Eco diesel yes or no?

[TC Retired]

I've only got around 2k on my 21 at 3 months but love it so far. I bought for the mileage like most. My little 5x8 enclosed trailer - it doesn't even know it's towing anything.

Took our first trip up to Salt Lake City last week. Got 27 combined Mountain, City and Rural Highways. With Biden's fuel prices climbing as I drove.

I Baby my stuff -- most of the time. I do regular oil changes with AMSOil. Do not anticipate any problems but bought the 7 yr/100k extended warranty because of all the Electronics in it.

It's a Limited with every bell and whistle. Didn't really want that much stuff but you take what they have right now... Oh, and my dealer in PHX was still giving discounts then. Now they want a premium over retail.

 

[Doug Ram]

YES to the new Gen 3 Eco-diesel (over the V-8 or V-6 gasers):
- You tow a moderate weight 5,000 - 8,000 lbs trailer. Torque and power at lower RPMs.
- You drive longer distances every day at high speed. Fewer regens and great MPG, 30+ range.
- You want long range (esp with 33 gallon tank).
- You value a quiet engine while towing (low RPMs with high torque) esp. in mountains.
- You tow long distances. Great range and 30% better mileage than gas.
- You live or take long trips to mountains, especially towing. Turbo engine performance isn't starved for air at altitude. This is probably the most impressive aspect of the turbo diesel engine.
- If you believe that gas prices are going to increase faster than diesel, or if gas prices are already more than 65 to 75% of the price of diesel, since diesel gets about 25% to 35% better MPGs than gas.
- Want an engine/drive train warranty that goes to 100,000 miles.

NO:
- To any 2nd generation pre-2020 engines. The 3rd generation is that much better. (more power and reliability)
- If primary daily drive is short trips around town at low speeds. Particularly hard on diesels.
- If you don't keep the vehicle for a long time. The engine is more expensive and payback longer.
- When the price of diesel is 135% (or more) than the price of gas, there is no savings.
- if you don't drive long distances and don't care about range.
- When you don't tow long distances.
- If you don't need more low end torque to tow in mountains, esp at altitude.
- If truck won't be driven 100,000 miles, you won't need the extended drive train warranty.
- if you need the absolute maximum cargo weight capacity in a 1500 Ram. In that case you need to get a Tradesman with the V-6.
- If you can't afford up front cost. Maintenance is a wash. The cost of each oil and fuel filter change is more, but it's less frequent on the diesel.

 

[Regcabguy]

Eco diesel yes or no?

No too many recalls and issues. Ram should have put a Cummins in there but Fiat had a different idea.

 

[redvetram]

Unless they’ve made vast improvements over the previous design, I’d say no. When I bought my current truck, the salesman at the dealership even steered me away from one even though it was more $$$ and higher commission for him than the one I did buy.

 

[Elkman]

Eco diesel is a true oxymoron but many people have bought into the myth. The total cost of ownership with a diesel engine is double that of a gas engine. There are only two situations where I would want to absorb the higher costs of buying and operating a diesel powered vehicle.

One is for towing more than 12,000 lbs where the diesel power and low RPM torque provides real benefits, including safety when passing or trying to merge with traffic on the highways. For less than 10,000 lbs a gas engine coupled with low gears is good enough.

The other situation is where range between fuel stops is important. With my diesel pickup and its 36 gallon fuel tank I could go 40% further between stops for fuel. Towing a trailer the ability to go further between fuel stops was a real benefit, in particular in areas where the towns are few and there are even fewer gas stations.

A varient of this situation is traveling in the back country. At slow speeds off the pavement the mpg drops considerably as I am burning as much fuel at 15 mph as I would at 55 mph on the highway. I had a Willys with a small gas tank and added racks to hold two 5-gallon jerry cans to extend my range.

Today a diesel 4WD with a larger after market fuel tank would be great. One cannot replace the factory "gas" tank with a larger one but it is still possible to do this with a larger diesel fuel tank for a diesel powered vehicle. With the Chevy Colorado Duramax the stock 21 gallon tank can be replaced with a 36 gallon one for $800 plus installation. That increases the range for a full tank of diesel by more than 50%.

 

[tjfdesmo]

No too many recalls and issues. Ram should have put a Cummins in there but Fiat had a different idea.

The ISV5.0 was no prize, either. Vee configuration, aluminum heads, chain driven cams, glow plugs... everything a Cummins should not be.

 

[JEFF MANN]

Cummings, LOL what's a "Cummings", how about a cummins.

 

[ParallaxReign]

2016 ecodiesel with 96k just blew it up towing 6k trailer. Dodge is replacing engine, tyranny, intercooler, etc. I loved it until this. If you do buy one, definitely get the Green diesel engineering tuner

 

[Tracy in IL]

Love my 2017 eco. Not for running around town (get a V6).
eco is great on my long trips, 27mpg or better.

 

[Loyal ram]

I had a 2018 eco Diesel and I absolutely loved it UNTILL …. Apparently FCA and the EPA had a discrepancy and they detuned it and then it was a POS. The power sucked and in my opinion became dangerous. Taking off from a stop was slow and sluggish but when it hit 2K RPMs the turbo would kick in and would make it feel like you were going to spin out especially when making a left turn into traffic.. don’t know if FCA has resolved this issue or not.. Hope this helps

 

[MrTaz]

Wife works at a RAM dealership. Says they are constantly in for EGR related repairs. Mechanics hate them. Says a lot...

That’s the reason I just traded my 2015 Cummins powered Ram. Just paid a fortune to have the DEF injector nozzle replaced. Only 107,000 miles on it. The emission systems are just unreliable and expensive to repair. The larger class 8 trucks don’t have as many problems. Most of them are good for 450,000 miles before they have problems. I think the ” Big Three” are just taking advantage of the consumer small truck owners. Thankfully I don’t need a diesel hauler anymore. Mine was traded for a 1500 with the 5.7/8 speed combo that doesn’t require $300 oil/fuel filter services and gets about the same fuel economy as my old Ram with the Cummins.

 

[BLKBWTY]

Eco diesel yes or no?

No .. I owned a new 2014. This year at 160000 the bottom end spun a bearing.. destroyed the engine. $16000 for a new engine.. bought a new hemi instead.

 

[jimboschnitz]

I purchased a used 2016 Ecodiesel with 30K miles and immediately found I had an EGR cooler leaking. Had that problem resolved and ran it to 120K miles and never had another issue with it. Yes there were some recalls done, emissions software updates etc but I never had another failure of any kind. The problems with bearing issues was on the very first generation and was solved with Gen 2. Gen 3 was released in 2019 and the engine I think is about 75+% different from earlier models and those early issues were resolved. I now have a 2020 Limited and love it. If you only need a half ton pickup and do alot of towing of lighter RV's etc., the fuel economy on the Ecodiesel is 50% better towing than a Hemi. My city mileage is 20 to 22 mpg and on highway is 26 or better depending on how heavy my foot is. For towing, my 2016 got between 15 and 18 mpg towing my boat and pickup loaded for a summer in Northern MN. A Hemi would be lucky to get 10MPG with a load like this. As for DEF and Regen issues, I now have 20K on my Limited and have never seen a Regen on it nor did I see one on my 2016. My DEF usage is approximately 1100 miles per gallon which sells for about $3 per gallon depending on where you get it. Do some research and check out the Ram Diesel Forum. Good Luck.

 

[Doug Ram]

On the subject of egr regeneration, I got 20,000 miles on my Generation 3 Eco-diesel. Not once has there been any evidence that a regen is affecting performance, mileage or even occurring. This bothered me, so I asked the dealer if he could check if they are occurring. They are.

As for DEF usage. When towing across the country, I had to refill the DEF once every 4,500-5,500 miles. When not towing, it seems to go between 8 and 10,000 miles on a DEF tank.

My mechanic has seen quite a few of them around here. He thinks it a significantly improved engine over the generation 2 engine.

 

[huntergreen]

No too many recalls and issues. Ram should have put a Cummins in there but Fiat had a different idea.

Nissan ended up with the smaller Cummins designed for the 1500. Didn't work out to well. The engine turned out to be poorly built including broken camshafts.

 

[Willie Mosher]

Okay I little bit of a tree hugger,
But diesel is a very big part of our economy( food on the table)
In 2007 EPA mandated 15 pmm
Of sulfur in diesel,
almost 15 years all manufactures still have not been able to manufacture
Good engine to run on 15 ppm,
YES Opposed to delete kit an coal burners, but the manufactures
Need go back to the EPA say
They need more sulfur in Diesel,
Maybe 150ppm of sulfur is is enough,
Before 1960s a lot ppm
Before 1993 was 5000 ppm
After 1993 was 500 ppm
2007 to now is 15 ppm
Anyway 2500 or 1500 buy A gasoline
For now. Willie

 

[Ram Night]

I would say No. Stay with a gas engine. The diesel engines are very expensive to maintain, plus they stink like an old farm house furnace.

 

[Hysteria77]

Ran my 2015 Eco to 108k. Had a bolt come loose on a sensor and the lovely tone ring failure in transmission . And one wheel bearing. None if that was diesels fault. That’s pretty darn amazing for 6 years and over 100k. Absolutely loved the truck so bought a new one. I did not take any hit on trade in, in fact they gave me over book. Maintenance costs are a wash in my opinion- I changed oil every 10k or so. Gassers I do half that. Get Green Diesel tune if at all possible. Makes the truck a completely different machine.

 

[KC5TGQ]

Eco diesel yes or no?

Nope. I have heard nothing but horror stories on it. I understand it is an Italian designed engine that fills with soot. Avoid.

 

[Doug Ram]

I would say No. Stay with a gas engine. The diesel engines are very expensive to maintain, plus they stink like an old farm house furnace.

You need to stand behind an ED diesel truck. They do NOT stink! My wife is especially sensitive to the old diesel smell. The 2021 Ram ED easily passed her nose test.

As for maintenance... with a 10,000 mile filter change interval, the cost is offset quite a bit by the longer interval.

What is more expensive is the initial cost, and in California especially, the cost of fuel. But, as we have traveled we found that the cost of both gas and diesel varies by a huge amount in any area. We use a Rand McNally GPS and Gas Buddy phone app to find stations that sell diesel for far less. But even if the per gallon cost of diesel is 20% more than gas, it costs less to run because of better diesel mileage. Even where we live in upstate NY, it's easy to find name brand diesel that is within 10 to 10 cents per gallon of gas. Considering how good the ED's mileage is, that means fueling an ED is certainly less costly than running a 5.7 liter gas engine, and still a bit more economical than the V6 gasser.