Spooler

Block heater cord..... It will cure the high idle times.

kkime

All the warm ups Is recently due to the cold weather we had been having, its not a always thing, and since I have had this truck the mileage is been the same not good and I had gotten it in Sept while the weather was good. Also I believe the rear end is 3:73 but not for sure, I will find out when I get to pick it up from the dealer on Mon, after they have had it for 10 days and nothing accomlished at all, very disappointed in them. The oil was changed when I bought it and the fuel filter in Sept, then in Nov, I replaced the fuel filter myself just to be certain that it has a clean one in it, and replace the air filter with a new paper one, so all the maint. is up to date, that Im aware of, just dont understand that poor of mileage, My tires ar 315/70/17 and the truck has a 2 in body lift on it, but its really not oversized compared to most, I plan on buying that pressure gauge and then not sure what to do except keep driving it and buying lots of diesel....

CamperAndy

As I mentioned, run a couple of tanks with Power Service. This may help clean the injectors.

Poke In Da Eye

Your tires and body lift is taking part of your mpg!!! I have the same tires on my H2 HUMMER I believe they are 35" tires - stock I think are 31". Your speedo may be off as well!!! The tires LOOK GREAT but they are costing you in mpg!!! Add a SMARTY Jr. all will be better in your world!!! IMO.......

bkrukow

Yep taller tires and lift dont help anything. My 06 mega 4x4 gets horible milage as well but it fluctuates greatly depending on the driving Ime doing. In the summer when there is 0 warm up time I get 15-16 on my 16 mile round trip to work. Its all highway and no stops. Now in the winter I get horible milage(havent checked it and dont want to). I have it pluged in and only idle it for maybee 2 minutes at home and work. If I pull my toyhauler(huge parachute) I get 10 if Ime lucky, usaly worse. If I drive a sane speed(under 70) for an entire tank of fuel down the inerstate I can get as good as 18 but thats abought tops. You said 16.5 hiway but at what speed. If I drive 75-80 empty thats abought all I would get as well maybee better. Speed kills MPG and on my truck with 3.73s anything above 65-70 it goes threw the crapper.

kkime

Well my tires are actually 34" measured and the speedo has been corrected by the dealer to my tire size. also my hwy mileage was all at the speed limit never over 70 mph on my trips to the deer lease which was 115 miles one way all hwy. Also I do use that power service which I call Diesel Kleen, every once in a while and still got some never seen any diff. though by using it. Should I pour a whole bottle in it to help clean it good or just use the recommended doses per gals on the bottle? I have sopken to other Dodge owners with a actual lift on their truck with 35's and they get better mileage than I do. I just think 10.4 is terrible light with no load at all, gasoline trucks get better than that. So I guess Im left to try cleaning up the system and drive it the way it is. Is there anywhere else besides the dealer to by that heater cord? Thanks everyone for the post replies...

NickBeek

You can get the block heater cord at a Cummins dealer too. IIRC it was about $12.

Are you noticing any white smoke or rough idle first start of the day? Is there a black patch on your driveway right where the exhaust exits the truck?

kkime

No smoke ever at start up or driving, No rough idle, you would not even think that anything was wrong with this truck while riding in it all day unless you are the one paying for the fuel... I will put the power service in the next few tanks and hope that cleans it up for me...

NickBeek

It's personal preference but it seems that PS and my truck don't play well together. I prefer Howes Meaner Cleaner for the occasional clean up.

bob4x4

the dealer does not have the ability to correct the speedo on the 06 for 315's

Colo~Dirtbikers

Ive tried em all. Power Service is good stuff. I use it in every tank. Silver in summer, white in winter.

Have 275k miles on original injectors and entire fuel system. I dont run any extra filtration. I use autozone fuel filters.

I just replaced my in tank lift pump yesterday cause it seems to me 275k miles is enough on an electric pump. Much cheaper to fix at home then on the road. They cant last forever.

About every 100k. I drain the filter housing and fill with power service. Start truck for 15 seconds and shutt it off for the night. That way the power service soaks in the injectors over night.

This has worked well to keep the injectors clean.

Carey

mykaos

I believe you'll find your 2 biggest mpg killers are going to be in your idle time and a incorrectly calibrated speedometer. I would go to a CUMMINS dealer for the heater cord. Idle time will KILL fuel economy. I live 1.5 mi from my work. Between that and running around town here where everything is within 4 miles, I have been in the 13 mpg range with my 2wd. My cure: when it gets below 40 deg, I plug in, cut my idle time to 2-3 min tops. Results: around 16 mpg. Back and forth to Phoenix at 65-75 (my elevation is 3500' vs Phoenix 1000') I have seen 19.8 mpg. Getting with it, I've been in the low 15's. All hand calculated and before EDGE. I would HIGHLY recommend for you to have your speedometer calibrated at a GOOD speedo shop or via a module or programmer. (someone else probably knows more about this than I)

kkime

ok. I will buy me that cord soon. and the dealer told me they couldnt cal. speedo on that size also, but I checked it with my gps a week before and it was off 3-4 mph and then checked it again after the dealer said no, and it checked right on the money so I cant explain that, but It has shown to be b accurate now by my gps on miles on a trip and the speed all ranges. I just got it out from the dealer and ran away. Im just goin to drive it unitil something makes the check engine light come on. So far no lights and the dealer told me today that it was throwing codes for a weak lift pump, funny how they say that when I have never had any lights come on to warn me. Fishy!! I think they r trying to rip people off.

DBLR

Wow even at -24 below zero, extra warm up time for cold weather, snow and ice roads, new aggressive traction tires the lowest I have gotten so far for combo driving this winter is 14.95 mpg. After you change out your fuel filter (use either the Fleetguard Stratapore FS19856 or the Baldwin PF7977) it may be a good idea load 2500 Lbs in the bed or hook up to a loaded trailer with no less then 4K and drive your truck for a few hours to heat up the engine and burn out the carbon that could be build up on the injectors and piston tops. It may be a good idea to also use a fuel additive at the same to help out.

JMHO

nightrain

I have 35" tires as well and have not seen any improvement in mileage with the Smarty. It was 15.5mpg (corrected for the 35's, hand calc'd) and it's now 15.7mpg with 35's Smarty calibrated. The perfomance is great, but even featherfooting a whole tank I can only get mid-15mpg. The Ovhd changed with the Smarty, though. Used to indicate 16.5 when I was actually getting 15.5. Now it indicates 18.4 and actually gets 15.7. I, too, drive rather short trips; only 14 miles to work, so perhaps that's my issue with mpg. Plus, I only have 26,500 miles on it. Still needs to be broken in...