Brandonian
Junior Member
Howdy Ya'll - I know I searched this lol, but I like to top off researched knowledge with fresh knowledge if possible.
Wife's 2014 Ram 1500 V6 - when we bought it and moved, we didn't have any issues. Fast Forward a couple of months I crawl under it for the first oil change and notice the rear side of the oil pan wet with a little oil - cars I knew growing up, well a semi-wet oil pan wasn't a sign for a huge worry - I put it low on our list to work on eventually. Fast forward a few months to our first Kentucky Winter - it was not too cold, but when it got cold, a very small leak occurred - leaving a few spots not just one - researched and said ok - we will put the Oil Filter Housing on our list.
Fast forward - I should have acted on the list sooner, but life happens and we were going through a lot. Any way - throughout the summer and fall this recent I could smell a light oil burn smell - said well that ain't normal, but it's consistent - so I would think it was related to the oil filter housing drip. small spots haven't grown, and they were inconsistent (as was the temperatures) - but then we got hit by this bitter cold snap with a wee bit of snow on the ground, went up to get the trash cans and noticed my wife left a trail of oil drips along the driveway as she drove off - I picked it up to smell and make sure it was oil - and said ahh crap.
she came home that night and I crawled under and saw oil everywhere underneath (not like massive dripping oozing amounts but a thin enough layer that it's coated all kinds of stuff) - and I said poop, looks like we need to pick up the pace and get this done. I checked today before she drove off to work because I am trying to confirm - I did get the little ladder out and crawled over the engine to try to see behind the filter housing, what I could see were wet spots of oil (again not a large amount) - but that should be totally dry, so if there's oil back there it's definitely my leak spot. I guess I just wanted some confirmation on that, can't afford a boatload of parts right now - but I see oil up there behind it with a flashlight, I couldn't see into a "Valley" but enough was up there to make me say it's got to be the culprit.
So the next question after confirmation - are we using the aluminum housings from SKP or Dorman, or are we using plastic housings? I've read conflicting information - something about the aluminum housings having a separate issue although that's all the conflicting information is labeled as - in my theory I take it from my water pump stand point - all the plastic fin water pumps I put in seem to fail whereas the metal fin ones survive
so it seems like my repair work prefers the metal so in this case I'm leaning aluminum - any extra thoughts or reasons to use the plastic housing over aluminum? And thoughts on SKP vs Dorman?
Sorry for the long book - I don't have photos at the moment but descriptively oil is everywhere in a buzz lightyear fashion and too much ice on the ground to get down there and clean it off at the moment - up top is where I inspected and saw a good bit of wet oil behind the oil filter housing, on the bolts for the oil cooler on it etc.
Wife's 2014 Ram 1500 V6 - when we bought it and moved, we didn't have any issues. Fast Forward a couple of months I crawl under it for the first oil change and notice the rear side of the oil pan wet with a little oil - cars I knew growing up, well a semi-wet oil pan wasn't a sign for a huge worry - I put it low on our list to work on eventually. Fast forward a few months to our first Kentucky Winter - it was not too cold, but when it got cold, a very small leak occurred - leaving a few spots not just one - researched and said ok - we will put the Oil Filter Housing on our list.
Fast forward - I should have acted on the list sooner, but life happens and we were going through a lot. Any way - throughout the summer and fall this recent I could smell a light oil burn smell - said well that ain't normal, but it's consistent - so I would think it was related to the oil filter housing drip. small spots haven't grown, and they were inconsistent (as was the temperatures) - but then we got hit by this bitter cold snap with a wee bit of snow on the ground, went up to get the trash cans and noticed my wife left a trail of oil drips along the driveway as she drove off - I picked it up to smell and make sure it was oil - and said ahh crap.
she came home that night and I crawled under and saw oil everywhere underneath (not like massive dripping oozing amounts but a thin enough layer that it's coated all kinds of stuff) - and I said poop, looks like we need to pick up the pace and get this done. I checked today before she drove off to work because I am trying to confirm - I did get the little ladder out and crawled over the engine to try to see behind the filter housing, what I could see were wet spots of oil (again not a large amount) - but that should be totally dry, so if there's oil back there it's definitely my leak spot. I guess I just wanted some confirmation on that, can't afford a boatload of parts right now - but I see oil up there behind it with a flashlight, I couldn't see into a "Valley" but enough was up there to make me say it's got to be the culprit.
So the next question after confirmation - are we using the aluminum housings from SKP or Dorman, or are we using plastic housings? I've read conflicting information - something about the aluminum housings having a separate issue although that's all the conflicting information is labeled as - in my theory I take it from my water pump stand point - all the plastic fin water pumps I put in seem to fail whereas the metal fin ones survive
so it seems like my repair work prefers the metal so in this case I'm leaning aluminum - any extra thoughts or reasons to use the plastic housing over aluminum? And thoughts on SKP vs Dorman? Sorry for the long book - I don't have photos at the moment but descriptively oil is everywhere in a buzz lightyear fashion and too much ice on the ground to get down there and clean it off at the moment - up top is where I inspected and saw a good bit of wet oil behind the oil filter housing, on the bolts for the oil cooler on it etc.
