First Camping Trip with Our New Diesel

This trip really drove home the diesel experience: 1) The Cummins simply pulled like a beast. Steady. Confidently. 2) The automatic exhaust brake was the cat's meow! Its operation coming down 6-7 percent grades and during normal braking on the flats was simply phenomenal. Hearing it in operation was icing on the cake. And last, but not least 3) MPG's. We maintained 55-60 mph for most of the drive--doing what we could to reduce stress on the toy hauler's China bombs in 107-115 degree heat. Overall MPG at these speeds, hand calculated, was 11.1 MPG (EVIC displayed 12.0). Considering the tow weight (almost 13k) and the constant elevation changes---11.1 MPG was a pleasant surprise to say the least. The same drive got us 8.5 MPG with the Tundra.

The only concern we had on the entire trip was a short, 4-5 mile climb (on a secondary road) that resulted in a spike in tranny temps. Speed was limited to 25-30 mph (due to switchbacks) on grades that I would estimate to have been around 7-10 percent. Turbo boost hovered around 15-20 PSI for most of the climb. It didn't take long for the radiator fan to activate--hard not to notice---it's loud. In any case, tranny temps (while staying in the same gear for the entire climb) spiked to 195-198 degrees (flat towing it's typically 168-172).

Another diesel convert sees the light. Congrats. Trans temps are OK up to around 215-225 for a few minutes. The radiator fan is noisy and almost never comes on unless really towing in hot weather. That is normal.