I could probably put this in a more general forum, but I'll start here. I currently own a 1998 Dodge RAM 1500, manual transmittion. As of lately, whenever I have my window rolled down and the wind blows into my cab just right (or I come to a stop), I smell natural gas. Others have noticed this as well. I've asked many people on what could be causing this, but no one seems to know. The smell of natural gas in my truck... very odd. I'm not sure if theres a correllation, but it started on July 16 of this year when I towed a travel trailer over 300 miles. On the last 150 miles, temperatures reached 105 degrees and it was then that I smelled propane very strongly. At first, I thought it was the town I was going through. However, four cities later, I still smelled it. Today, the smell isn't as strong, but it definitely lingers. Any ideas? Bad gas, maybe?

 

P.S., there were some other oddities after this trip. First, there was an oil leak that lasted about a day after the trip. There was about 1/8 a cup of oil on the garage floor. It stopped, and even after taking it into the shop, they said they couldn't see an oil leak. A week later, my "check engine" light went on for 8 hours, then turned back off. The truck appears to be running perfectly, though.

 

i dont know what it could be. never heard of that before. the only thing that comes to mind is propane injection, but they dont have that on gas motors. Im clueless

 

Thanks for the response... so far everyone I've asked have no idea why this might be the case -- the dealership, several friends who are mechanics, etc. Very wierd, but its definitely there. Oh well.

 

Are you sure it's a propane smell, and not the smell of burning oil from that leak? The two smells can be similar, and if burning oil is the source of the smell, get it checked out ASAP before you catch your truck on fire and loose it.

 

i also have been noticing what i thought was a propane smell. no idea what it is and no one else can tell me either. however, i have had no leak or anything else of the like. my MPG have dipped a little though.

 

Ramtuff, you may be onto something there. The oil leak did seem to go down one side of the engine, eventually making its way to the bottom of the truck. I don't know if its a good thing or not, but the leak has stopped. However, I should probably clean up the residue.

This is where I traced the oil leak (it might be starting even higher):
http://tdod.org/minex/truck/three.jpg

The leak made its way around the oil pan where it collected and dripped onto the cement :
http://tdod.org/minex/truck/one.jpg

 

My truck is leaking a little oil there too and I noticed my oil pressure jumping all over the place. I pulled out the old oil sending unit back by the distibutor and it was cracked down the side. I replaced it and the leak slowed down a lot but it still leaks a little bit. I think I might need to drop the oil pan and relace the rear main seal. In your case I would start with checking your oil sending unit and make sure its not leaking and dripping down the backside of the block. If that looks ok then you might have a rear main seal leaking or it could just be something as simple as an oil pan gasket.

-Dave

 

I agree with Moparman, check the oil pressure sending unit. They have a tendancy to leak. Looks like you have a leak from the front somewhere though, because you have oil on the motor mount. Could be the pan gasket or even the timing chain cover gasket. Clean it up the best you can, and keep an eye on it. Hopefully you'll be able to tell where it's coming from.

If you can't find the leak, take it to a mechanic that has a UV leak detector. They'll put an ultra-violet dye in your oiling system, and then check around with a UV light...any new oil coming out of the leak will have the dye in it and stand out against all the old oil that's coating everything, so they can track down where the leak is coming from.

I bet if you check your exhaust y-pipe you'll find an oil stain on it somewhere, and that's where the smell is coming from. You have to be careful with oil leaking onto the exhaust. Small leaks generally aren't a huge concern, but small leaks turn into big leaks, and big leaks start fires. I almost lost my truck last week due to a split oil filter. It started a fire where the y-pipe bolts to the manifold.

 

I found the problem and thought I'd post a follow up. I do have a question too. Anyway, the problem was due to differential fluid leaking out of the rear differential. This is just a guess, but I assume when I was towing a 6000lbs trailer 600 miles through 2 passes, it caused tons of friction and heat in the rear differential. Afterwards, fluid was coming out pretty steadily from around the rubber plug. I don't know if the natural gas smell was burnt fluid or what, but it was an easy fix.

However, is this something I can prevent or was it a one time deal? Maybe the plug was bad? I hadn't replaced it since I purchased the truck in 1998. Is there better differential fluid I can use for towing purposes? As mentioned in my initial post, its a 1998 Dodge RAM 1500 QC, manual transmittion.