Re: [RC] Improving Diesel MPG-OT - Barbara McCrary
I will repeat....my husband loves his
2004 Dodge Ram diesel. It gets 18 mpg on the highway pulling our 20'
gooseneck fully loaded for a ride. It has a 6-speed stick shift and
dual-range 4WD. Tons of power....it walks away from just about anything
else on the highway going over Donner Pass. He had another Ram that has
been recycled into our company.....low mileage but hard use, and the bed was
rusting away. His new one has an all-aluminum custom designed (made wide
enough to take four bales of hay side by side and wide enough to load our JD
Gator onto it) bed which should last him for a LONG time. The one thing he
has to watch out for is the cows jostling his truck while trying to get hay off
it. He has developed creative techniques for avoiding this problem.
His previous Dodge had dents in both front doors before he realized the
problems. Boy, was he upset! Lud studied diesel mechanics when
a teen and spent time on board merchant ships (in the engine room) and lots of
bulldozers and tractors with diesel engines. He knows his diesels and
really likes the Cummins.
the inline design is ALWAYS more efficient than a v8, especially in
diesels. If you ever look at a 18 wheeler truck, ALL of them are in line 6
cylinders. I am trying to get ride of my Ford right now and buy a Dodge, more
power, better fuel mileage.
Both
the Ford and the DuraMax are 8 liter v8 diesel engines. The Dodge
Cummins is a 5.9 liter straight 6. My Dodge gets 22 mpg on the
highway and 18 around town. It gets 14 around town towing my
gooseneck Sundowner stock trailer. I don't know what it gets
with this trailer yet on the highway, but hopefully I'll find out
this spring. :) His Ford gets 10mpg around town, but he has
a lead foot.
Sounds like you are doing everything right.
It may just be the best the larger 8 liter v8 engine can do. The
cummins has plenty of power, btw. Mine is the year before the
"high output" option... I don't know what that does to the Cummins
mpg.
Hope this helps,
Kathy Myers in Santa Fe,
NM ps... the straight 6 is a heck of an engine. We have an old
jeep cherokee with the 4.0 liter straight six. It now has over 210K
miles. Our mechanic here says he's seen them go 350K miles if they
are taken care of. So, that's my new goal for the jeep. pps... back in
CA we would have probably sold the jeep just because that's what people
in CA do. Here in NM, we'll keep it, repair it, and drive
it. ppps... the Dodge has over 180K miles already. I know
of 3 now that have gone over 1,000,000 miles. Anyone know of a
Ford or Duramax that went over 1,000,000 miles? That's my goal for the
Dodge. pppps... is this what they call endurance
driving?????
