If you live or work on top of a hill

[bm02tj]

I was taught to use your gears going down a hill
My 2018 1500 pushes you down the hill
When I use second gear with 321 gears the RPM goes up to 4700
The general manager of my dealership lives in the same area and leaves his in drive (he does not pay for his breaks) he tried with his truck second gear 392 gears and it ran up over 5000 RPM
He has emailed FCA but told me nothing will happen until south of the border complains
Please check to see if yours does this and complain for me as they will not fix and make this right unless you help
If I warm my truck up first it will hold in third gear down hill no brakes
Thanks in advance Bruce

 

[kurek]

What happens if you press the tow/haul button and set cruise control at your desired downhill speed?

 

[bm02tj]

Set the cruise and it gears down and does the same high RPM
tow haul is shift point only for pulling not holding on a hill

First chance you get with a cold truck on a hill try it you will see

 

[Wild one]

Set the cruise and it gears down and does the same high RPM
tow haul is shift point only for pulling not holding on a hill

First chance you get with a cold truck on a hill try it you will see

Weren't you ******** about this awhile ago?

 

[kurek]

Set the cruise and it gears down and does the same high RPM
tow haul is shift point only for pulling not holding on a hill

When I put mine - cold or hot - in tow/haul it does a much better job of engine braking on steep descents with cruise control on.

Going to a high RPM during engine braking is kinda normal, that's how gear ratios work unless there's something about this I'm missing.

 

[Burla]

Your truck shouldn't be pushing you, the way you said it sounds like 2nd gear would be faster than neutral? Sometimes you just have to use your brakes, am I missing the point?

 

[bm02tj]

The point is that the truck does its own thing until computer will let it work right
The truck is good in third gear after warm
Correct way to drive is using the gears to hold speed down hill
That is why I ask for people that live or work on top off a hill so they will see first hand what I mean
It is simple programming that will not be fixed until more people complain about it
Your brakes are to stop you not to be used to hold speed down on a hill

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Your brakes are to stop you not to be used to hold speed down on a hill

Tell that to people who live in West Virginia...

 

[Neil E]

I go up and down a steep hill / mountain everyday (6% grade). I set the cruise at the speed limit and it downshifts to maintain speed. I never turn overdrive off or tow / haul mode unless I'm actually towing.
I have the 3.55 3.6. BTW, when I set it at 55 (the speed limit), my RPMs sit at 3600, and I end up dropping the cruise down to 53 to get the RPMs below 3500 so the oil pressure drops to normal instead of running close to 90.


Also, other than the big trucks, I think I am the only one that uses the transmission to slow me down, as everyone passes me riding their brakes.



Though, when I come down Mt Mitchell to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the speed limit is 25, and I set my cruise, but downshift to 2 to maintain speed.

 

[sandawilliams]

I do a lot of driving in the Colorado mountains. To think you don't have to touch your brakes going down a steep grade is nuts. I will drop down into the lowest gear that wont exceed about 4500 rpm and then periodically touch the brakes when needed. It reminds me of my old trucking and equipment days. Because of governors on the diesels you wouldn't blow them up on most roads but head down a long steep road and boom if you weren't paying attention. In my hemi going up I-70 to the tunnel I pass most of the under powered vehicles. Going down the other side they blow by me at 80+ never braking. Point is its not just our rams that do this.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Is it not holding 2nd gear when cold? I’m not understanding how the truck can rev to 5000rpm in 2nd gear downhill but hold 3rd when hot? And Hold at what rpm?

 

[kurek]

That's the part I don't get either about the complaint, higher rpm = lower gear = more engine braking.

This appears to be a topic about something my truck just isn't having any problem with so.. Good luck with the whatever is going on y'all

 

[Ratket]

Op- you need to shoot a video of this. It sounds like what you are saying is the truck will keep adding fuel when it should be pulling fuel when it is cold. I’ve seen other members complain about this but it’s typically at Idle or near idle speeds when cold.

 

[bm02tj]

I live on a hill that is a 9 and 10 % grade When the truck has been running for 5 or 10 minutes as in I had to stop a someones house before going down the hill I travel all the way down in third gear no brakes ( no load in truck)
it is only when it is cold and first started it is a problem
The request is for anyone that starts their truck and goes down a hill will yours hold back same as it does when warm or does it push so you need to use the brakes
It is programming that need fixing

 

[Burla]

I guess I hear the issue now, and yes you are at idle and cold idle is at least double warm idle and that will push you but I don't know about those rpm's, but as long as you manual shift into second, I loose ya there. I never heard of using a jake or jacobs brake on a gas engine, we have them in rigs. Maybe big brake package or high performance pads. Some pads will grab better, thinking of power stop, but might leave you some good dust to deal with over time.

 

[Ratket]

I live on a hill that is a 9 and 10 % grade When the truck has been running for 5 or 10 minutes as in I had to stop a someones house before going down the hill I travel all the way down in third gear no brakes ( no load in truck)
it is only when it is cold and first started it is a problem
The request is for anyone that starts their truck and goes down a hill will yours hold back same as it does when warm or does it push so you need to use the brakes
It is programming that need fixing

It’s likely the High Idle. As much as FCA should fix it, their not going to.
Have you tried kicking it down, like 45 seconds of first start up, a little throttle bump so the rpms will drop then going down the hill?

how long is this hill?
Few hundred feet/ 1/8 mile/ 1/4 mile??

I used to live on a 10% hill that was 2.5-3 miles long with my old 14, 2500 6.4, I never had this issue there, but then again I used remote start and let that thing idle forever.

I understand you want examples from others so you can leverage FCA, but buddy, that lanes doesn’t even exist so I’m just trying to understand the situation to help you realistically address the issue.

 

[bm02tj]

People are not under standing
The computer is trying to give more fuel to heat system up when you want no extra fuel
and this is not like a carb that you can kick off high idle
if warm enough out it will slow down half way down hill when the computer thinks it is ok to do so
I need people that have cold start and go down a hill to help not people question why I donot want to drive like some one that cannot drive a manual transmission and not know how to use gears to drive down a hill
I donot want to be one of the stupid drivers that eat brakes when gears are a safer and better way to go

 

[Firetruck41]

They aren't going to change their federal emissions set up (faster warm up is probably to meet emissions requirements), for you or even a bunch of people like you. Brake pads are pretty cheap, and I only have a few hundred yards to drive down hill on my morning start.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Do you have a way to monitor Coolant temp? should be availble in your cluster. Check to see if your coolant is below 140F when you find the condition. I'm still not understading what the issue might be exactly cause your explanation is a little vague. Your fueling system should be running in close loop so in close loop the PCM is always shooting for stoich.

I don't think you will find such thing as your engine running lean or rich after a cold start per se like the old carbs. There is a table that compensates for a Fuel ratio cold enrich, your coolant will have to be below 42F for that table to do anything but and that will affect your open loop/WOT fueling not your close loop fueling. Close loop fueling is enabled above 5F ECT, and literally after 10 sec tops of a cold start past such ECT. If ECT was below 5F then open loop will be enabled until coolant reaches 5F.

There is some sort of low idle mode in the idling tables in the PCM that apparently need the ECT to be above 140F to be enable. low idle mode seems to be 510rpm. otherwise you're idling higher than that to promote your cats reaching min operating temp, none of that should be allowing your 2nd gear to rush your truck unless you're giving her gas. How can you say 3rd gear can hold the truck when hot but 2nd cant when cold ? It does't make sense for anybody reading hence people asking the same thing.

 

[boblonben]

The point is that the truck does its own thing until computer will let it work right
The truck is good in third gear after warm
Correct way to drive is using the gears to hold speed down hill
That is why I ask for people that live or work on top off a hill so they will see first hand what I mean
It is simple programming that will not be fixed until more people complain about it
Your brakes are to stop you not to be used to hold speed down on a hill

Gee, really, but ya know for most of us who DO live on hills know that you gotta use your bake lightly down hill movement. Just trying to use engine gearing and all just does not work in all cases, without running too high in RPM. Mine in third or fourth will do just fine and hold at around 3400 rpm and not go over. It is a 2017 Crew Cab 4X4 5.7.