“I pulled my boat (5500lbs) up the mt the other day, a steady incline for about 2 miles. If I floored it with the powerstroke, I could always get a steady increase in speed, easily upto 65. I could not get past 50mph with my new dodge and I tried with and without the tow/haul button.”

We have been using Ford Diesel Ambulances at work since the late 80s. We started out with the 6.9 then the 7.3 and now the 6.0. I have personally logged over 500,000 miles in the past 20 years and drove 25 to 30 of the things. Don’t get me wrong they are good trucks but I’ve never drove one that I thought would out-pull my CTD. If yours is getting out-pulled by a 2000 powerstroke take it back to the Dealer it has issues much worse than fuel mileage.

 

Dave, I really don't think your 12.5 mpg is that bad for a truck with only 800 miles on it. I was getting 11.5 mpg for all my in-town driving when mine was as new as yours. It has improved quite a bit (7300 miles right now)--at least 1.5 mpg increase. I expect it will improve further as the miles build up.

As to your lack of power, I'm baffled. I recently put over 5000 miles on my truck towing our travel trailer (about 6000 pounds) over all types of terrain. I never felt at a loss for power. In the mountains, I used the passing lanes to go around all types of vehicles with the speed building constantly to the crest of the pass. You probably should get the truck checked by the dealership (I hate when that happens!) since you're having power loss problems.

 

I doubt the mighty cummins is to blame, it is flawless. Even stock the cummins is a powerhouse. It does however have serious issues getting the power to the ground with the 48re. The 6 speed is alot more efficiant. I just get sick of shifting around town. Come on 6 speed auto!!!

 

I pull a 36' fifth wheel(12000 lbs.) and a couple of times I found myself creeping past 80 mph with no problems.And as for milage I'm getting 13-15 in the city and 16-18 highway.9000 miles on the truck,Oh and about 11 with the trailer highway

 

My new 05 is on 16.0mpg on the overhead and I haven't done a hand calc as of yet. I only have 1200 miles on her and I can't wait for the milage to improve some more, love the truck! I mean love my wifes truck......As for power I dont think she is as fast as the duramax but not far off. I squared off with this guy in a duramax on my way home from a hunting trip, from a stoplight my truck pulled hard then fell on its face. After I pulled my teeth out of the dash the midrange surge was great, the only place the duramax pulled me was on the top end, my truck kind of signed off early compared too the chevy. Of course I only had 850 miles on it when I did this so I figured she was still fairly tight.

 

Excuse me! My 04 gets 19 towing my small travel trailer and empty it gets 22-24 mpg. Of course, it is one of those underpowered California SO's. That's not a real Cummins right?

 

my daughter's 05 does ~20, they have the 4x4 with 3:73.

i'd give up my 4:10 towing capability to go from my 16mpg to her ~20

 

when i got my 2005, 3500, 6 speed, 4x4 i got about 12mpg in city and 14 hwy got about 15,000 on it now and get about 15 cith and up to 18 hwy

 

New my 05 6 speed got about 17mpg on the interstate at 70. At 8000 miles it gets over 20mpg on the interstate... I get about 19 on average with no interstate driving. The trucks last trip before it got wrecked was towing an empty flat bed 500 miles... averaged 18.5mpg for the trip. Towing ~6k I've gone from 12mpg when new to 13.5mpg at 7000. And this is doing ~80mph on a hilly 2 lane road.

On my tow test my Dodge will pull 66mph up the hill with my trailer... the 06 Duramax/Allison rental I have would only do 62mph. I doubt a stock 7.3 would come close to either of these vehicles.

 

Hardly any vehicle NEW(800 miles)gets good mileage compared to one with 10 to 15k etc.My 03 started low.I get 14/15 combined and non towing at NO more then 70 around 18 give or take.Now have 20k on it.

 

I have 3700 miles and averaging 16 to 17 MPg, only mod is filling the crank tone ring. The worse milage was 14 MPG with 2000 lbs in the bed at 75 mph, but I believe that was bad fuel, the next leg of the trip I got 17.

 

What is the wagner modified ecm? where can I get one? I had a mad ecm in my 01 and loved it didnt know u could get one for the third gen trucks

 

I've only got 1,700 miles on the truck. ........Tank # 5 is @ 1/8 or 1/16 of a tank. The very first tank was 11.7, then 11.4, 11.4 again, 10.9 and now 9.7 MPG. That's 11.2MPG on 151 gallons of fuel or .29 cents per mile in fuel in an un-loaded truck. I don't know what's going on? The truck is now at the dealer for a coolant leak. I asked if they could see about the MPG. .....I got a quick answer of "You didn't buy this truck for fuel mileage, did you". I understand break-in but not reverse break-in.......it means it's wore out when the MPG starts going down hill, right?

.......first Dodge in over 10 years and it appears to be the same O'le routine. "Bring it by the shop" "It's just that way" "You don't expect to get good MPG, do you" "They just do that"

.....They would not reapair the tuck yesterday and asked that I have it there by 8:00 A.M. this morning. They said it would take no more than 30 minutes to fix the leak.......it's now almost 2:00 P.M. and still I wait.

I think Dodge builds a pretty good truck ........not all are the same.
Love the motor design but I'm getting a sour taste from all the BS.


Burner

 

F.W.I.W,
I just got back from a 184 mile loop with the wifes truck and got 18.9 mpg. Now this is 75% highway and the rest town. I had about 500lbs of steel on the truck on the way to the steel treaters. I set the cruise at 73mph on the highway. The truck started out getting about 15-16mpg. The truck is 100% stock power wise. I did put on 305's and the mileage did take a little hit but over all I'm very happy with the truck power and mpg wise.
Topper

 

luckily, i havent seen any exceptionally poor mileage. the first tank, mostly highway 60-70mph i got just over 18 mpg hand calculated. since then ive gotten 17 and 16.5. i currently have 1800 miles. havent towed anything sizeable to speak of, but i suspect you may have a problem, as i cant imagine this thing being shy of power....