Engine Oil DipStick Tube Burn Thru/Leak

[Latitude]

Cummins ISC 330 Spartan Mountain Master chassis.

On my return home from Florida I was doing my usual checking/crawling over under and around. I noticed some wet/stain on the oil pan and the transmision housing,
At first I thought the Pan was leaking but on further inspection I found the dipstick tube had melted up near the exhaust manifiold and some oil was leaking and running down the tube.
A call to Cummins advises the dipstick tube is a Spartan part So a call to Spartan and the parts were odered, 2 days later I had UPS at my door with said parts,
Check new parts and relize this tube is basically a piece of thin wall ABS, I am thinking not such a Great design and I am surprised it lasted this long. Then I remember reading and being told about this Dipstick tube failure in the spring of '08 These failures were on the Spartan chassis with the ISX or the ISM and the tube was routed TOO close to the hot Side of the Turbo,
At this time I checked mine and it did not run on the Hot side of the tubo but on the Cold side However it did run close to the exhaust manifold BUT I thought it was far enough away as to not be an issue Well so much for "Thought"
Also at this time May9 '08 I called Spartan to inquire about any recall or campaign to fix this issue However They said there was nothing and to just keep a watch on it. I will try to find that thread.
So now I have asked Spartan to pay for my parts and I will install it,

So anyone with a Spartan Chassis check the routing of the Engine oil Dipstick and if it runs near any heat source You need to put some kind of Heat shield in place.

Rick

Some Pics

Tube TOO Close to Exhaust Manifold, Some oil stain but not TOO bad, I was lucky




The Burn Blister on tube after removed.






New Tube with the Heat Shield

[Latitude]

The previous Thread i was referring to is in the Newmar Owners forum Last Post 06-12-2008 or SearchPlastic Dipstick Tube Melt.


Rick

[GaryKD]

Hi Rick,
Been there and had that happen. It was taken care of during warranty. A protective sheath was included with the new dipstick. I thought I had posted this, but who knows. I am getting more selective memory every day.

[Latitude]

Hi Gary

I 'Hear Ya' on the Warranty, Not sure how mine lasted this long.

I "Hope" Spartan will cover the Cost of the Parts!!!!!!


Rick

[warrenl55]

I will Check my 06 Travel supreme ISM this weekend. Thanks for the dipstick warning.

[read & learn]

Hi Rick
Mind was replaced by Cummins when I had less than 2500 miles on the engine, so far no problem.
Joe

[Latitude]

Hi Joe

Yours was done by Cummins?? Interesting!! Was it replaced with the Spartan OEM part?? Had yours started to leak??

When I called Cummins they said it was a Spartan part which Spartan confirmed BUT on my original conversation in May '08 they would not replace it because it had not failed.

I am still hoping they will cover the cost of parts!!!!

We will See

Rick

[ULTFREQCCA]

Hi Guys -

Had the exact same problem for the last 6 months - mine was actually split and sometimes the dipstick wouldn't go into the pan - plus I was losing oil through the split! 2 Cummins dealers checked it and found nothing wrong (you could only see it from the bottom looking up) but they must not have tried too hard.

I had a very reputable Diesel Repair shop here locally look at it last week and they found the split in less than 2 minutes. Had it fixed in 30 minutes (used a length of air hose) and rerouted the tube away from heat source - now works perfectly! I now have a flourescent Green oil tube instead of the orignal yellow one!

I was losing about a quart every 500-600 miles.....I only have 37,000 miles on her, so really didn't think it was burning up the oil - what a mess there was around the leak from the oil spewing out on the block and fuel filter!

Needless to say, I won't be going back to either of the Cummins dealers for any future repairs! They don't have a very good reputation on the "Service repairs listing" on this website - but only checked afterwards.....live and learn!

Oh, BTW, they also fixed a cruise/jacob brake issue I had where the others failed!

Now all is good, but it was frustrating to be told there was nothing wrong and I knew it wasn't normal!

Gary