Hello I am new to here and I have a 1997 dodge 12 valve with a 5 speed that the previous owner said the motor was rebuilt 15k ago and the p pump rebuilt 5k ago but i have no proof of it. I just bought the truck for a good price so I can rob the drive train for my 1983 crew cab k30. I drove the truck home and it smoked pretty bad under acceleration and the oil reaked of diesel fuel, I ended up finding a bad injector and replaced all of them. Now the truck runs really well and doesn't smoke except for the normal warm up smoke, but I am loosing oil like crazy somewhere. roughly 3-4 quarts in about 150 miles. I checked the radiator and it is clean with no signs of oil in it. The Underside of the truck is quite oily and I will note that in the same time the power steering will drain also so it is really hard to pinpoint exact oil leaks. After driving it has many small drips all down the truck but only 2 notable oil marks on concrete, one is about 10 inch diameter right under the power steering and the frame under the box is always wet. and one about the same size back by the bell housing of the trans and may be a bit farther back. The crank case vent is routed down till it almost touches the front axle (second puddle is does not end up under this), and doesn't look wet under it, it does puff a bit out of it idling when warm (just enough to see if you get down right next to it) out of the tube but I don't see actual oil coming out of it. I've also had the intake horn of and everything looked dry in the boost tube after the inter-cooler, have not taken the down-pipe or the exit of the compressor off to inspect. Truck has stacks and is really sooted up from the blown injector so i cant tell by the exit of the exhaust. Seeing if anyone has any common places I haven't looked to see where the oil is going so quickly. I am pulling the motor out in about a month when I get time and was planning on doing what I need to do it then but I'm trying to find out what it needs before I take it out.

 

Maybe you need to check for ring blow by. Take the oil fill cap off and turn it upside down with the engine running and place it over the oil fill port, if it wants to blow it off you have worn rings and maybe ring cut cylinder walls. Just realize that vibration can shake it off, but look for it to actually lift. If the oil isn't going past the rings there are many places it could be leaking from and oil could be leaking from multiple seals and gaskets, but that is a lot of oil. A failed seal in the turbo can pump a lot of oil through one of these engines. My son has an 06 Ram with a 5.9 Cummins and his rear main seal has been leaking for a year or two and it is never close to the add mark on the dipstick when it is due for an oil change. I would definitely evaluate this engine carefully before wasting time installing it in another vehicle.