Today I picked up my new to me 2018 2WD Ram 1500 SLT with the Ecodiesel and 8-speed auto. For a newer vehicle it's a darn low trim package, even has manual seats! I think it's supposed to have heated mirrors. It supposedly came with tow package, but there's no 2" receiver, so...? Has 7-way plug and factory brake controller.

 

Dash readout claims to have only 800 hours combined idle and drive time, but has 50,500miles! Something isn't right. New engine or ECM already?

 

A 49-state tune is high on priority list, from Green Diesel Engineering. It's pretty spendy, but they have to recoup their EPA compliance testing somehow, I suppose.

 

So far I'm amazed at the things that seemingly aren't available, like a factory service manual, and Donaldson or Fleetguard filters.  Most of the filters are just pleated, not the fancy synthetic material!  Both oil and fuel.  Strange coming from Cummins or small block Chevy where there's a billion choices.

Edited July 22, 20213 yr by LorenS
Added two photos for Dripley :)

They rent diesel  trucks  all day long , I lost my tranny in Kansas City a couple years ago, In the 01 towing a boat to Indiana, I had to finish my trip so I rented a truck while having the tranny rebuilt, I tried to get a half ton because that’s all I needed, but no hitch on the half tons, a few rams and F 150,s. I had to upgrade to the 3/4 ton, they had 1 sitting their. a 2019 dodge w/Cummins and it had 30 whole miles on it, still had the paper floor mats lol, but it cost me deeply too, no playing around, 

18 hours ago, 01cummins4ever said:

Kinda makes you wonder if this was a rental truck

I finally looked at the title, and it was a tire shop in Lincoln, NE.  The interior is immaculate, even the drivers seat, so maybe it was a salesman's vehicle.

On 7/22/2021 at 4:40 PM, Silverwolf2691 said:

My 2018 EcoDiesel would do a passive regen while going on a longer trip, but would take like 2 weeks to load up the DPF and pop the message on the dash in the winter from warm up. Yeah, short trips, guilty.

 

Yikes... that message means you should change things up. That much warm up time is not recommended, 3-5 minutes max. Anything over 10 minutes per hour of drive time is considered excessive idle time. 

 

Get a block heater and a winter front. Idle it for a little bit and drive off. Mine usually idles 30-60 seconds when it's cold. 

33 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

Get a block heater and a winter front

I was reading a trucking magazine the other day and there was an article in there about how some companies are using block heaters even in the summer.  It has drastically reduced their maintenance on DPF, and of course saved them fuel money due to reduced regens.  Based on our most recent bill I think I'm paying 12 cents/kW-hr, so I may give it a go for this truck.

40 minutes ago, LorenS said:

I was reading a trucking magazine the other day and there was an article in there about how some companies are using block heaters even in the summer.  It has drastically reduced their maintenance on DPF, and of course saved them fuel money due to reduced regens.  Based on our most recent bill I think I'm paying 12 cents/kW-hr, so I may give it a go for this truck.

I would look at your driving cycle first. You may not have any effect on regens if you’re not triggering DPF loading based regens. 
 

Unfortunately I don’t know much about the VM regen cycles and what all triggers them. 

32 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

I don’t know much about the VM regen cycles

I now have AlfaOBD, just waiting for my magic cord to show up so I can look at all kinds of things (and program my new keys!), hopefully I can figure out some of those things.
I'm really hoping my +25 mile commute is long enough to not create problems between my several hundred mile trips across the midwest.