What the heck? I changed my oil 4600 miles ago, checked it today and I was down about 4.5-5 quarts of oil! YIKES! I've been doing HEAVY towing, just got back from a 1500 miles trip.

First question.....What kind of further damage could I have done driving with that low of oil level?

Secondly, where is it all going? It has been losing some, but never this much. Before it was probably about 2 quarts every 7500 miles. Truck runs fine, Feels like I have full power, idles fine.....EXCEPT, when first starting it, it smokes lots of white smoke with rough idle for about 30-45 seconds, then it's all good. Blows black smoke when you punch it, and it never did that before. I had it into Dodge and they replaced all injectors for the above problem, but it didn't help it at all.

Any suggestions are appreciated. thanks

 

Just checked underneath the truck, oil under the whole undercarriage, and the blow by tube is dripping with oil. So, does that mean bad rings? This must have happened since the oil change, as I changed the oil and it was clean underneath.

So, what is the cause of this?

Thanks again.

 

What is the oil level. If as youi say you are adding oil doubt a bad injector but the oil all over can be a symptom of a bad injector. Guess I would look for where it is comiong from. If from engine blowby and coming out he blow by tube I'd take it in (if it is still under the 100K engine warranty and let Dodge worry abouit it. My truck is my second one and I have never used so much as 1 quart of oil between changes. First truck was traded at 68K due to many fuel problems having filled crankcase 3 times with fuel. That should have caused problems but never did to when I traded for the 07 I now have.

 

Clean the oil off and run it a little to see where the oil is getting out. A pan gasket leak will cover the whole under carriage in no time.

How many miles on the engine?

 

Could be a burnt ring or scaleded piston wall. But when mine was going through the same issue and I had excessive blowby, the under carriage wasn't covered in oil. When you crank the truck and look under at the blowby tube is it solid white coming out?

 

The truck has 75000 miles, last 10000 since June with some heavy towing(just got a 5th wheel.

Ilooked at the blowby tube while running, and it was clean air blowing from it.

Guess I'll clean it up tomorrow and see if I can locate the source. Top of engine and engine compartment are clean.

Thanks for the comments.

 

Another note, truck has always burnt a llittle oil since I got it at 12000miles, about a quaet every 5000 or so. There is oil on the rear bumper and tailgate, so this is probably in the last couple of days. I just washed it a few days ago and didn't notice any problems. Haven't towed with it, went down the highway fairly fst a few times, about 90, but that's as hard as it's been driven in the last week.

 

When you replaced the injectors did the white smoke clear up? What it sound like now is you've got a blown seal or gasket, i'd check the rear main, oil pan gasket, and the valve cover gasket. I've had problems with all the above on mine.

 

Turbo could be shot and pumping oil through the intercooler and such. That might be why you are seeing the black smoke now. Had the same issue on my first gen when I got it. Dumped several quarts out of the intercooler. So maybe check that if you get time.

 

All six injectors were replaced 5000 miles ago and no, it did not clear out the white smoke. It was better, but now it billows out with a very rough idle for about a minute, then clears up. BUT, there does seem to be a constant hazing.

I thought about the turbo, but it still pulling same boost pressures and I haven't seen any change in that.

 

Pull the intake hose off to the turbo and check the turbo out. Also the rough idle even after the injector change tends me to believe a bad ring. But the black smoke could be from a valve that is out. The best way to get to the root of this problem is to start out with basics and work your way up.
Sounds like you've got more than one thing wrong with the motor, but maybe you've caught it early enough to save it. Keep feeding us info and maybe we can get to the source.

 

You didn't drop the oil jugs paper seal in the valve cover when you changed the oil did you. That would plug the oil return passage to the pan, causing the oil to stay in the valve cover blowing out the breather.

 

No, I have refilled the oil, as mentioned, travelled about 200 miles, adn haven't lost anything. Go figure!?!?!?!?

 

dealership? Should still be under warranty

 

Going there on Monday.....I don't always have a lot of faith in the dealership, so just trying to get ideas of what might be going on.