Drone

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Musky Mike

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Starting at about 500 miles (now have 585 miles in it) I’m getting a really bad drone when the ECO light is on and between 25-40 mph, light throttle and during deceleration. I’m taking it in on Monday, has this happened to anyone else?
 

GunnerJ

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Sounds like MDS engaging and lugging a bit, causing a drone

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dreinert

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I have it to and your right I barley noticed it at first but I’d say closer to 1000mi mark it’s been annoying ever since. I thougt it was just me and it took that long for me to feel and hear the difference with it being my first ram.

I also saw today that it kicked on and stayed on for a bit when I was going ~35 and the engine temp was only 130F and oil was under 100F ...I’d have expected it to stay off until closer to normal operating temps.
 

MADDOG

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It will get louder as the muffler wears in.

Take it out of full auto at low speeds. The drone will go away. Eco mode does you no good at those speeds.
 
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Musky Mike

Musky Mike

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Is there a fix? Can’t believe a $50k+ vehicle would sound like this.
 
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JimGregory

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Mine started after about 500 miles as well. But there was already 25000 miles on the truck when I got it. I think it's just me getting in tune with the truck.
When it annoys me I "downshift" into 8th.
It happens at low speeds as well. I don't know what the rules are.
 

JoeCo

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Is the a fix? Can’t believe a $50k+ vehicle would sound like this.

The easiest answer is don't use mds around town, use the manual gear select mode and put it in 8th gear to disable it. I always have after market exhausts on mine and I hate the way mds feels/sounds so I never use it around town, just on longer highway trips where its not as noticeable and actually makes a difference for me.
 
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Musky Mike

Musky Mike

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It will get louder as the muffler wears in.

Take it out of full auto at low speeds. The drone will go away. Eco mode does you no good at those speeds.
So all MDS Hemis make this annoying drone noise? Can't believe that 100s of thousands people owning a Hemi would put up with this. If I would have heard it during the test drive, I would have got the F-150 5.0.
 

MADDOG

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MDS equipped HEMI engines, when driven in full auto at low speed when ECO mode switches on, have been making that noise since they were first built.

It's even worse with an aftermarket exhaust system on a car or truck with a MDS equipped HEMI.

Some folks don't notice it, others seem more prone to being annoyed by it.
 
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Musky Mike

Musky Mike

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MDS equipped HEMI engines, when driven in full auto at low speed when ECO mode switches on, have been making that noise since they were first built.

It's even worse with an aftermarket exhaust system on a car or truck with a MDS equipped HEMI.

Some folks don't notice it, others seem more prone to being annoyed by it.
Is there something other than "full auto mode"? I just put it in "D" like all my other vehicles and drive.
 

Ramm5.7

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Is there something other than "full auto mode"? I just put it in "D" like all my other vehicles and drive.

See the post 3 above yours, there's your answer
 

MADDOG

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D is full auto. Try shifting down a gear out of full auto for low speed, around town driving.
 
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Musky Mike

Musky Mike

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Starting at about 500 miles (now have 585 miles in it) I’m getting a really bad drone when the ECO light is on and between 25-40 mph, light throttle and during deceleration. I’m taking it in on Monday, has this happened to anyone else?

Update: the first 400 miles or so we're in Virginia and I had no drone at all in ECO mode, then I started getting the drone really bad on my trip to Pennsylvania. During my 6 day stay in PA, the drone in ECO mode was so bad, I could feel the vibration while my hand was resting on the door panel, even at 50 mph. Most of the time I just turned off ECO mode and everything was nice and smooth. For my trip back to Virginia on Saturday I turned ECO mode off. Then, Sunday morning I went to the run errands and forgot to turn ECO mode off and there was no drone at all, I even tried to get to drone by using light throttle in ECO mode at 30 mph and no drone...nice and smooth. So my question is, why was the drone unbearable in PA and in VA I can't even tell it's in ECO mode?
 

BigRed4x4

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This is the main reason I bought a tuner so I could disable the MDS. Such BS.
 

adrianp89

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REally guys? No one even stated this isn't normal.

OP: Go to the dealer. I am at 5k now and no drone. You shouldn't have to fiddle with things.
 
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Musky Mike

Musky Mike

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REally guys? No one even stated this isn't normal.

OP: Go to the dealer. I am at 5k now and no drone. You shouldn't have to fiddle with things.

Dropped it off at the dealer today.
 
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Musky Mike

Musky Mike

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Dropped it off at the dealer today.

Update:
No codes and dealer couldn’t duplicate the drone and vibration in ECO mode. They didn’t know why it did it everyday while I was in PA, (6 days) but it doesn’t do it in VA. They said, if it starts doing it again to bring it back in. Very nice service manager and he took the time to go over the noise cancellation system with me and how it works.
 

millrat

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I have had this on all 5 of my new Rams, I must be the oddball, I dont mind the noise at all, I know what is causing it and it sounds fine to me.
 
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For those who have the issue appear and it doesn't go away I would say check with the dealer, the noise cancellation system may be faulty. This drone is not normal and I've owned MDS Ram 5.7's in multiple generations (2008, 2012, 2014, now 2019) and never have had this issue.

For those who had it appear (like in PA) and then vanish when not in PA I wonder about other variables. Does PA use a different ethanol percentage? Could you have fueled up at a bad station and got cruddy fuel that could have led to this? Are you running low grade or mid grade octane fuel? I'm willing to bet it was fuel related.
 

klodge741

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I think this is what you are hearing guys.

Active Tuned Mass Modules, ATMMs, which are essentially little cans bolted to the frame rails on either side of the truck, with solenoid-activated weights inside.
As the HEMI engine’s Multi-Displacement System kicks in, and sends the truck into four-cylinder mode, an underhood sensor picks up unwanted vibrations, and triggers these ATMMs to shake their internal weights in a way that’s 180 degrees out of phase with the engine’s unwanted vibration, thus canceling it out and yielding a smooth experience for occupants. This concept is called destructive interference, and it requires tweaking to the ATMMs depending upon the frame length.7ed432046de58af633bac31a840f0e58.jpg

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