I have an '03 3500 CC 4x4 dually with a stinky problem. I have a fairly strong smell of hot oil after the truck is warmed up. The smell is when I'm at stop lights or idling. The smell is strong enough to give me a headache if I'm driving in a lot of stop and go traffic and I'm at the point of getting rid of it. I can't find any oil leaks, the only place it's damp is at the rear main seal. The dealership states the oil is coming from the oil vent pipe that runs right by the seal. The truck has been to the dealership at least 4 times and I always get "Cannot duplicate issue at this time"The truck has 93K easy miles and using about 2 qts of oil every 3K miles when the smell showed up. I think the dealership is stringing me along untill my warranty runs out at the 100K. I only have the one dealership that I can take the truck to. I shouldn't have this strong of blow by with such low mileage. I also have a lab test a sample of the oil each change and they see no unusual wear. Does anybody have any ideas? Thank you

 

I'm no expert, but I don't think it should be burning that much oil. Mine has 85k and it doesn't burn any.

 

Hey there, Retirednak. My truck is going in for warrinty work on Monday. I went to the dealership complaining of the same thing as u.. They r going to be replacingvalve cover gasket,rear main seal for sure, because the tranny has to some out. the dealership is telling me about 3 days to do the work. I'll let u know the rest of the work when I find out for myself probly Monday night. Hope this helped ya!

 

2qts at 3k is too much. What grade and weight oil are you using?

 

I'm using a 5W-40 synthetic, everyone told me i could use it year round, but come to think of it i only started geting the smell since i changed to this oil. That was my first oil change, i only got the truck in july. I never thought of that Jake, that could be part of our problem there Retirednak.

 

I would check your owners manual as I was told that the 2nd gen engine called for 10w oil to be use in the wintertime not 5w oil.

 

I got the same problem buring 2 quarts every 3-4 thousand. I got I90,000 miles but **** the struck is just getting broke in. I had a mechanic tell me the the crank breather tube or breather holes are clogged which makes the oil push up out of the motor through the crank breather tube. I have not solved my problem yet, but yours could be as easy as a new set of rings.

 

5w-40 is too thin imo. I bet if you switch to a 15w-40 your problem will go away.

 

I'm running Rotela 15w40 synthetic. Since I have the free life time oil changes, I've always gone with what the dealer provides. I usually pay $10 for the upgrade to synthetic.I may go with non syn next oil changeto get away from the Rotela to see if that makes a difference.(I kind of hate to, due to the cold weather starting problemshere in AK)
My dealer tells me the two quarts every 3-5K miles is nothing to worry about.
I changed the valve cover gasket in case it was leaking on the back side and used an oil dye to check for leaks with the black light. I cleaned around the rear main when I steamed the engine off.
I suppose I can replace the seal when I install a new tranny this spring.

Has anybody had any problems with their winter plug-in not working? It appears mine has quit working since the snow quit melting on my hood andthe truck has been harder to start at 10 degrees and colder.Is the cord replaceable or do I need to replace the whole do-da?

 

Seems like pretty hight consumtion to me, Ive got 340,000 on the clock and It will use a quart to 6000 miles, (thats when I change), Ive used rotella 15/40 in it always. However, when i start my truck Its for at least a 60 mile trip so stop and go and city driving will impact consumption and oil breakdown. Our firetrucks smelled pretty oily until they broke in, dont notice it much anymore (two 03,s and one 04 dodges)