Oil leak in tail pipe

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jackson4212

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I noticed a couple of days ago what appears to be oil leaking out of my tail pipe. And now today my truck will not start. It is cranking but never turns over. How do I go about fixing this?


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jackson4212

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I forgot to mention it is a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie 5.2


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dudeman2009

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Oil in exhaust isn't good. It usually indicates a bad valve stem seal or a REALLY bad plenum leak.

When it won't start, goes giving it some gas help? do you get an RPM reading on the tach when cranking? Has the plenum repair been done? Are the spark plugs fouled? Is there a spark from the ignition coil? Cap and Rotor? Any engine codes?

Check out some of these and see what it does, get back with the results and we'll be able to help you better.
 
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jackson4212

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Oil in exhaust isn't good. It usually indicates a bad valve stem seal or a REALLY bad plenum leak.



When it won't start, goes giving it some gas help? do you get an RPM reading on the tach when cranking? Has the plenum repair been done? Are the spark plugs fouled? Is there a spark from the ignition coil? Cap and Rotor? Any engine codes?



Check out some of these and see what it does, get back with the results and we'll be able to help you better.



I can't really answer any of these. However I have had issues starting in the near past and giving it some gas worked. It did not work this time however.

I am pretty new at all this. How do I go about diagnosing the things you suggested. Please be as specific as possible.


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dudeman2009

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Some of the tests are fairly straight forward, does the tach show any rpm when cranking? Take it to an autozone or something that reads codes for free, then record what they find and bring it back here. As for spark, you can buy spark testers, or you can pull a spark plug wire and stick a screwdriver in it, then hold the screwdriver a quarter of an inch away from metal on the intake while cranking and look for spark.
 
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jackson4212

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Some of the tests are fairly straight forward, does the tach show any rpm when cranking? Take it to an autozone or something that reads codes for free, then record what they find and bring it back here. As for spark, you can buy spark testers, or you can pull a spark plug wire and stick a screwdriver in it, then hold the screwdriver a quarter of an inch away from metal on the intake while cranking and look for spark.



I can't take it to auto zone because it wouldn't start, however, when I went outside to check the rpms I got the car to start. After it started I popped the hood to look under because it sounded a little funny. I saw smoke coming out of the rusted looking part on the side of the engine not sure what that is called. The weather was rainy and 46 degrees in case that makes a difference. Photo attached 8b3da0f665bd97e687419097e762be98.jpg


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jackson4212

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I can't take it to auto zone because it wouldn't start, however, when I went outside to check the rpms I got the car to start. After it started I popped the hood to look under because it sounded a little funny. I saw smoke coming out of the rusted looking part on the side of the engine not sure what that is called. The weather was rainy and 46 degrees in case that makes a difference. Photo attached 8b3da0f665bd97e687419097e762be98.jpg


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I did some googling and it is leaking out the exhaust manifold.


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dudeman2009

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That is one crusty engine. An exhaust leak won't stop it from starting and running, it just might not run as well. You'll really want to get it somewhere to check the codes. If you're afraid of it not starting back up again, just don't shut it off. It doesn't matter what the autozone guys say, nothing bad will happen if you plug the scanner in while its running, the OBDII port always has power anyway. You will want to make sure the cigarette lighter works, usually that fuse also provides power to the OBDII port.
 
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jackson4212

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That is one crusty engine. An exhaust leak won't stop it from starting and running, it just might not run as well. You'll really want to get it somewhere to check the codes. If you're afraid of it not starting back up again, just don't shut it off. It doesn't matter what the autozone guys say, nothing bad will happen if you plug the scanner in while its running, the OBDII port always has power anyway. You will want to make sure the cigarette lighter works, usually that fuse also provides power to the OBDII port.



I went to my stepfathers house last night and put the scanner tool on it. Surprisingly enough there are no codes on it. The check engine light was not on so I'm not super surprised. With the occasional startup issue I am surprised there aren't any codes. There is a large antifreeze leak somewhere I need to located, oil in the tail pipe, and no codes? Shouldn't there be a compression issue?


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dudeman2009

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It really depends. The heater cores are known to go out on these after 15+ years, another location to check is the drain **** on the bottom drivers side of the radiator, sometimes it leaks from there.

Its possible that you have a compression issue, I wouldn't rule it out until you do a pressure test.

When you pull the dipstick what color is the oil? does it look like it has any white on it? Next remove the oil fill cap and look at the underside of it, it should be pretty clean. If its covered in a white milky or cream like substance then you likely have coolant in the oil.
 

DodgeTx

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Looks like you need to do your valve cover gaskets too. May be leaking oil from there onto exhaust.
 

dapepper9

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Leaky valve covers can be dealt with in time. My personal first order of business would be that coil wire being so close to the manifold. Looks like it's been doing some melty type **** sms being as that carries all of your spark energy, it's not currently doing you any favors
 

Dan98

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I can't take it to auto zone because it wouldn't start, however, when I went outside to check the rpms I got the car to start. After it started I popped the hood to look under because it sounded a little funny. I saw smoke coming out of the rusted looking part on the side of the engine not sure what that is called. The weather was rainy and 46 degrees in case that makes a difference. Photo attached 8b3da0f665bd97e687419097e762be98.jpg


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I know that this post is old and no follow up but #2 &#8 look like they get way to hot & #4 & #6 don't even fire causing oil to bypass rings and blow oil in to exhaust. No fire no pressure rings dont expand. Pull plugs and look. Maybe people believe its easier to ask before investigating big mistake

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Gr8bawana

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I know that this post is old and no follow up but #2 &#8 look like they get way to hot & #4 & #6 don't even fire causing oil to bypass rings and blow oil in to exhaust. No fire no pressure rings dont expand. Pull plugs and look. Maybe people believe its easier to ask before investigating big mistake
You're replying to a thread that's almost 4 years old and the OP hasn't been here for almost a year. :crazy:
 

Dan98

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Regardless the age of that post someone else will see it and possibly add to it. You know the exact opposite of what you did. Jk

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