I just sold the 24v in my sig and bought my brothers truck, its an early 04 3500 QC 4x4 6spd, straight piped, Smarty, afe intake, otherwise stock on the performance end. The truck has 87k on it and stocker tires, it has a 2in leveling kit and frontier replacement bumpers.

Now for the questions:

How should I set the smarty for peak mileage (I drive conservatively)?
Average tank yields 16.5-17.5 mpg, best of 18.6, smarty is currently set on 60hp, no timing. Sidenote, his best tank was achieved with setting 7 w/timing...but that is just too freaking aggressive for me.

How sensitive are these trucks to running red fuel? (I know, I know...just curious)

Any tips or ideas on what issues these trucks might have?

This is my first 3rd gen....to say its impressive is an understatement, these things are phenomenal trucks....I cannot believe what I've been missing. Thanks to all for the help. sabreson

 

Red fuel is identical to green fuel except for two distinctions.

Coloring is added to red fuel.
Tax is not.

The fine in my area for running red fuel is about $2,000. I accidently filled mine up once and worried about it for the next three tanks. Would someone have saw me do it? Did the cameras get me at the fueling island? Would my credit card trigger an alert.

I know. Crazy thoughts. Now if I filled it up at our farm, no worries. We fill our $60,000 tractor engines with it all the time.

 

Enjoy the new truck.

These trucks are sensitive to clean fuel.

The tank mounted lift pump yours would have had from the factory was upgraded to a more reliable in-tank pump in later trucks. On the CR trucks loss of lift pump generally shuts the truck down, and doesn't mess up the injection pump.

 

Aight...i dont really run red fuel most of the time...I will have the opportunity during the summer to run it now and then for free....thats money saved if I dont get caught, if i do....thats gonna hurt.

Something I noticed on this truck is that the drivers side front wheel seems to squeak noticeably on low speed turns. What might that be?

Thanks for the replies. sabreson


dang it bro's username, anyway, the truck is the one in his sig below. Sorry admins.

 

Squeak could be a number of things. Possibly front axle U joint.

 

Anyone want to chime in on the fuel mileage question? Got 17 on the last tank 80% in-town driving. I really hope to get at least 18mpg most of the time, mainly because I drive like a grandma. Thanks Jeff in TD for the help, I need to get it looked at, its starting to be a constant squeak, quite annoying. sabreson.

 

17 for mostly in town driving is I think about as good as you are going to get out of the common rail. They don't quite get the MPG's of the previous trucks, and the 6.7's don't seem to get as good as the 5.9 CR's.

 

Squeak = brakes. Check your pads.

 

Yeah, definately check the brakes first, but that it happens while turning made me think front axle U joint.

 

Yeah, i had planned to do that anyways, I hope thats the issue. Thanks for the tip, any suggestions on what pads to go with in the event of needing them changed? sabreson