600 bad engine?
 

I am going to pick my new cummins 600 ram 2500 up from the dealer on thursday. I am hearing some negative feedback on this engine, when I test drove it it seemed to have plenty of power, and I loved it, it also sounded a little louder than the 555, is this true?

Are the problems major?

My 2004.5 has been good so far. No problems. The fuel mileage was 15 MPH on the first tank. Filling up to the top of the fill spout each time. This takes a long time. I put 5 gallons more in it after the filler shut off! This was mostly Highway 70 MPH but there was 15 miles in second and third gears on a rough dirt unimproved road running 10 to 20 MPH. I had a Ford 7.3 before this truck and there are some differences. The Ford liked to rev. but I was in a gear lower for most of the typical roads I travel on. It rides a little rougher on the worst roads. The Ford made 17 MPH most of the time doing this same drive. But the Dodge has under 250 miles on it. This was my first trip. I don't have the vibration problem people talked about and my mileage is as expected on the first couple of tanks of fuel. In general, I'm very happy with the truck.

The engine is fine in my opinion. I have 2500 on mine now and love it.

When the motor first came out there was much hoopla. It was supposed to have EGR, it does not. It meets new emissions regs. It's supposed to have more power. Some made sure not to get it, some made sure to get it.

One thing that's important to remember is that for the most part it's the SAME darn motor. New bits here or there, but nothing major.

The dyno I've seen on this board and the TDR show the 600 close to the 555. Depends on who you talk to to some extent if the extra power is there. But most of the dyno pulls were done on very new/tight 600s vs. broken in 555s.

The 600 should be quieter. That's dodges claim. I'd see if you can't listen to a few and see if the one you're buying has some issue. There have been a handful of bad injectors on this motor.

There is also a concern that the 600 gets lower fuel mileage. I've seen on these forums ranges from 12->26 for the 555. I've seen 12->20 posted for the 600. There are a lot fewer 600s and most are new. In addition many of the first ones were burning winter blend fuel. My .02 is that it burns a bit more fuel. I've seen that in a number of places, a DC employee mentioned it, and in discussions of diesel emissions strategies at an SAE confrence it was mentioned that using fuel timing instead of EGR to reduce NOX, as the 600 does, would result in increased fuel consumption.

What I do think many have done tho is compare the person getting 12 with his 600 with the person getting 25 with his 555 and jumping to conclusions.

Bad engine? Not that I've seen. Different enough such that we all talk about it, and compare it...yup. [laugh]