Plume of vapor from hood while accelerating

[RBritt]

Last saturday, left for 200 mile trip on my new 3500 laramie with only 2500 miles on odometer. when about 20 miles into trip, i noticed a plume of vapor coming over hood on drivers side while accelerating. most noticeable when leaving a dead stop. stopped and checked under hood. no smells, no sign of fluid leaks. everything normal. stopped at first mopar dealer but service was closed on saturday. salesman there said to drive it of course. continued on and pondered the plume for 30 minutes or so. i'm not a diesel mechanic at all but mechanically inclined. with no smells or leaks i figured it had to be 'water vapor' from compressed air escaping from somewhere so i stopped, popped the hood again. mentally traced ductwork from air cleaner to turbo to radiator and back to engine. reached down to drivers side of radiator area where the duct leaves going back to engine and sure enough the clamp was loose and the duct had almost slipped off. slid the duct back on and tightened the clamp and problem solved. had it checked monday at a dealer and service manager agreed i had fixed it.

this is my first mopar and my first diesel. i cant believe the power, torque and acceleration this 2005 CTD has. i am pleased. cant wait till spring and hook up to my travel trailer to see how it pulls. i decided on the dodge after a year of reading an RV forum. i found and read TDR before buying and joined here as soon as i bought the truck. TDR should be required reading for all mopar CTD mechanics. i took it in about 2 weeks ago to order some goodies from my dealer and get the 'idle up' enabled thru the cruise and had to tell the mechanic how to do it thanks to this forum.

thanks to everone from a new CTD owner! Oo.

 

[Bob4x4]

Nice detective work. You will be impressed all over again once you hook up a trailer to that diesel.



Bob