TowRig.com - Diesel Discussion and Tow Tech

I have recently become aware of a small problem with our Cummins Dodge pickups. The engine crank case blow by tube is in a bad spot and allows for the blow by to be blown up into the radiator fins. This thin, oily film collects dust, dirt, and road grime causing a nasty clogged up mess in the radiator fins.

I just finished removing my radiator in my 2001 and completely cleaning it and what a world of a difference it made in cooling effeciency. My radiator was completely plugged besides a 12" circle where the fan pulled the most. :eek: Obviously, this doesn't provide a very efficient cooling system. :doah:

I don't know all the years this small problem effects but I'm sure it's at LEAST all of the 2nd gen trucks.

Here is some great info that a fellow member provided me and would like to share it with anyone else having some slight, warm running issues. waytogo

In order to get the fan off, you have to have a single open end wrench close to the right size. I actually used a big plumbing monkey wrench with a cheater bar. It's reverse threaded if I remember correctly.

Since you have done all of this, make sure that you extend the oil blow by tube below the front end, the blow by tube is what makes the gunk on the radiator. I extended my to behind the front axle and it worked great.

The reason the radiator gets full, is the front of the truck creates suction from the road, and sucks the oil mist to the radiator and then the road grime builds up.

This cleaning of the radiator will make a huge diffrence. You should now not have any issues with overheating or getting hot.

Make sure that you use the correct antifreeze, it's special for the Diesels, low silicate type, read the containers on the antifreeze when you go to buy it. Also, I would suggest a water pump change since you have everything out. It's a cheap preventive maintance item, now especially since you won't have to drain the fluids again. Napa sell them brand new for about 50 bucks. Don't buy the dealer waterpump, it's over 120 bucks and the Napa pumb is brand new with a lifetime warrantee. I added Redline Diesel Water Wetter, it's good for about a 10 degree cooling effect. You can get the Redline Water Wetter from Autozone, at least that is where I got it, don't use the gasoline water wetter, they have one specifically for diesels.

I tow in the summers of AZ and this wetter made a noticable diffrence.

Also check the serpintine belt now, and replace if necessary.

Overheating issues on our trucks are usually not a problem, even with adding BOMBS, it's usually the radiator like you saw.

The reason I say do the water pump and the serpintine belt at the same time, is from experience, I did what you did and then the water pump went out, had to change the fluids and the water wetter no more than 10k miles after I did the radiator. Cost me the cost of the fluids and the water wetter all over again, lesson I learned, and thought I would pass on.

BTW, make sure you only used distilled water in the radiator. Once you do this, your antifreezed is good for at aleast 100K miles.



Post up if you have had this problem , have an opinion, or a suggestion.

Thanks,
Bobby. waytogo

Here's what you do.

Remove the puke bottle. Get some 3/4" heater hose (about 12 feet) - and a 3/4" connector - put the connector in the end of the hose that once housed the puke bottle - extend the hose as far as you want, following the frame (be careful routing it around the injection pump area) and wire tie it along the way to keep it safe. Either put the puke bottle downstream on the inside of the frame rail, or completely eliminate it and allow the hose to barely point down. Oil will now drip out on the road (just as so many leaky cars/trucks already do) or into the puke bottle away from where it can make a mess of the engine compartment.

I did mine, eliminating the bottle completely, and have the hose end near the rear spring front hanger.

You could also wrap the puke bottle with some foam to contain the oil and yet breathe properly. :rolleyes:

Or if you are not inclined to fix the problem, just make sure you empty the bottle monthly. :rolleyes:

I just removed the radiator in my dad's 2002 Ram cummins and also found it to be mostly plugged.

As Therobzilla mentioned, a low silicote anti freeze is recommended so I took a close look at Napa brand anti freeze in the blue one gallon containers. It is in fact a low silicote type. I've found that the Napa brand is about the cheapest anti freeze around and thought this would help a few folks out knowing it's ok for our trucks. waytogo

Working at freightliner i have seen alot of this problem with our FCCC line (motorhomes). They never changed the blow by tube design for a pusher application so we had a recall out with different pipes and preform hoses. Plus the clean job and sometimes we have to remove the rad-cac-combo and clean them up. Ole burbinor has it right with the heater hose...simple fix.

DW

I relocated mine just before summer. What a difference in the conditions under the hood. I gave everything a good bath, and it is still clean. Here is where I put mine.

Got that pic?

Where is this bottle anyways? I am guessing PS front?

I relocated mine to the driver side front. I will try the picture again.

Recently I took off the bottle to clean it, but I have not put it back on yet. No drips where I park. I was surprised by that! The stock location on the front of the block was sure a poor idea.

i just lowered mine about 1 ft.
If I still have problems I'll put it in an old sock and change it when it is dirty.

I installed a Fleetguard Enviroguard over a year ago & it solves the oil vapor mess on the front of the engine & radiator.

The are a little pricey, but no more mess....

Is this more in the 2nd gens or is this something I should look out for on my 3rd gen?

I had the same problem, I removed, cleaned, and replaced the radiator. While I was at it, I flushed the cooling system, and installed a new Thermostat. Made a huge difference. Man that thing was dirty!!

I heard about this problem with the puke bottle on TDR right after I picked up my truck. There are a lot of recommended fixes that work. I didn't do any of them. Instead I bought a breather that is used on dune buggies. It has a body that is about 2.5 inches in diameter, about 5 inches long and is baffled. It has a K&N breather filter and chrome cover. On the bottom and sides are tapped holes. I used one side hole for input tube and bottom for drain. The breather fits right between the drivers side battery and the window washer container. I made an aluminium bracket that attaches to battery box. Some cutting of battery box is necessary for clearance. The drain tube goes down thru lower fender metal and has a petcock that I just reach in from outside by tire when I see enough oil build up. This fix was done before 2k miles, so I've never seen blowby on engine or radiator. If anyone is interested, let me know here and I'll take some pictures when I get back from a trip next week and post them. I have had this for over a I00K and no smell, no oil, no problem. I don't know that this is a problem after the 04' but could be wrong. Just my $0.02 worth.

I just bought a 2000 SLT Lariat with 190K miles for $9350. I think that I got a pretty good deal, but not sure. It seems to be "loaded", with leather seats and the nice stereo.
I did see that something was leaking when I bought it, and am real glad that it's a "Puke" bottle, and not a front main seal, as I thought it was.

Sluggo,

Did you buy a Ford? Dodge didn't make a Lariat & Ford (who had a Lariat package ) doesn't have a puke bottle.

I have worked on several different trucks, the 1st gen Dodge has a road draft tube, the 2nd gen Dodge has a puke bottle, & on the 3rd gen I haven't seen either version. I think its more of a closed system...

Correction, it's a SLT Laramie, dodge 2500, cummins 24v.
sorry for the mistake

I'm kinda a newbe, but would the blowby from a 2002 24V leave a nice trail under the truck? How much blowby would/should a truck with 109k produce?

No, you should not be leaving any kind of oil stream at all. Just a light "mist" or smoke should come from the tube.

Try cleaning out the bottle, they fill up over time. I found with my truck, I had to do it every oil change (before the enviroguard).

To clean it out - unscrew the lid on the bottle, if the nylon tie is still good the lid will stay put. Take a 10mm wrench & undo the nut holding the nylon tie around the bottle. Dump into a used oil container. I used to use brake clean to clean it up. Re-install.