I finally bought one of these things used that works. Only had it on now for a week. But already my fuel milage went from 750-800km per tank up to 850-900km per tank. Pretty good to see some milage back into this truck.

Next is to try and find a cat and reinstall it to see if that brings some more milage back.

It is hard to drive with the BD and keep from smoking out intersections. It seems as soon as you shift and hit the go pedal it wants to smoke. But at times it has been fun. Others kinda cringe when a police man is behind me.

Just thought I would share my recent expierance with everyone.

 

Re-installing a catalytic converter will not do anything for your fuel mileage. All it will do will quiet things down & eliminate any drone during towing.
If it's too loud, a 2nd straight thru muffler will quiet things down, is cheaper, easier & less restrictive than a cat.


Manual trans, common rail & any lugging will result in lots of smoke!

Do you have any kind of air intake installed or modified stock air box? How about gauges?

 

i have my cat that i chopped out if you do want to go that route tho. will take some welding if i remember correctly. i've got a big grinder and not many patience.

 

I read a few places where guys say they lost Mpg when they removed their cats. So I have been thinking of installing one. Still on the line about it though as I would have to cut apart my exhaust i have now.

 

a cat will decrease your fuel mileage, period, there is no reason that they could increase your mileage period. With a diesel there is no replacement for exhaust room, the faster you can get the exhaust out the better you are.

 

ditto on what morkable said. A better tunner like a smarty would help your smoke situation, but not eliminate it. If you want some better mileage, I would recomend a cold air intake, less restricive muffler(your pipe is already 4inch so no need to get a complete system) , and a fass.

 

I have a FASS installed, my exhast is 4inch to some sort of straight thrue muffler, factory airbox but with a AFE drop in.

 

Whats the drivablity like? Are you building boost or have killer egt's? I didn't know BD did a programmer? Do you have a boost leak?

 

Hmmmm, does he mean BD as in BD Diesel in Abbotsford B.C. or BD as in Bully Dog?

Both make (or used to make) programmers. The Bully Dog programmers usually make more power than a Smarty on the dyno, but the majority of the Bully Dog programs add fuel rail pressure.

I believe the BD Diesel programmer is a re-packaged programmer from Superchips, Diablo or someone like that.

http://www.dieselperformance.com/ind...uct/index/153P

I wouldn't run any programmer than a Smarty unless you have a rail pressure gauge. That way you can tell if the programmer is increasing rail pressure & by how much.

I have the very pricey Diprocal Rail pressure. It's a very nice piece & I haven't had an issue with it in 3 or so years.
But Autometer now makes one that is much cheaper & in various styles.

http://www.genosgarage.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AM-5786

 

Joe, I have proven (on the dyno) that the bullydog is a very weak programmer. On my truck the Bullydog was 90HP less than the diablo sport. Almost 140 HP less than the Smarty (no other changes) The bullydog adds timing like crazy, not rail pressure. Hence why people report such good fuel mileage usually with the bullydog. You wouldnt be able to pay me to put a bullydog on a Dodge truck. I agree with the smarty comment, if you need a hookup on the smarty, call Bob Wagner, tell him that I sent you. He will look after you real good, nice man. As for the rail pressure, unfortunately the stock rail pressure sensor will only read to 26100 PSI, which is well in the safe zone. I know guys that are hitting in the 31 32k zone and even higher on spikes (they have aftermarket sensors, big bucks) Rail pressure is why I run a Dr Performance box, instead of using the smarty to add the rail pressure. The Dr P seems to keep the spikes out, and add nice safe pressure.

 

I'm not sure about BD's tunner, but the plug in modual they had was an edge. A bigger turbo would help milage, I have seen milage increases with bigger turbos, but smoke gets worse with a bigger turbo. My experence with dodges is a dr.p and smarty will give you the best milage. I've seen trucks with bigger injectors and bigger turbos get 30 plug MPG

 

Its a Bully Dog Triple Dog, I had a Qaudzilla RP gauge but it crapped out for the second time the cost of sending it back again for repair is not worth the cost.

I have been on the edge with buying a SMARTY but with not working much, and having to pay for repairs on the front end of the truck money has been in short supply.
But if this summer is as good as they say it does then maybe by the end I will be purchasing one.

My Egts are kept in check 900-1000 but can sky rocket real easy to 1350 if I let them. Boost seems to come on slow but they hit hard in the 10psi then climb to 20.