Hello,

Looking for a little advice here. I have had my 2004.5 Dodge Ram Diesel in the shop looking for the source of a heavy/hot gear oil smell. It started about 5000 miles ago and I have 85000 miles on the truck currently. Towing up over the pass the vehicle behind me could also smell it. It is a very pungent and distinct smell. Kinda like when gear oil gets hot.

All fluid levels are good and do not seem to be dropping or rising.

The shop I brought the truck into believes there is a hose out of the crankcase up to the engine that is causing the smell and possibly due to excissive blow by? Doesn't sound right to me....

I have searched the internet quite a bit and found a couple of articles that talk about 2 different issues. One is a breather line on the front of the engine that they smell can be coming from? The other is depending on the oils used they can cause the "gear oil smell".

I guess my concern is that this didn't exist prior to 80000 miles....any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan