My first issue with the new truck

[Kirwin]

I have 2,201 miles on my new truck. I was under the truck last night actually scoping out how to get the oil filter out of there and what do I see... . oil on the front edge of the oil pan and drops hanging from the oil pan bolts! Oil has been blown aft under the engine by the airflow under the truck. Its not saturated under there or anything like that, but there is definitely leakage somewhere. I checked the oil pan bolts on the front and they were tight, none of them moved when I attempted to tighten them anyway. There is oil on the front gear case cover to gear case seam but its impossible to tell if it is the source, or the front main seal may be leaking or I guess it could be the gear case to block seal. It hadn't dripped on the floor yet. The truck has been parked in my garage since last Tuesday at about 8:30 PM until Monday at about 2 PM so I think we are looking at weapage vice an actual leak. I'm going to do some more looking tonight to see if it could possibly be leaking from some where higher on the gear case cover. I want to determine where I think it's coming from before I take it to the dealer and they decide I need to replace the engine. :--) I hate to, but I guess I'll have to take my truck back to the dealer and have them take a look at it.

 

[MelvinPierce]

Why would they replace the engine, instead of fixing a seal or gasket? Isn't that kind of like saying, I need an oil change, so better change the engine?

But, I would let the dealer deal with it. It is under warranty. If you go messing with things, and it keeps leaking, they MIGHT say YOU caused the problem.

 

[RustyJC]

That's why you have a warranty. Take it to the dealer and tell 'em it's broke, fix it please. Seriously, if your dealer has a technician that's worth his salt, let him take care of it. If not, find another dealer who does.



Rusty

 

[Kirwin]

Lighten up guys, I was being facetious. I know it can be fixed but I was hoping for no such problems, like my last 4 Cummins engines! Trouble free! Ken

 

[SierraRam]

3 out of four aint bad

 

[sag2]

It isn't a bad idea to clean it up and see where the source is before you take it in. That way if they give you the old guess, you know to get it out of there.

 

[Gonzo 1066]

At about 2000 miles my new truck had several drops showing from the rear seal area, I wiped them off and they have not reappeared. I assume that the seal just wore in.

 

[Kirwin]

I thoroughly cleaned the entire front of the engine as far as I could reach from the under side of the truck and everything else on the front of the truck that showed any droplets (most were on steering linkage and the stabalizer bar). The fluid did not feel or smell like oil on my finger. There wasn't a lot of it. I'm thinking that maybe it's some kind of preservative that was sprayed onto something and melted and collected on the lowest part of the front of the engine. It could have come from the front seal I guess and stopped after the seal seated on the crank. I'm going to keep an eye on it for a little while and see if it comes back.

 

[Kirwin]

Well this problem is not going away. I'll be getting an appointment with a dealer after the new year and let them have my baby to get his annoyance fixed. It has only left a couple of drops on the garage floor, but its making mess under the engine. I hate to take it too them but, if its the joint between the gear case/block/oil pan as it appears that can be a big job.

 

[larime2013]

I have a 2013 larime 2500 cummins had leak on power steering hose from resevor dealer put hose clamp on it fixed i thought it was the gear box but flued was being tosed around by air flow hope your is as simple as mine was love the truck

 

[Kirwin]

After much research on my part on who the right mechanic was to work on my truck, at 4500 miles I took the truck into Star Motors in Suffolk. Albert added two dye packs to the oil and drove the truck. At first they couldn't find the leak but after the truck sat a while, there was evidence of a slight oil leak at the front crank seal. Seal replaced under warranty. Hopefully that's the end of it. They also reflashed my PCM, ABS and DOC(?) modules with some updates and installed some flash updates to my fancy radio. They also attempted to enable my rear fuel filter heater but that I had to go back today to get fixed. You can read that saga here:https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?245765
All in all a positive service experience. I don't like other people working on my truck, and who knows what works different with all the the computer code they just installed! Ken Irwin

 

[Kirwin]

Well I'm going to have to take my truck back again for the same issue. My oil leak is still with us. Ram replaced the front crankshaft seal at 4,450 miles. I'm now at 5,050 miles and this is what I'm seeing. I cleaned and inspected the area after the seal replacement so this is new leakage. I'm convinced that it is from the RTV joint at gear case/oil pan/block joint as there is no oil present above pan on the block. I think I'll ask then to lower the oil pan, clean up the block and reapply RTV to the joint. We'll see if that fixes it. If they want to pull the gear case, I'm not going to allow it. I'll just wipe off the oil every oil change for a while. Do you know what has to be removed on front of the truck to pull the gear case if that is the source???? :{ Oh no you don't Mr. service technician. I'll have to think about that long and hard. It doesn't leak that bad! #@$%!

 

[sag2]

I'm with you. It is a fairly major job to remove the gear case, so be careful what you wish for. Getting the pan off isn't a piece of cake either.

 

[Kirwin]

I'm with you. It is a fairly major job to remove the gear case, so be careful what you wish for. Getting the pan off isn't a piece of cake either.

Sag2, can I just drop the pan down, clean the gasket surface on the block, remove all the old RTV at the joint, then cut a new the gasket into two pieces, reinstall the gasket, leaving the gear case where it is, the way it is; then put some RTV at the two gear case to pan joints? I'd use a small amount of RTV at the cut in the gasket just to be sure. Do you think this is doable? I really don't want to pull the entire front end of the truck part, but I don't want my truck to leak for the next 300K miles either. It is a manufactures defect after all. What do you think? Ken Irwin

 

[DonFitzwater]

Cutting the gasket in half sounds like a really really really bad idea. I recommend leaving it up the boys at the dealership and see how it goes.

 

[EDankievitch]

If it's under warranty let the dealer do it. If your not happy with the dealer you,ve been using just ask on here who you should go to in your local.