Burning Oil

[JMRUSSELL2003]

I have a 2000 Durango 4.7L 4x4. I noticed theother day smoke coimg through the drivers side door jam, so I popped the hood and noticed the smoke was coming from the area around the headers and transmission. But i quickly concluded that something was leaking onto these parts and then burning when they heated up. I determined it was oil because A. there are other spots where I can see it, and its brown, and B. I was really low on oil. But my question is does anyone know what could be the culprit for the leaking oil? Keep in mind this is all on the drivers side of the engine bay.

[GOON'S D]

gaskets may be shot. But the Durango seems a little young for the gaskets to be shot though. I am sure that someone here will chime in and tell you what is up.

[JMRUSSELL2003]

well it has 145,xxx miles on it, so I wouldnt be surprised. How much would a fix like that cost?

[GOON'S D]

God Damn 145,000. Good lord where do you work?!! LOL. Gaskets are cheap it is the labor that is expensive. How good are you with a wrench? And how long has this been happening? Definitely add more oil to prevent your engine from seizing.

[JMRUSSELL2003]

I added 3 qts about two weeks ago, then 1 qt last week, and then 1 qt today. I have only had the truck a month so I dont know how long its been happening. I had 96 Lumina before, and its intake gaskets went the gaskets are cheap, but labor killed me. It was about 450 dollar fix. Ok, thanks for you help man.

[GOON'S D]

Uhhhh.. who did you buy the truck from? If it was from a dealer bring that thing back and make them fix it. There is such a thing as a lemon law and I am not sure if it is 30 or 45 days. I would definitely contact whomever you bought that thing from and yell at them. Five quarts of oil in 1 month is ridiculous. The oil pan holds 6 quarts for christ sakes. Good luck with that man.

[mopar rt]

It may be as simple as replacing the valve cover gasket or it may be worse. If the gasket is bad this is easy to fix and it should not take much time at all for you to do the repairs yourself.

Also, check the PCV and see if it is working. Sometime they plug up and this will cause oil to blow by this is a cheap and easy fix. In worst case the compression rings may be shot. Run a compression check to determine their condition.

[JMRUSSELL2003]

Where is the PCV located?

[JMRUSSELL2003]

I finally found out exactly where the smoke is coming from. Heres some pics

http://img37.exs.cx/img37/8713/000_0084.jpg

http://img37.exs.cx/img37/3091/000_0080.jpg

http://img60.exs.cx/img60/3344/000_0081.jpg

Heres a close-up

http://img60.exs.cx/img60/4843/000_0082.jpg

Any idea what this is? or what could be causing the smoking?

[syn]

from the what your pointing at,it looks like your exhaust manifold rotted out, which would explain the smoke, put doesnt explain the oil consumtion.

[JMRUSSELL2003]

I finally took it to the shop, and it turns out that there is a pin hole leak in a high pressure power steering line. He said it shoots out every time you turn the wheel. This would explain my fluid resevoir being bone dry about a week ago, and why the smoke is really bad when I parallel park. The part is 95 bucks, and the labor is about 50. Much better than a gasket I guess.

[GOON'S D]

Glad you were able to figure out what the problem was with the smoke. Now you need to figure out why you are burning soooooooooooooooo much oil.