herb

power ?
well i have put about 7000 miles on my cummins now and in all honesty am not impressed. am towing a lightweight 40' gooseneck with 2500 lbs of horsebuggys and it is working hard to maintain speed going up graduall grades. when "pushed the temp gauge goes up to 215 and the truck acts like you shut the key off (engine continues to run) for a few seconds and then takes off again. it may do it several times ,loosins speed all the while, until i top the grade and start downhill then the heat gauge goes back down and it runs ok again.
\ have had it into my local dodge dealer but don't think they have a knowledgable deisel mecanic on staff. (wesst micigan)
i traded a 318 in on this and in all sinceity, the 318 did as good a job at towing and didn't use much more fuel.


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farmer dave

It sounds like you might have a bad lift pump. You should get it checked out. You should also look around and find a place that knows what they are talking about when it comes to diesels. When you find someone you like stick them.
dave

herb

any members here from the west michigan area who could direct me to a good service place?

Stamey

Herb,
If you don't hear anything here, I suggest you try the forums here. You may even find a member locally who can help.

http://www.gltdr.org

Chris

DF5152

also have them check the head gasket i dont like the fact that the temp goes up as u load it up there cooling system should be able to handle that no problem

SBishop

Herb,
Have you checked your air filter. A clogged up air filter can cause loss of power problems.

BigBlue

Kinda sounds like a VP44 getting ready to go out.

donyo

Have you changed the fuel filter yet?? Could explain the low power, but not necessarly the heating.

herb

i have had tranny serviced changed fuel filter and air filter

herb

at the present time mine is at the dealer in hastings. they called me this afternoon and said they had ordered and would put on tues. a fuel pump , lift pump, turbo, injector pump under warrenty. hopefully this will remedy the problem(s)

Charlie8301

I have the same truck as you and am having the same power problems. But i cant find anyone around here who really knows what there doing, where in hastings did you go and what did they find with your truck for your truck

Amish hauler

This is a shot in the dark..but... a freind of mine bought a truck from a used car dealer...seems they needed to put a exaughst system on it before they sold it... they found a place to custom bend them a 2" system cheeep. Empty it ran fine . He put four snow-mobiles behind it...same symptoms. He replaced it with Summit racing 4" system-problem fixed. You should have at least 3" and a big muffler or better yet no muffler. If your out of warranty find a Cummins dealer. If you have a Auto-Zone they will check the trouble codes for you for free and can reset them for you.

herb

I purchased this 01 a couple months ago and have went on three long trips towing a 40" gooseneck trailer (2500 lbs) with 2500-3500 lbs of horse carriages on it. i do have a deck over with a 6' v shaped windbreak that gives me an overhead height of 12.6. We always drop this after we drop off our first carriage.
initially had problems of what i thought was poor fuel mileage, 12-14 empty and 7-10 towing. also had a problem of what felt like the ignition being shut off when climing grades (engine continued to run) and a loss of power , sometimes dropping from 65 mph to 45 mph and then it would reingage and take off again. if it were a long grade it might do it several times until i got to the down hill side of the grade and then it would take off and run fine.
when i returned from the last trip i took it in and they replaced the injecter pump the lift pump the turbo the fuel filter and serviced the transmission.

my son left this morning on his way from mich to minn colodaro and utah. i got a call from him an hour or so ago saying that it will not stay in overdrive when he uses cruise control , he is running 55-60 mph in order to keep it in overdrive. he just refueled at 186 miles and used 27.4 gallons. Said 70 mph is as fast as it will go floored on level ground (no wind)
said them da----- fords and chevys are blowing by him like he is standing still.
What next?

DF5152

is it still gettign hot when its loaded? do u have guages what kind of boost is it making?

herb

not hot yet but was not getting hot on me before until i was climing pretty good grades and he hasn't got into any of those yet.
here is response i just received from cummins:
Summary: 2001 Dodge MPG & Cuts out

Solution:


Thanks for your Email message.


Sounds like there may be 2 or 3 possible causes for these problems. The Dodge truck has an engine ECM (electronic control module) as well as a Dodge ECM that controls the fueling of the truck. A problem with the engine cutting out could be one of these ECM's malfunctioning and would need to be checked out by a Dodge dealer. It could be something in the ignition wiring system of the truck as well. We suspect that whatever is wrong is also affecting MPG.


We must advise that it is almost impossible for us to troubleshoot engine problems by email. There are sometimes many factors that affect the determination of what is causing a certain problem or engine function. Many times there are other contributing factors that are forgotten or not mentioned that could have a direct bearing on what might have happened with an engine or component.


The person or persons on the scene are best able to compare all the facts, look at the parts or other information and determine why a particular phenomenon or engine function has occurred. Therefore, we are not in a position to make failure analysis or troubleshoot engine problems by email and suggest you consult work with the Dodge people towards resolution.


There are several possibilities that could affect the power, such as fuel pump timing, restricted fuel lines, air entrapment into the fuel from a loose fitting, connection or fuel filter, air intake restriction, turbocharger problem, etc.. It is almost impossible for us to trouble shoot low power by email since there are many systems to consider.


Since we build the diesel engines for Dodge and they supply all the other components to build the trucks, we are not in a position to speak for Dodge on expected MPG figures on Dodge trucks. We have been advised that Dodge does not publish MPG figures for the diesel-powered trucks. We know how much fuel the engine will burn, under full load, on the engine dynamometer, which is measured in pounds per horsepower hour, but when the engine is installed into a chassis, those figures no longer apply, due to the various chassis components and factors cited above.


Again, there are several variables involved that relate to fuel mileage and since the engine is only one part of the equation, it is very difficult to predict mpg on any specific vehicle. There are several factors such as rpm, speed, wind, aerodynamics, load, transmission, rear axle ratio, tire size, 4x4, driver habits, etc., that really have more affect on MPG, than the engine. You might ask yourself over what driving distances you made your determination, and under what conditions?


A diesel engine (particularly with an automatic transmission), will "feel" sluggish compared to a gasoline engine. The turbocharger takes a few seconds to reach full boost pressure and reach maximum torque; but this is only a transient condition.


Also, we know that a 4 x4 truck with automatic transmission is the worst case fuel economy set up. The newer Dodge Ram pickups are nearly 2,000 lbs. heavier than the earliest variants with the older Cummins engine. A 4 x4 sits up higher and has more aerodynamic drag under the vehicle than the 2-WD.


For the older Dodge trucks, we have talked with hundreds of owners and they have told us MPG figures from 8 to 28 mpg, depending on the above variables. The guy getting 8 mpg was very upset that he could not run 80 MPH, with 35,000 pounds gross weight. On the other end of the spectrum, we tend to question 28 mpg, but believe many are getting in the low to mid 20s (empty). A sudden increase in fuel consumption might indicate a plugged air filter, if there is excessive black smoke or possibly an automatic transmission problem.


>From what other customers have told us, a two-wheel drive, single wheel truck could expect mileage to be 15 to 20 mpg (empty/no heavy load) running at normal highway speeds (some models and conditions may do better). Loaded or pulling a trailer, the mileage may drop to the 10 to 15 mpg range. Duallies and 4 wheel drives or running above normal highway speeds or pulling excessive loads can reduce these figures considerably.


Remember, power required for increases in vehicle speed above about 60 mph increase geometrically, in fact by the third power (aero effects alone increase by a squared function, then multiply by rolling resistance which increases about linearly). The newer trucks, being heavier, don't do as well; the new engine is at least as efficient, and more so in some cases. But it doesn't look like we have to concern ourselves with 60 mph right now, except when you're running empty.


As mentioned above, a faulty automatic transmission in the Dodge application could cause a perceived low power condition. For example if the engine rpm lowers as road speed has decreased, we would suspect a problem with the transmission downshifting rather than the engine having low power. Also, diesels run at lower RPM than gasoline engines; we are assuming that you are not downshifting and trying to run at rated (governed) speed but letting the mid-range torque pull the vehicle. Diesels get notably poorer fuel efficiency when running at/near the high RPM range of the power curve (still, much better than gas by the way).


If your son needs assistance along the way, feel free to use our Service Locator on our website to locate a Cummins dealer or distributor.


We thank you for your interest in Cummins products. Please let us know if you need assistance in locating the nearest Cummins-authorized Dealer or Distributor Service Provider. For assistance in locating a Service Provider, feel free to use Cummins North America Dealer Locator, which can be found on Cummins website:
http://www.cummins.com/service_locator/index.cfm