rx2mur

So my dad is in Orlando and he had bought an 05 Dodge ram 3500 with an auto when it was new. It now has 36,000 miles and for 35,000 he was getting 12.5 mpg. It now gets 9.25 mpg with or without the bullydog programmer plugged in. With the programmer, he has never seen an increase in mileage. It has been in the shop for injectors 3 times and that has never helped. The filters have been changed as well as the air filter. No Mods other than the programmer.

He says when the truck is cold, it blows out white smoke like crazy, and then when it warms up it is all black. He compares the smoke as to the superstock tracters in bowling green. The manual and the guy at the dodge dealership told him that he was letting the truck idle too much, even at stop lights, I have not ever heard of that being a problem.

Can anybody help me figure this out, with diesel costing him $600 a month to run around town, I think that it is going to kill him. What is with all that white smoke? If a bearing in the turbo was toast, would the smoke be kinda bluish? I hope its not a head gasket or something. Thanks guys.

BigDave12768

What owner of truck are you? First second or third etc. If the truck still has some warranty on it. Go back to the dealer and ask them if they can send it over to Cummins for you under warranty or Fill in your signature so we know where you live and other members can tell you what dealers close to you that know how to fix cummins.

rx2mur

It is my fathers truck he lives in Orlando and is the first and only owner of his truck. He has had it at the dealership 3 times for injectors but that never fixes the problem and he can't file for lemon law because the truck has gvwr of over 10,000 lbs.

Spooler

This thread needs to be moved to the 3rd Gen forum under Engine and Transmission. It does sound like an injector issue for sure. It sounds like the dealership he is using needs a good diesel mechanic.

Oh, and take that Bullydog off.... Leave it stock until they figure out what is wrong with it. That right there can and will void the warranty if the wrong person see's it.

rx2mur

Well today the truck is going in so in a couple of days I will let everyone know what is going on. In the mean time, I think I am going to research another programmer for him other than that bullydog.

RAMRODD

If your intercooler has the plastic endtanks they could be cracked and causing the black smoke.

96_12V

Do you smell what I smell...?

rx2mur

What? Something I mentioned?

96_12V

No, you didn't. I can respect the fact that something is up with your father's truck, and it's likely that he's going to need to prusue this with his dealer or D-C as much as he can. He may also have to contact the makers of Bullydog and seek thier assistance as well. He will need to document everything he's seeking to have recitified, and it's going to require patience in the process. Just a personal note, I would need to see data that directly indicates any programmer could map the engine to achieve better fuel economy than the stock program in the ECU. All programmers, regardless of thier claims, are traceable once plugged into a truck.

As to the smell, long-time readers of this forum get used to the "troll" factor. I don't want to say this is you or anyone else specifically, but it's rather common to have a person come on here, effectively state his peace with some problem that renders these trucks as junk in general, and then leave without a trace. Hopefully this isn't your intention...

rx2mur

Never said they were junk, just seems more and more of these types of problems are showing up and trying to help others by what we find out.

1-2-3

Any chance of a leaking injector or two and the crank case is full of fuel? That happens. Dilutes the oil really bad.

Also if the air filter is all stopped up, that can cutr down on economy. Some guys have pics of bird nested filters.

And if he's doing 4000 rpm launces everywhere he goes, that'l do it too.

Any chance a neigbor is siphoning off 10 gallons a night?

rustyshakelford

good idea and a great place to start

brett

BigDiesel396

that last one is a good point, you both know for sure no one is stealing any fuel?

rustyshakelford

hes having issues if you take into account the white smoke and plumes of black smoke.

brett

rx2mur

Well, got a new issue to deal with. The dealership said they suspect him of using a chip because of the memory loss. So they called up dodge, and dodge told them they were not paying for anything or doing any work and the vehicle is basically black flagged now on their database and no warranty anymore. All he can do I guess is keep trying to reach someone and act as if he doesn't know what they are talking about. Other than that, the vehicle is all stock with 36,000 miles on it. Anyone have any idea what to do? Thanks guys.