Just picked up my first diesel yesterday and I have many questions. The first one is what is the best brand of diesel fuel to use in my 2003 2500 dodge ram??<br><br>My second question is what is a good speed or rpm to cruise at on the highway without a load. The reason why I'm asking this is because at 70 mph I'm taching out at 2200 rpm and redline is 3100 rpm that can't be good. The reason I got a diesel is because I drive a lot of highway miles but I don't want to cruise at 60 mph. And I've also heard that it's not good to let your diesel idle for more than five minutes. I thought diesels could idle for hours?? <br>Your help is much appreciated. Thank you

 

Sorry, wrong forum.

 

Which brand is not as important as quality try to buy from large truck stops that have a large volume....Ive gotten bad fuel from small stations that dont turn the fuel very fast<br><br>You dont say what tranny or axel ratio you have but 70 MPH at 2200 RPM is the same thing I run at I get my best MPG at 65 MPH

 

calvin:<br><br>Congratulations on your new ride, and welcome to the forum. As for fuel (and I'm assuming the 2003's are like my 99) Cummins recommends using #2 diesel. I usually use premium diesel as that's what readily available in my area. As was mentioned, buy from a high volume station. If you live where it gets cold this time of year, you should be getting winterized fuel as it will help cut down on gelling when it gets real cold.<br><br>As for cruising on the highway, pick a speed. This engine will do pretty much anything you ask it to do. Driving at 70, or even faster, won't hurt your engine, but you won't get as good of fuel mileage as when you run a little slower, but that's true of most any engine. Cummins engineers claim that you can run your engine up against the governor all day long, and not harm the engine, but I wouldn't want to do that to mine.<br><br>When idling, you should not let it idle for more than 10 minutes, unless you have an exhaust brake to put a little load on the engine. The diesel is so efficient that it won't warm up anyway. <br><br>Hope this helps some.<br><br>DeWain

 

2200 RPM won't hurt anything. I try to keep my RPM as close to 2000 as I can. The engine seems to like that RPM. Don't baby it. The harder you run it the better it'll run.

 

Thanks for the help guy's. This web site is great!!!!

 

You can also look at the Cetane level. Gas uses Octane, diesel uses Cetane. The higher the cetane the better, supposedly. In my experience, I haven't seen much difference between the 40 and 45 cetane.<br>But, like everyone else said, get it at a high volume place, even if it's lower cetane.<br><br>We'll be looking for you to get the bombing bug. ;D<br><br>Chris