Help! What is this and how bad is it?
 

Excuse me for sounding dumb. But what is this tube circled in the picture, and should it be leaking oil (or what looks like oil)? This is on the driver side of the truck.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...4c99318035.jpg

It's the intercooler tube and having some oil residue in or around the fittings is normal because the crank case is vented into the intake. May people modify the crank case vent to vent into the air to prevent this from happening.

Sorry for not replying back sooner. So to answer some questions, my truck is stock. the oil level is normal. But I've noticed that i dont hear that turbo whistle when i get up on the pedal. Im going to replace the intercooler boot, and clean out the turbo with a spray cleaner. And see if that changes anything. I don't notice a change in boost on the gauge. I'm also not getting any error codes. Correct me if im wrong, but in believe the tube I'm looking at is the hot side?

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...f603abdd39.jpg
I ended up replacing the boot. I found the old one to have a tear in it. I also found after that these clamps need to be really tight or they blow off and make a really loud noise. Lol. Thankfully a 7/16 wrench was all i needed to get it back together.

The key is to clean both sides of the connection with windex. You need to get all that oil out of there before you clamp it down. The oil allows it to slip off too easy. Windex allows the rubber/silicone to stick to the tube better...then clamp her down!

Dan

Clean really good .....Then i use hairspray....yep that's right hair spray lol. Read it somewhere years ago....but I've used it on several boots....and never had a problem.

I have heard about the hair spray as well. We had a boot that kept on popping off our our ladder truck, I was about ready to spray that one down with hair myself so it would stop happening. Believe me when that thing pops we are ducking for cover thinking somebody is shooting at us.