't think any shops have the equipment to test the oil sample immediately, so do they have a quickie test strip to check fuel dilution? smell it? just wondering...

i appreciate you staying on top of this thread. thanks!

 

[matkinson6054]

I dont know what they did for the samples they just said that there didnt seem to be any fuel dilution.



And I forgot to update it since my last post. They didnt find any faulty injectors and they called chrysler. So the rep came and told them to pull the head cause there are plugs in the head that ocassionally leak or blow out. They pressure tested the head from friday to monday morning at 35psi and only lost 2 lbs of pressure.



So they put dye in the oil and coolant to see if they were mixing some how. But all the times theyve messed with it seems like they woulda noticed the oil being milky or a slug of coolant everytime they drained the oil.



So I took it back monday after a week and they tested the dyes to see if any mixing is occuring, and they said that theres no mixing.



So now they went from trying to figure out what the problem is to just telling me to keep an eye on it. Im supposed to take it back in a couple days cause I have an intake sensor that keeps throwing a code that they cant delete. Everytime they delete it, it comes right back on even after they reflashed it. So they were gonna call in a couple days when they figure it out.



So when I go back Im gonna talk to the general manager or sales manager and see what they will do for me. I doubt they will put me in a different truck but I gotta ask.



Im gonna lemon law it if the dealership wont do anything about the problems Ive been having with this truck. Im sure they will say that its not theyre problem though.

 

[AHarris]

My old truck used to read high--a little ways above the full mark. Following the advice on this board, I didn't worry about it and changed the oil every 5K or earlier if the oil change reminder came on. Never had a single problem in 3 years and nearly 40K miles.



So far the new truck hasn't shown any oil level increases in 1000 miles of daily driving. Still looks the same as it did when I checked the oil the day after I drove it off the lot 3 1/2 weeks ago.



I go with what the Cummins tech (Sag2) says--drive it and forget it.



I were the OP, I'd go to a different dealer and get another opinion.

 

[matkinson6054]

Yea if it was just going a little ways overful i wouldnt worry about it. But over the course of 2 weeks it will go an inch overfull. I had the dealership and chrysler both admit that there is definitly something wrong with the truck and that they have no idea whats wrong with it.



At this point Ive had it in there 5 times and no answers. I guess I just want to be done with this truck and get a different one cause a different truck will hopefully be a permenent solution to this problem.



Im just sick of this truck and I just cant make beleive that everything is fine and drive it till the wheels fall off. I know that is what everyone is telling me to do but I just cant drive it everyday knowing that the oil level is an inch overfull.

 

[Jim W]

Have you yourself taken an oil sample of the oil? You can purchase the kit from Geno's garage if you have not. If you decide to take an oil sample to see what is in the oil you can mail this in to a Cummins lab. The results will be available in 5 working day once the sample is mailed.



This will help in two ways, one it will tell you what is actually in the oil and if you decide to "Lemon Law" the truck you can use the results to show there is an issue.



Another question has the dealer done all of the oil changes since you have bought the truck?



Maybe you should change the oil yourself and take the time to do it correctly. Then check on a level surface every two weeks to document the oil level. See if the truck is still making oil.



I know after I started to change my own oil. The truck engine oil level has never been over the fill mark on the dipstick. Also the front drive shaft gets greased now, dealer would not grease the front drive shaft.



Jim

 

[matkinson6054]

No i havent taken an oil sample but i guess i can. We have all the stuff to do it at the farm. I figured the dealership would show the results of the oil samples they took but they never did.



Also kind of concerned cause they stopped giving me warranty sheets. They said they were gonna "keep records" of what is being done, and that they were gonna roll the last 2 times in there and the next one into one visit.



I dont understand why they would do that cause they did different stuff everytime i went in. It was by no means one continuous run.

 

[AHarris]

Yea if it was just going a little ways overful i wouldnt worry about it. But over the course of 2 weeks it will go an inch overfull. I had the dealership and chrysler both admit that there is definitly something wrong with the truck and that they have no idea whats wrong with it.



At this point Ive had it in there 5 times and no answers. I guess I just want to be done with this truck and get a different one cause a different truck will hopefully be a permenent solution to this problem.



Im just sick of this truck and I just cant make beleive that everything is fine and drive it till the wheels fall off. I know that is what everyone is telling me to do but I just cant drive it everyday knowing that the oil level is an inch overfull.

Sorry to hear you're not happy with your truck. Once I lose confidence in a vehicle it's time for it and me to part ways. Sounds like you're at that point with your truck. If I were you I'd get an older 5. 9 truck or a Chevy Duramax. Too scared of Fords to recommend them. Good hunting!

 

[matkinson6054]

Honestly that is what I was looking at. I was looking at 06 and 07 chevys and doges. the only reason I bought this new truck is because this truck was 3 grand more than the used ones I looked at. So I decided to buy new and not have to deal with someone elses problems. But so far that aint lookin like it worked out too well for me.



And I agree with you that at some point you just get sick of messing around with it and wanna dump it. That is definitly the point Im at on this truck.

 

[domehead]

I have sent my first sample to Blackstone lab with 5,000 miles on the oil. The report came back with fuel in the oil the numebr was two. That is on the high side, I will be sending another sample in on monday and I had 4,500 miles on that oil.



overall I am very happy with the truck the only real issue I think for must of us is the fuel in the oil and that can be done away with the dpt delete kits.



The truck has 24,000 miles on it and it's getting ready for another road trip towing a 26 foot boat from SC to ME. than goose neck trailer 10 ton back to SC with equipment on it.



If you can take your truck to another dealer and do your own oil sample. Dealers do not have the labs to run your oil. If they say they did ask for them to show you the lab and your results.

 

[matkinson6054]

Yes I plan on sending off an oil sample tomorrow. And I also plan on asking the next time I take it in for them to show me the results of the 2 samples they took.



As for another dealer there really isnt one. This one is already 20 miles away and the next closest dealer that I have heard good reports about is over an hour away. I dont have that kind of time to take it that far away. That would turn into an all day adventure by the time I spend 2 hours driving and another 3 or 4 hours at the dealer. Well atleast thats how long theyve been taking everytime I have taken it to my current dealer.

 

[matkinson6054]

Well I finally got my oil sample back. It took 3 weeks for some reason. But anyway the results were negative for fuel and everything that would be considered a contaminent. So now Im back to square one on this thing.



My dad called his friend the other day who is a cummins mechanic (ag. side of industry) and he said its definitly got to be fuel, and he went off and listed numerous places other than injectors that the fuel could be coming from. So I will call him tomorrow and tell him the results and go from there I guess.



Hopefully within the next day or two I can take it back to dealership and see what I can get done. Im just to the point where I dont want anything to do with this truck anymore.

 

[sag2]

I really don't want to be a thorn in your side, but now you have two oil samples showing no excessive fuel in the oil. Why are you still looking for trouble? There is nothing wrong with your truck, and you just proved it to yourself. Why torture yourself worrying about a non issue. If it were mine I would just drive it and never look at the oil level again. Change it when the overhead says to and don't worry about where the level goes. You have 100,000 miles of protection. Take a sample at 90,000 miles and I would bet my life it will come back oil and equipment condition normal.

Or you can get ulcers, a divorce, and everyone hates being around you because your always complaining about your truck, and it never breaks. Choice seems pretty easy to me.