my first scheduled maintenance

JAOHN · 07-22-2004, 04:16 PM

Well, I got back safely from my 3000 mile trip late last week, and I was due for my first scheduled maintenance (oil change), so I made a dealer appointment, and got it in there today for that. I had a couple other things that have appeared that weren't there before the trip...

-bed side storage box-the door on it was straight and lined up correctly earlier but now it is out of line. I took a look up under the rear bumper and I sat that the two bolts on the rear side of the box were about 3/4 of the way unscrewed. They were still there, however, and I hand screwed to finger tight.

-newly identified rust on the diff cover-I had my truck in to the dealer right before the trip (at 1500 miles) because my check of the oil in the differential could just barely touch the top of the oil. The service dept. "added a little" (I estimate about 1 litre). At the time that I had it there, the diff was still all black paint, and although the paint was "chunky" (for lack of a better word), it was solid paint across the diff cover. Now, spread across the diff cover are rust spots where the paint is gone. Each spot is about 1/8", and spacing between the spots is somewhat even at about 3/16" inch on the left 2/3 of the cover.

-oily leak on the right side of the axle--On the rear axle, just inboard of the passenger side shock mount, my axle now has a oily leak that is about 2" wide wrapping from the top of the axle around to the bottom.

I do not have my truck back yet, I was provided a rental car for the evening, but I had jsut received a call a short while agot that my truck is ready. Here's the findings: (without the benefits of the service report, sice I haven't been to the dealer yet)

Storage box: fixed
Rust: Normal
Oily leak: Normal. "the dana axle has a breather that oil had flowed through"

I haven't seen anyone mention anything like that yet on this forum. Anyone else have it?

I'll post pictures of the "breather oil leak" when I get the truck back tomorrow.

VShortt · 07-22-2004, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAOHN

Well, I got back safely from my 3000 mile trip late last week, and I was due for my first scheduled maintenance (oil change), so I made a dealer appointment, and got it in there today for that. I had a couple other things that have appeared that weren't there before the trip...

-bed side storage box-the door on it was straight and lined up correctly earlier but now it is out of line. I took a look up under the rear bumper and I sat that the two bolts on the rear side of the box were about 3/4 of the way unscrewed. They were still there, however, and I hand screwed to finger tight.

-newly identified rust on the diff cover-I had my truck in to the dealer right before the trip (at 1500 miles) because my check of the oil in the differential could just barely touch the top of the oil. The service dept. "added a little" (I estimate about 1 litre). At the time that I had it there, the diff was still all black paint, and although the paint was "chunky" (for lack of a better word), it was solid paint across the diff cover. Now, spread across the diff cover are rust spots where the paint is gone. Each spot is about 1/8", and spacing between the spots is somewhat even at about 3/16" inch on the left 2/3 of the cover.

-oily leak on the right side of the axle--On the rear axle, just inboard of the passenger side shock mount, my axle now has a oily leak that is about 2" wide wrapping from the top of the axle around to the bottom.

I do not have my truck back yet, I was provided a rental car for the evening, but I had jsut received a call a short while agot that my truck is ready. Here's the findings: (without the benefits of the service report, sice I haven't been to the dealer yet)

Storage box: fixed
Rust: Normal
Oily leak: Normal. "the dana axle has a breather that oil had flowed through"

I haven't seen anyone mention anything like that yet on this forum. Anyone else have it?

I'll post pictures of the "breather oil leak" when I get the truck back tomorrow.

So dropping your truck off for an entire day yielded you two tightened screws...interesting. I think that you should post pictures of your issues as soon as possible, thereby allowing others to help form an opinion of an impending problem. If it turns out that there is an issue, you can walk back to the service department, comfortably armed with your newfound information. Too often, the service departments try to pass off everything as normal when in fact it is not. If both of those issues were normal, they should have been able to offer a dianosis before you ever even left the place. My 2 cents...post the pics!

cttitan · 07-22-2004, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAOHN

-newly identified rust on the diff cover-I had my truck in to the dealer right before the trip (at 1500 miles) because my check of the oil in the differential could just barely touch the top of the oil. The service dept. "added a little" (I estimate about 1 litre). At the time that I had it there, the diff was still all black paint, and although the paint was "chunky" (for lack of a better word), it was solid paint across the diff cover. Now, spread across the diff cover are rust spots where the paint is gone. Each spot is about 1/8", and spacing between the spots is somewhat even at about 3/16" inch on the left 2/3 of the cover.

-oily leak on the right side of the axle--On the rear axle, just inboard of the passenger side shock mount, my axle now has a oily leak that is about 2" wide wrapping from the top of the axle around to the bottom.

Oily leak: Normal. "the dana axle has a breather that oil had flowed through"

I haven't seen anyone mention anything like that yet on this forum. Anyone else have it?

I'll post pictures of the "breather oil leak" when I get the truck back tomorrow.

I have the same thing on mine. I guess if the oil gets hot enough to make the paint come off on the rear end it can push a little oil out of the breather.
When I changed my diff oil and filled it up nice and full it did the same thing after towing and getting it nice and hot. I noticed a little leakage out of the breather also. Just a normal occurence IMHO.

JAOHN · 07-22-2004, 04:29 PM

I will defintely post the pics tomorrow afternoon, when I get my baby back.

JAOHN · 07-22-2004, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cttitan

I have the same thing on mine. I guess if the oil gets hot enough to make the paint come off on the rear end it can push a little oil out of the breather.
When I changed my diff oil and filled it up nice and full it did the same thing after towing and getting it nice and hot. I noticed a little leakage out of the breather also. Just a normal occurence IMHO.

The last 1500 of my 3000 mile trip, I was also towing about 3000lbs, but is was across mostly flat land... from iowa to Jacksonville FL.

Big Platinum · 07-23-2004, 12:05 AM

If I were you, I would change the diff oil completely, mine was black and chunky too and a little low just like yours. Paint was just starting to bake off too. Drained and refilled with fresh oil and seems to be just fine now. I put my hand on the diff after a long drive and it wasn't too hot, i could leave my hand on it without getting burnt.

JAOHN · 07-23-2004, 03:39 PM

Here's a picture of my rear axle. While my truck was at the dealer, they actually degreased the axle in that area, so it's a bit harder to see in the picture. The breather for the axle is the brass and silver fixture on the top of the axle, directly in front of the shock. The oil spread from my "bleed" is about 2 inches to the left side of the breather, and about 3 inches to the right... with a single trail that you can see in the picture that stretched out to the bottom plate on the leaf spring.

bestatchess · 07-23-2004, 04:06 PM

I like the way that a rusted diff cover is "Normal". I think "OFD-KO" for "Often Found Defect-Kiss Off" or something similar might be a better designation.