I am a newbie to the Cummins world. I have had my '06 2500 for a month now and love it. When I was test driving various models, I never heard much clatter from the engines once they got to speed, one of the reasons I bought Dodge. When I first drove mine off the lot, I noticed that the clatter stayed even at speed and no matter what speed. I even hear clatter at idle. I brought it back to the dealer right away and they tell me that's normal. I then took my Brother-in-law's truck for a spin, his being a week older than mine and I didn't hear any clatter at speed nor at idle. For you experienced guys, is what I am hearing normal, is there a timing issue, will it hurt the engine? I would sure appreciate any comments.
Thank you.

 

Welcome to the site! You need to put a few miles on your truck before you get to worried. I recomend putting a can of sea foam or power service in each tank to keep the injectors clean and quiet.

 

From my experience the harder the Cummins is worked, the less probs I see with them. Try using some Power Service for a tank or two and pulling some weight certainly won't hurt.

 

Paulthor,

I'm sorry to hear of the concerns you have with your new truck. It sounds like you're making an effort to get this possible problem corrected.

You may want to get other opinions from other dealers (talk to the diesel tech., if possible). If you have a Cummins Shop, in your area, you may want to take the truck to them to let them listen to it. Or find a diesel mechanic that is familiar with these engines. Check diesel performance shops, also.

These new engines are susceptable to injector carboning if they are not run hard on a regular basis. Running an additive may help you keep the injectors clean if you are not running the truck hard. The added lubricity, in the additive, will help lubricate the fuel delivery system & protect it from the newer ULSD (ultra low sulphur diesel). Some of these ULSD's have been found to be lacking in enough lubrication.

It's unfortunate you are having a less than positive experience with your first diesel truck. These really are great trucks &, especially, engines (I have two of them, myself). There are a couple of large websites & magazines dedicated to the Dodge/Cummins trucks. This would not happen if these were not extraordinary vehicles.

You are doing the right thing by taking advantage of this resource. There are a lot of very wise & savvy people, on this site, & hopefully some of them can get you the information that you need to correct your problem.

Best of luck getting your situation straightened out.

Joe F.(Buffalo)

 

you know maybe someone can help me a bit. mine has a very slight clatter only when in gear (auto) and foot on the break. when in n or p you don't hear it and you really have to listen to hear it in gear. i don't even know if it is so much a clatter as it is just changing the sound of the engine. i could just be paranoid as usual but hope someone could tell me.

 

Thanks for the replies. Being a first timer, I just want to make sure there really isn't a problem. You are right in saying that these are great trucks Buffalo and it's these forums that convinced me that Cummins was the way to go. I been following them for months now and have seen some great advice and comments from members. I haven't worked the truck yet and am very anxious to give it a work out and I mean real anxious. Most of my driving has been to work and back. I will be hooking up my 30' trailer in a few weeks and putting on some highway miles so we'll see what happens from there. In the meantime, I'll give the Power Service a try.

 

Dont sweat it. I almost drove myself crazy with the same thing. Nothing is wrong with your truck other than maybe a little carboning. Give it a little snort of power service and run it a little hard now and then and it will straighten up. Also when the outside temp drops below 70 mine gets a little more clattery. I gave up and decided if nothings leaking, burning or banging and all the guages are happy. I am happy too. Life is much better now.

 

Go to www.scheiddiesel.com and order a case of Stanadyne Power Shot . My truck idles like a gasser and is super quiet except for my duals !! Diesel we buy is crap , I never run without using an additive at every fill up and at 27000 mi .......... no injector probs and getting 21 mpg IF you keep it under 70 . Hang in there guys the mileage will increase ,just takes awhile to break them in .

 

Were the trucks warm or cold when you noticed the differences. Mine clatters a smidge when it's cold at idle and freeway speed. Once she's hot though, she runs smooth and quiet (except for the exhaust )

 

Both trucks were fully warmed up Rambunctious1. Even at the end of a half hour run into work this morning it was clattering away at speed and idle. It's not that it's a loud clatter but it certainly is noticeable.

 

I am with insidious...

I am much happier now that I gave up sweating all the little noises this thing makes.
As long as it runs ok..then fine with me.
Different temps and fuels = different noises.
I do find that if you use a good diesel additive especially in the winter it helps somewhat.

 

Hey guys,

Just wanted to see if there were any experiences like my recent one last weekend.

I was driving about 5 hours on the interstate and got off at my home exit, while exiting the ramp the truck started to clatter at lower rpms. I had my TST on 3/1 only the entire trip for mileage purposes. When I took off from the stop the truck clattered louder the more fuel I gave it. I was starting to get concerned with the level of the noise. After I got to the house I changed the fuel filter and drove back into town to fill up with fuel to see if that would help (I put an extra amount of Lucas in the fuel tank this time, always have run Lucas or Power Service). It stalled out on me at the first stop sign but started back up. I filled up with fuel and while heading home the clatter turned into a small knock. I gave it a hard shot of the pedal to try and clean her out and all heck broke loose, black smoke and a loud engine knocking. The truck shut down and I had to call my wife to tow me home.

The truck has been at the shop now since Monday with no word on the problem. Dealer says DC is having them run lots of tests to find the problem. I pulled the TST and FASS off prior to taking it in so...

One thing I noticed when it stalled out was some white smoke coming out of the breather tube down by the starter, very scary. The oil looked good and the coolant was clean, no external signs of damage. The truck would crank over but sounded very different with no signs of wanting to start.

Any similiar experiences?? Any ideas?

Thanks, Adam.

 

Being new, are you sure it is anything other than the normal noises a diesel makes? Diesels are pretty noisy to begin with. They make a lot of rattle noises that you never hear on a gas motor. It sounds like th ewhole thing is coming apart under the valve cover.. but that is normal.

Mine was pretty quiet when new, but after I took it for a 2000 mile drive on the highway, it started to loosen up and the exhaust note was distinctly louder. I get a rattle at times, which sounds like exhaust hitting somewhere, but haven't had time to check it out.

 

I understand I have a beast under that hood and certainly do feel it. My concern came from the fact that I didn't hear all that clatter in other trucks that I test drove. I would also roll down the window when I came along side other Cummins before I bought mine just to hear the engine and always was amazed at how quiet they were at idle. I will see what happens when I get a few more miles on it and have had a chance to work it. I noticed a few other discussions threads on the subject and there is a common theme of fuel additives and work it. Funny though, I not only bought my Ram to pull but also for the economy. Now if I have to drive the snot out of it to keep it from carbonning up, not exactly what I had intended!