so about 2 months ago I am driving along on flat ground on my way to a weeks vacation on the oregon coast and am hualing my usual 2000lb cab over camper and pulling an inclosed trailer behind that weighs maybe 8000 loaded with atvs and getting my usual 12 mpg(14 on the over head). we are driving down a twist turny highway at about 50mph when my wife reaches up and turns down the radio with a distressed look on her face. thats when I first heard a slight ticking noise from the motor. I kept driving and listening and withinn a few seconds the tick started getting louder. I took a quick look at all the gauges and everything was completely normal. I started looking for anyplace to pull over because the noise was starting to really get loud . after about a 1/4 mile I found a turn out and started slowing down to swing over off the road and thats when all he#* broke loose. it sounded like I was losing a rod and I could hear pieces of metal being ground up in the turbo charger! the motor now had a dead miss as well. well to make a long story short, my vacation was over before it started and the motor for some reason dropped an exhaust valve on the number 6 cylinder. dodge installed a cummins "remanufactured " engine and new turbo completely free of charge. I have driven the truck for about a month and it seems to run just as before. anyway we just headed out for another vacation , this time to glamis california which is about 615 miles each way and had a pleasant surprise at every fuel up. the overhead still read 14 but the numbers didnt add up to our usual 12mpg. everytime I stopped to fill we added it up and we were getting a solid 14 mpg pulling the same load we always pull and hauling the same camper. I have also noticed that I am now getting 17+ bobtail around town and my highway mileage empty has gone up to around 21 hand calculated. did I mention this is a dually 4x4 quad cab long bed truck? I have 2 dodge diesels and this is the first time my overhead has ever matched up to the hand calculted mileage. I cant imagine what dodge could have changed to up my mileage by 2 points but they did something. we were going to trade this 6 speed truck in and get an automatic so that the wife could help drive on long trips but have now decided to keep the truck. it now gets the kind of mileage my old 93 2 valve 2 wheel drive got on high sulfer diesel. anyone have any idea what could have changed to up the mileage this much??

 

did the put in an aluminum block motor??????

 

My advice to you, teach your wife to drive a stick shift. What happens if you get hurt on the ATV and she has to take you to the hospital.

 

Maybe the poor fuel mileage is an early sign of valve issues? Something to ponder anyway? Since it a rebuild and everything is still breaking in, your mileage is possibly going to get even better. I know when I have not towed for a while, my mileage begins to rop, after a heavy tow, it is right back up and stays there for a while. I keep fuel records, all hand calcs, and am seeing this fluctuation, and also am seeing my mileage increase steadily over time. I only have 26K on my truck, so while it may be broke in, it also may still need more running time with heavy loads to settle into an average.

Glad to hear that your problems are over and that you got a good reman.

CD

 

Nope, he said it was a reman. It's already broken in!

 

That's one of those " Blessings in Disguise "

 

i have the same ticking in my truck but it has been doing it now for about 2 months or so

 

I bet the reman engine came with a reman ecm attached to it. And if it came from Cummins, they may have tweeked it a little bit? Just a theory.

 

I asked about that and they said they used my old computer.

 

Maybe they have "craftsmen" instead of "operators" working on remans. If everything was done right instead of just "in spec" you would have a better engine. Kinda like the racers "balance and blueprint" their engines to get the best performance from them.

 

Since they used your old computer, what's left to explain the difference?

A computer from an '04 with no third injection event and different timing could explain the difference.

I wonder if the the re-mans come with a different camshaft from a different year? Or if the tone ring is in a different spot on those so the timing is different?

Something very good is going on. It would be fun to somehow compare specs on the two engines. Maybe everyone else can do the same "mod" to improve their mileage.


John