RAM EcoDiesel a Flop for Towing

wilber1 wrote:


Yes a difference of 1.4%. On an engine of 350 HP that's a whole 4.9 HP. Massive.

If you think you should be able to hold the speed limit when towing the max, you have never towed heavy.

Actually it is a bit more than that. Please read at the bottom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower

I have towed as heavy as I wanted. I have been in scenarios where I was only doing 45 mph up hills, but that was many moons ago. However, as I stated before, times have changed and the bar has been raised. Just a truck only being able to brake from 60-0 at 200 ft is no longer acceptable, neither is not being able to not even do the speed limit when towing your rated weight. If the truck is struggling as bad as the Ecodiesel did in that test when not even towing it's max rated weight, then Ram needs to man up and lower the tow rating to something it can better handle at a reasonable speed and without having to have your foot to the floor the whole way. I even think bigger trucks like the Ram 3500 and Ford F350s with these 30k tow ratings should be lowered.

The amount of power an engine can put out is determined by how much fuel and air mixture it can burn in a given time. There are only 3 ways to increase that. Increase displacement, increase RPM or increase manifold pressure. That is basic.

Okay, what is the cylinder pressure of the Ecoboost versus the Ecodiesel? What is the max turbo boost pressure of the Ecoboost versus the Ecodiesel? I will give you a hint, the Ecoboost is lower in both.


Also, there are a bit more ways to make more power than those that you stated like allowing air to move more quickly and freely through the engine, cooling the incoming air, and increasing compression ratio to name a few more.

Actually you did say that.

No, I didn't

I've never maintained the ED isn't underpowered by comparison to the EB because it is. I have questioned the assertion that because the ED is running at WOT, it is a given that it is more stressed than the EB. Some engines can run at WOT all day and many can't. It depends on what the designers had in mind when they built it.

No, it depends on if a fanboy wants to make excuses for his favorite brands engine too. The Ecodiesel was running at a higher rpm, at WOT, and had no power to spare while not even towing its max rated weight yet. So you are saying it wasn't struggling to pull that weight? Although I do think it is a bit funny because your "maybe it is designed to run at WOT" kind of contradicts your "the Ecoboost was more stressed because it had more boost pressure(even though it doesn't)" because maybe the Ecoboost was designed to handle that kind of boost pressure with it's CGI block.

Facts are still the facts, that Ecodiesel could barely hold within 10 mph of the speed limit up that hill, with no power to spare, and the pedal to the floor while not even towing it's max rated tow rating (which makes me wonder how it would have done towing its max). The Ecoboost on the other hand was able to tow the same trailer while easily holding the speed limit, had power to spare if needed, was not foor to the floor the whole way, and was at a lower rpm doing it. To top it all off, for some odd reason Ram thinks it can tow more than the 2.7L EB like we believe them after watching that video.