RAM 1500 Ecodiesel, anybody seen one in the wild?

[TurnThePage]

It seems like they went underground or something. The few places I've found that actually chat about them seem to be questioning some of those great numbers. They are reporting good mileage compared to gas engines, but not nearly what the earlier ads would have us believe. This would concern me, as I expected the diesel to hold it's own rather handily. It sounds like the Hemi can average pretty good mileage on its own. If it can average near 20, there's little reason to worry about the more finicky diesel package. Especially because of the GVWR gained.

At this point, I find myself starting to look across the aisle to the more capable F150s. And maybe even a GM product, but I doubt it.

So does anybody have anything to expand on this lack of info?

[yr2017]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
yr2017 you are the first one I have heard that says the new Rams rattle. The one I test drove was as quite as my Dads 2013 Caddy and it was an Outdoorsman.

Rattles, sounds like the old days of bottles and caps left in the door. I pulled onto the pavement to see if the gravel road was the problem - it wasn't.

As far as the Grand Cherokee goes, those things can be ordered with more skid plates then any pickup truck ever built. Front suspension skid plate, fuel tank skid plate shield, transfer case skid plate and underbody skid plate! Along with a much better four wheel drive system too. So unless your running over pot holes at 35 MPH the GC is better protected then the trucks you list in your sig. But to each their own.Don

You shouldn't need skid plates unless you're a mogger. Well, these new GC's wouldn't last that long even with plates. They are road cars.

The roads I drive on every day (to/from Hwy 83) are 10 miles of gravel
and few potholes that we fill every month are driven at speeds up to 45mph. None of my trucks have skid plates and none have sustained damage. If put on 6mm plates - it would add a considerable weight - something I don't need.

[FishOnOne]

I've seen two Eco's in one week a couple of weeks ago. Also I've now heard one drive by my house and it definitely had a diesel sound to it.

[john_bet]

larry barnhart wrote:
I find it interesting a dodge fella would be happy if another truck passes him so maybe the company doesn't feel the same as the torque will be more next year. However I feel the same as Don who cares but I am old. Happy is a good thing.
chevman

I am a Dodge fellow and I for one do not care who passes me or where. Never been in a race on the roads with anyone.

[larry_barnhart]

I find it interesting a dodge fella would be happy if another truck passes him so maybe the company doesn't feel the same as the torque will be more next year. However I feel the same as Don who cares but I am old. Happy is a good thing.
chevman

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

yr2017 you are the first one I have heard that says the new Rams rattle. The one I test drove was as quite as my Dads 2013 Caddy and it was an Outdoorsman.

As far as the Grand Cherokee goes, those things can be ordered with more skid plates then any pickup truck ever built. Front suspension skid plate, fuel tank skid plate shield, transfer case skid plate and underbody skid plate! Along with a much better four wheel drive system too. So unless your running over pot holes at 35 MPH the GC is better protected then the trucks you list in your sig. But to each their own.
Jeep link 1
Jeep link 2


Don

[bucky]

I wandered off in the middle of this thing, but I would like to point out that Don's new engine will have the HP and torque of my early 99 7.3 PSD at well less than half
the displacement. That is progress my friends.

[yr2017]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Well then the Eco-diesel I'm getting is not going to last very long then. We are looking a TT's with a GVWR 7800#. The first thing I'll do after getting it is order rims and new tires in the LT line.Don

Hey Don, I drove one of each last week. The 1500 still rattles a bit and the GC won't last on our roads very long. I'm not going to replace my sig trucks now that I've driven these.

[Sport45]

NinerBikes wrote:
No one with a smart phone, the Torque Pro App and an ELM 327 OBD II bluetooth adapater uses idiot gauges any more. They get real, from the ECM, to the single digit degree numbers real time, digitally, not on an analogue gauge that the ECM dumbs down, because too many people freaked out and complained that the gauge actually moved upwards due to work being performed going up hill.

Torque Pro application for Android

If every one here was forced to ride a mountain bike up hill, up various grades, long grades, you'd think twice about putting your foot deep into the pedal going up hill and going fast, and you'd have much more appreciation for how hard you are working your motor, by doing so. Carry 3 liters of water on your back on a mountain bike, up hill, heck, how about a couple of 6 packs of beer even, and you'll gain an appreciation for work being done, by you, not by your engine and fossil fuel.

I use Dash Command and an OBDII adapter so I know what you mean. I also have an Ultragauge that permanently resides in the Envoy. But it still only works if the engine has the sensors. The only way I can get a real oil pressure reading in my Envoy, for instance, is to install a mechanical gauge or pressure sensor and electronic gauge. There is no oil pressure sensor on the engine, only a switch. The Ultragauge is great for watching voltage, water temp, vacuum (MAP), mpg, and tracking oil change intervals. At least that is my main uses for it.
Every parameter is not available on every vehicle, YMMV.

[DirtyOil]

That fuel cap needs to completely seal off the fuel from external breathing or moisture ingress. Diesel fuel is highly hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture out of the air at an alarming rate if your tank has access to it due to daily cycle of high and low humidity in the air, due to adiabatic process of warm air holding more moisture, higher dew point, and cold air holding less moisture, lower dew point, and condensation inside the empty portion of this fuel tank.

... "at an alarming rate"... geez? Diesel fuel isn't "hygroscopic" enough to pull enough moisture(water) from the air to make enough "free" water. Free water is the stuff that will cause the damage you speak of, but that's what the water separator and the "idiot" light to warn you is for. Even the "water filter" isn't enough to remove "dissolved water" or emulsion (water filter doesn't remove dissolved water, only stops the "free water" to a point). Adding fuel treatments that are designed to remove emulsified water (d-emulsifiers) do more harm then good, as they will cause the accumulation of "free water". Accumulate enough free water in the tank and you'll have issues.

Typically, diesel at room temperature will contain about 200ppm or 0.02% dissolved water, right from the refinery. I'd be more concerned with microbiological contamination, then air humidity!

[NinerBikes]

boocoodinkydow wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Well then the Eco-diesel I'm getting is not going to last very long then. We are looking a TT's with a GVWR 7800#. The first thing I'll do after getting it is order rims and new tires in the LT line. Will I win any races going up hills, probably not but that's OK by me. All you guys that want to run 70+ can just fly by me.

Not sure what your talking about as to the Ram's fuel mileage. But it's no worse then the other brands. Better with the ED, show me any truck out there with an EPA rated 20/28 MPG. Go to Ramtrucks.com read the information and wait the videos on the different technologies Ram uses to improve fuel economy.

Don

My sentiments exactly ,don. Keep the rpm's in the sweet spot of the torque curve & let the speed & the gearing fall where they may. Still torn between a Fred motorhome & a tt of similar weight as your shopping list. I have no reservations that the ed is capable of towing it using moderately conservative driving habits.

Key words, moderately conservative. I don't think taking it much over 50% of it's max trailer weight rating, while pushing a big , bulky non CD rated travel trailer to 1/2 the rated weight capacity is smart. Wind resistance and weight is a double whammy when trailering.


YMMV, I tow a big old 21 foot travel trailer with a 3 liter VW TDI SUV, and I feel even I am pushing it, at least here in the mountainous western states with steep ups and downs and severe mountain ranges.

[boocoodinkydow]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Well then the Eco-diesel I'm getting is not going to last very long then. We are looking a TT's with a GVWR 7800#. The first thing I'll do after getting it is order rims and new tires in the LT line. Will I win any races going up hills, probably not but that's OK by me. All you guys that want to run 70+ can just fly by me.

Not sure what your talking about as to the Ram's fuel mileage. But it's no worse then the other brands. Better with the ED, show me any truck out there with an EPA rated 20/28 MPG. Go to Ramtrucks.com read the information and wait the videos on the different technologies Ram uses to improve fuel economy.

Don

My sentiments exactly ,don. Keep the rpm's in the sweet spot of the torque curve & let the speed & the gearing fall where they may. Still torn between a Fred motorhome & a tt of similar weight as your shopping list. I have no reservations that the ed is capable of towing it using moderately conservative driving habits.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Well then the Eco-diesel I'm getting is not going to last very long then. We are looking a TT's with a GVWR 7800#. The first thing I'll do after getting it is order rims and new tires in the LT line. Will I win any races going up hills, probably not but that's OK by me. All you guys that want to run 70+ can just fly by me.

Not sure what your talking about as to the Ram's fuel mileage. But it's no worse then the other brands. Better with the ED, show me any truck out there with an EPA rated 20/28 MPG. Go to Ramtrucks.com read the information and wait the videos on the different technologies Ram uses to improve fuel economy.

Don

[NinerBikes]

Sport45 wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:
It's rather simple... see those gauges in your dash? See the red marks? Don't ever operate the vehicle in a manner that gets the gauges near or in the red marks. RED MEANS STOP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING to cause the needles to run near or in the red zone. Don't go there. It's that simple, not complicated. Running in the red has always come with caveats and warnings, in life. Nothing new here. It's just the dumbing down of America that is increasing.

Red means "don't go there", unless you want things to get expensive, complicated and broken on your piece of equipment.

Is that too hard a concept to grasp?

Good advice, but it doesn't work with many of the "idiot gauges" out there. For instance the water temperature gauge in my '00 Ford will show normal until it's too hot and then it will snap instantly to the red without letting you know you're getting close. The oil gauge in my '05 Envoy displays a computer generated pressure. As long as the pressure is over some threshold it indicates everything's normal. A fraction below the threshold it indicates zero.

No one with a smart phone, the Torque Pro App and an ELM 327 OBD II bluetooth adapater uses idiot gauges any more. They get real, from the ECM, to the single digit degree numbers real time, digitally, not on an analogue gauge that the ECM dumbs down, because too many people freaked out and complained that the gauge actually moved upwards due to work being performed going up hill.

Torque Pro application for Android

If every one here was forced to ride a mountain bike up hill, up various grades, long grades, you'd think twice about putting your foot deep into the pedal going up hill and going fast, and you'd have much more appreciation for how hard you are working your motor, by doing so. Carry 3 liters of water on your back on a mountain bike, up hill, heck, how about a couple of 6 packs of beer even, and you'll gain an appreciation for work being done, by you, not by your engine and fossil fuel.

[NinerBikes]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Well the 5.0 Cummins will not make the fuel mileage that the 3.0 VM will and fuel mileage is what Fiat was going for. Would the baby Cummins make a better towing engine, yes but at the cost of fuel mileage.

Also VM is owned by Fiat so cost will be lower. It's smarter to in source then out source. Cost and quality can be controlled better not that Cummins has any quality issues. The 5.0 just did not fit the bill for what Fiat was trying to achieve. For Nissan and Toyota it makes perfect sense. They get the reputation that comes with Cummins and they can jump into the 2500 market. It's a win win for them.

Don

JMHO, but RAM could clean up in the MPG running empty dept on this 1500 RAM if they spent some money in the wind tunnel and cleaned up the cD on the nose of this truck, as well as perhaps figuring out a way to make the back end have a "boat tail" ballistic effect to clean up the aerodynamics.

Of course, it wouldn't then look like a very bulky, manly truck, but it would pay huge dividends in the MPG contest.

As fuel gets more and more expensive, those MPG's are going to be very much more in demand than peak HP or peak torque numbers... something irrelevant as I never drive a vehicle anywhere near where the peak numbers are being made. Peak Numbers is just an exercise in "My deck is bigger than yours" shouting contest. I don't need the extra compensation. Not at my age, anyways.


Besides, this is a RV'ing forum. I think the Eco Diesel has a market in towing the UltraLight trailer stuff, nothing over 4500 to 5000 pounds dry, 4000 would likely be a better limit.