Hey guys I checked the forum and google and haven't really been able to find what I'm looking for. I have a 1999 dodge durango 5.8l 4x4. About a month ago I checked my oil and everything was A-O-K. Today my wife was dropped it off for an oil change and they called her after a while and said there was no oil on the stick. We don't have any oil in our driveway or anywhere we park and the oil pressure was always between the 40 and the next line on the pressure gauge. I'm wondering if you can have oil pressure and still have no oil on the stick or if they maybe messed somethign up and are trying to cover their butts. I guess the larger problem is finding out how my D and run out of oil and leave no traces.

 

As long as there is atleast some oil in it the gauge will show pressure... as far as where to look for the oil, check the plenum gasket. This can be done by taking off the air hat on the throttle body. Open up the butterflies and look down in.... if you see a fair amount of oil down there then chances are you gasket is blown... this is a common problem and its not a hard fix just time consuming.

Here is a thread that explain how to do it...

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ml#post2678319

and here is the replacement kit for it....

http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/p...z&partid=26190

hope that helps...

old school

 

Ok thanks for the post, I'll check that out. I actually had a machanic look at it last year because of oil loss but after about an hour on a lift with lights they couldn't say where it was comming from.

 

also check your dipstick, one member on here had a problem with his oil level reading with the manual specified amount of oil in the truck, turns out the previous owner had replaced the dipstick with the wrong one.

if you give us your engine size someone on will probably be willing to measure theirs for you as a comparison.

 

Rev it good - have someone stand behind it, make sure it's not burning the oil and sending the smoke out the exhaust too. you could also check the end of the tail pipe - see if there is any obvious oil sludge there. It usually should be a nice 'clean' carbon, like you'd find in a stovepipe or something, not oily or slimy. (By the way, when you buy a used car, that should be the most important test you do to it - check out the tailpipe. Hard to 'cover up' problems there, and most dealers wouldn't even think to.)

Although - on occasion, I've seen them only really smoke if you put a good load on the engine, probably pushing oil into the cylinders when the pressure comes up. So if you have a second car or someone to ride with you and watch out the back, give it some gas up a decent hill and see if it starts smoking. Usually oil smoke will be more of a bluish color, coolant is white.

The only other time I know of that to happen... ehh, maybe, is if perhaps the rear main seal on the engine is leaking oil into the transmission's bell housing or something. I've never torn the Durango down that far to see what's in the back of the engine there, that's just a guess.

And yet one other possibility - a blown head gasket/something cracked internally in the engine. But usually your coolant/oil will show signs of mixing. So if there's no water in the oil or oil in the coolant it shouldn't be that.

But no oil on the stick is a major 'OMG' moment - get it up to level ASAP, if you need to - park over a clean piece of cardboard and it might help show if you do in fact have a leak. Of course, if your driveway's clean, that should be good enough - I can't say that much myself... lol

Oil loss with no noticeable leak - always concerns me a lot, personally. I mean it *has* to be going somewhere...

But in the off chance that power steering fluid preserves concrete, mine will be there for a very long time....

 

Did you change the oil yet? Did it change at all with the oil change or is it still the same? Sounds like your burning oil. I agree check the plenum gasket. 200k on my D and Ive never had to change the plenum gasket thankfully. Imma try and keep it that way.

 

You said the oil change place called and told you there was no oil on the dipstick? Why would they check that before they changed the oil. Most places check after they fill it back up

 

who cares what the dipstick said. how much oil came out of the pan when the quiklube store unscrewed the drain plug ?