How could I help revitalize a Ram 2500

[Darin Heath]

Hello Ram experts:

Up front, let me admit I am not mechanically inclined, but have done work like belts, brakes, easy to replace sensors, alternators, etc... whatever is easy to learn on your own.

Last year I bought a 2014 Ram 2500 Laramie Mega Cab with the 6.4 hemi gasser. I needed a bigger truck to safely pull a travel trailer and its worked great since I bought it in summer of last year, but its starting to struggle with gas mileage, getting check engine lights related to the evaporative system (small leaks that aren't a gas cap issue). When I pulled the same trailer before, I'd average 10-12 mpg pulling it, and about 18 mpg around town. Now I'm lucky to average 8 mpg while pulling the trailer that is almost 4000 lbs below my towing capacity. It only seems to struggle with gas mileage when I'm pulling the RV.

The truck was used by the one owner prior and he used it commercially pulling a flatbed trailer. Likely moved cars around, small loads, etc.. so it has about 140,000 miles on it. He did service it at every recommended interval, and its in great shape other than the evap cooler leak and gas mileage loss. No rust, brand new brakes, no suspension issues, etc.

I'm going to throw my $2000 tax return at the truck, so what are some things I can do to help revitalize and extend the life of this truck. Maybe fix the gas mileage issues and have what seems to be a large enough engine to pull a 7000lb trailer with less of a struggle.

I'm thinking tune-up, fix the evap leak, high mileage synthetic or blend oil change, new filters...etc.

Thanks in advance for everyone's advice.

 

[OC455]

If its the EVAP, get that done before anything else. You will most likely see you gas mileage issue corrected.

 

[tron67j]

What gears do you have? 2500s already going to like to visit gas stations, your gearing could make it a race from station to station.

 

[KoboldTaco]

Did you ever catch the code to see if it was evap system related? I’m also not a mechanic, but I’ve rebuilt a few engines by diving in and just doing it. And, Dr. Google and YouTube are also great resources, and guys/gals on here of course.

I googled your truck, and Evap issues. One thing that was clear is issues perhaps related to the canister purge valve. Did you catch the code of P0456? I’d start slow, purposeful diagnostics. Don’t throw money at it - follow the codes and also consider the codes could be secondary issues to a primary problem not throwing codes. Good luck.

 

[KoboldTaco]

What gears do you have? 2500s already going to like to visit gas stations, your gearing could make it a race from station to station.

I think gears are a consideration if he didn’t lose mileage considering 18 now down to 8. If he didn't change gears, and towing weight was consistent, his mileage would be stable. Yes, these trucks are thirsty, but not Triton V10 thirsty.

 

[Burla]

New valve body, plug and play, drop pan, 25 torx bit- pull vb, replace, look up metal thread upgrade for rfe filter and use oem sump filter and synthetic canister filter look up synthetic filter options rfe, use redline c+ to fill up. Get a good VB it is like a shift kit, in and out of gears fast. You can go nuts VB plate and tune for psi, add another thousand for that. maybe 2k for all of it...