2017 fuel economy

continuecrushing · Jan 5, 2018

does anyone else use fuelly? http://www.fuelly.com/car/ram/2500/2016/morgantj13/693975

Yobuck139 · Jan 6, 2018

Does anybody’s PW have MDS? I have a 17 PW Laramie snd sticker said with MDS. How do you know if it’s on or activated and how or can you turn it on and off. I’ve had truck for awhile now and have never seen any indication of it.

Nathan Haslag · Jan 6, 2018

I believe ours ar work is averaging 14.5mpg

MJockey · Jan 6, 2018

Did a 1366 mile round trip over the holidays with my new PW. TN to PA. Only got 13.1 mpg (truck computer). Hand calculations were at 12.66 Mpg after 4 fill ups. (I haven't done the last fill up yet.) The trip was about 90% highway. Honestly I was hopping for better mileage, but the trip does have a lot of elevation changes.

scoutpappa · Jan 6, 2018

Yobuck139 said:
Does anybody’s PW have MDS? I have a 17 PW Laramie snd sticker said with MDS. How do you know if it’s on or activated and how or can you turn it on and off. I’ve had truck for awhile now and have never seen any indication of it.

You can feel/hear it when it kicks in. You can also allow the "Eco" light in the dash cluster. Best description I can give is you can hear/feel when it diesels. The manual will tell you that it activates based on pedal position and engine load being constant for a period of time when it activates. It's noticeable.

Deviousin10tions · Jan 7, 2018

after 10,000 miles unloaded I average 15.1 at 6,200 Feet Alt speed limit of 60 mix of highway and city driving, it's up hill to work so it evens out. And I can say I've never seen an Eco light in my truck.

scoutpappa · Jan 7, 2018

Deviousin10tions said:
after 10,000 miles unloaded I average 15.1 at 6,200 Feet Alt speed limit of 60 mix of highway and city driving, it's up hill to work so it evens out. And I can say I've never seen an Eco light in my truck.

It's in the settings menu for the dash. Honestly it can get aggravating and I'm about to turn it off. You really can't hypermile something like this so seeing the little green eco light come on has lost it's appeal to say the least. I only lost a few mpg from my last Ram, but the biggest aggravation is the DTE. I have never filled up with more than 25 gallons even with everything showing "E", 0 miles and the display showing every you are out of gas alarm there is. 0 miles to go to my truck is 6-7 gallons left in the tank. I'm all for a safety factor to save the life of the pump and whatever else but we're talking a 1/5 of a tank +.

forte · Jan 8, 2018

Nathan Haslag said:
I believe ours ar work is averaging 14.5mpg

Your company uses power wagons for their work vehicles?

Nathan Haslag · Jan 8, 2018

forte said:
Your company uses power wagons for their work vehicles?

We have one power wagon yes
Not all of them we also have a few diesels and half tons

We do construction work so we ave a assortment of vehicles

Grand Mesa · Jan 10, 2018

My 2016 Power Wagon 6.4 which was first sold on December 26, 2016 and even came with a 2017 owners manual has averaged 16.4 mpg from the previous driver and 16.4 mpg with my driving which includes some towing of a utility trailer during a move. Very little city driving due to my closest stop light is some 28 miles away. Nearly all Colorado mountain driving and canyons at high to very high altitude. Nothing below 5,000 feet. Leadville, Gunnison, St Elmo, Alma, Independence Pass, Tennessee Pass I drive to or over a lot. So the truck is usually going up grades or down mountains. I have never felt the MDS (ECO) going on, but going down hill it is normally lit.

Took a photo of my mileage to Denver International Airport and back to the Western Slope of Colorado during some winter weather conditions at the highest altitudes, along with stop and go Denver freeway traffic. Averaged 17.0 which included 55 to 75 mph speed zones and going over two summits in the Rocky Mountains up to 11,000 plus feet.

scoutpappa · Jan 10, 2018

We were just talking about altitude and gas mileage (with my son). So the best mileage I ever had in my last Ram was when I was in WY. So my theory is the higher the altitude the less dense the air (regardless of temp but obviously a little better power when cold). Having FI means that the computer (which controls both the air and fuel) reduces the fuel to maintain the correct (optimal) fuel to air mixture, allowing for better economy. The flip side of this is for every 1000 feet in elevation increase your penalty is about a 10% decrease in engine output. Thus you get better efficiency at the cost of output. Of course I live south of I-10 and have done so except that one year so 14 is the best I've seen at warm sea level. The little cold (dense) we get makes little to no impact.

Grand Mesa · Jan 11, 2018

That makes sense, especially the air being less dense at higher altitude.

With my non computerized standard ignition (distributor, points and condenser) in my 1978 Chevrolet LUV prior to moving to Denver many years ago it only got a steady 20 mpg in both Los Angeles and San Jose even with my best adjustment of the carburetor mixture screw.

In Denver it ran way too lean especially when the gasoline was oxygenated during the winter to reduce the brown cloud over the city. With the mixture screw I could only adjust to the maximum rich which wasn't always enough at even higher altitude. If it didn't get 26 mpg then I was just stuck in traffic. When the gasoline was oxygenated all my vehicles had a large drop in power and mpg. 80 horsepower wasn't much, but with the 4.56 to 1 gear ratio it plowed over the highest passes going slow and revving high with just a little bit of horsepower to drive around just fine in the city of Leadville (10,000 feet).

Deviousin10tions · Jan 21, 2018

I found the ECO light setting and turned it on, all it seems to be for me is a down hill or closed throttle notification.

Brakelate · Jan 23, 2018

Deviousin10tions said:
I found the ECO light setting and turned it on, all it seems to be for me is a down hill or closed throttle notification.

And just a side note; I just purchased a 2016 and had my son follow me home in our previous (now his) 2013.

We both filled up at the start, and about 120 miles later, from Flagstaff AZ, up into Southern Utah. All freeway - right at 65 indicated, light winds but some varied altitudes.

The stock '13 with the 5.7 (no cylinder deactivation) and factory 4:56 gears (slightly larger / wider wheels and tires) got 13 MPG.

The stock '16 with the 6.4 (MDS/ECO Mode Equipped) and factory 4:10's with stock sized wheels and tires, but with the addition of a cab-height shell on the bed got a smidge over 15 MPG.

I can count on one hand the number of times the ECO light came on in the '16. So, is it Aerodynamics, (Shell on the new truck, Brush Guard and open bed on the old one), Gearing in the Pumpkins, or a slight dip due to the larger tires, a slight bump due to the new truck's electronic fuel efficiency tricks, or ?

Just food for thought. And some real world data from two versions driven over the identical terrain, at the same speed, time and conditions.

Grand Mesa · Jan 28, 2018

Just averaged 7.3 mpg pulling a 15 foot Starcraft AR1 Extreme travel trailer in fresh snow across the east and west route up and down the passes through the middle of Nevada and Utah with speed limits from 65mph up to 80 mph. On the Interstate at the 75 mph and 80 mph speed zones the gas mileage dropped into the 5.x mpg range, but it all averaged out a bit higher once the speed limits dropped on the state highways.

Since the distances between some of the fuel stops are over 100 miles the mpg became a concern. Even on a stretch of the Interstate it's 106 miles. The longest stretch without fuel was from Tonopah to Ely of 167 miles which sucked out most of the gas within the 31 gallon gas tank.

Best to always carry plenty of extra fuel in remote areas.

2017 fuel economy

continuecrushing

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