oil film on dirt side of air filter

[dagger]

03 ram 3500 4x4 5. 9 ho 70,000 mileson eng, manual trans . oil film and dirt on dirt side restricks air flow. filter minder goes to 70%used after 5,000 miles. no oil or dirt in intake hose to turbo air filter is the stock oem filter

 

[rbattelle]

dagger,



Welcome to the TDR! I'm not sure what your point is in this post... are you complaining about the 70% reading on the filter minder? If so, perhaps you have the "old style" minder, which is a known defect on the 03 trucks. You need to get the updated minder, which has a stronger spring and won't pull down to 70% right away.

 

[Tony T.]

Changed Filter

I changed my stock filter at a little over 12,000 miles. Filter was pretty dirty with the oily residue. Filter minder showing 65% restriction. According to the owners manual there is no set mileage interval to change filter, and it says to rely of the filter minder to tell you when to change. My truck was built before February 2003, so it also supposedly had the miscalibrated filter minder from the factory (one with the weaker spring). I took it to the dealership about one month ago, and the had them replace it with the new filter minder (stronger spring) that supposedly is not to pull down as quick. You can do a search, and find more on this subject in the search forums. A certain amount of a dirty filter is as some say more fuel efficient, but how much, I do not know.

 

[JPM]

It must be drawing oil mist from somewhere. Its not supposed to to get that dirty that quickly.

 

[dagger]

oil film

im not concerned with the filter minder but the filter itself and where the oil is coming from. every time i see this vehicle in for service the customer is concerned about the filter condition. the front of the truck is dry and i see no signs of any oilleaking around the fresh air intake to the turbo

 

[RonWeiss]

I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the diesel fume smell these trucks generate ?



I get the smell at idle with outside vent open, it's pretty strong sometimes, I'm sure it must be breather gasses and they would certainly accumulate on air filter.



Ron W.