New Ram owner. I crossed over. I may have made the wrong choice

[lAWROSA]

Hey all. I have owned nothing but silverados all my like. 69 c10 88 silv, 96 s10, 06 silv. the 06 being a north veihicle was rusting. Bolts under gone. shockmounts replaced, manifold leak, 140k miles only, but I figure time to unload. With the price of trucks I went to ram and found a 2020 with 20k mikes for 30k out the door..

well I didnt do much homework on it. Just that any silverado was way out of my price range...and thats in the used market. with that said no need for 4x4 anymore as I live in SC now.

now remember im 55 years old. Drove 3 and 4 speeds all my life. so upgrading to this fancy 8 speed, and 8 inch screen car play crap, heated seats and wheel is just crap I dont need. I just wanted a rust free dependable truck. Heck my last truck had roll up windows and I was ok with that.

so after reading countless threads here I may have mad a mistake. What I did not know about the new flavors of trucks is the MDS crap.

so after reading ,and I will do this systematically , heres what I propose to do but not 100% sure. I bought the extended warranty to 100k miles or 2027 whichever comes first.


OIL I will be using Penzoil. already made up my mind there
filter will be mopar. Made up my mind there.
MDS on or off, IDK yet




1. oil most likely what I will do from my readings is 5 20 winter and 5 30 summer. I tow a camper

2. Dilemma is MDS on or off
a. use 8th gear? turn off when I can.
b Tuner diablo? off permenant?
c. Just drive it normal and not worry about it?

I see 0 gas savings from having it on. If its 1 MPG more its unlikely


what I read and that vid thats going around I feel the MDS keeps it all oiled properly and turning off may be detramental. Why if you turn it off going to 5 30 oil would be best.

Im a plumber 38 years. Anything mechanical that moves or operates , like selonoids, rods with a pin to activate, etc will wear out faster. so should be off all the time. But in that instance we now have an oilling issue..

So maybe I should of went chevy as I did not read up on these 5.7 hemis.


Im not interested in performance mod. Il a stock truck guy. No exhaust for me, and if tuner it will be on economy if not stock setting.

feedback?

Sorry to ramble...

Mike

 

[Burla]

Common Mike, you have zero issues with the trucks performance and you think you made a mistake moving from Chevy to ram? Wanna try some real pain, I had 3 chevy lemons, legally, before I moved to ram. You would not convince me chevy is better at any price. I was a ford guy for most of this 56 year old life, again since 4 gens rams are a better truck and cheaper. Like me you don't need tv screens, the difference is you paid for it and I didn't, you could have bought a model that didnt have that, mise well learn how to use it. Gotta love how rams drive in comparison? That is the coil back suspension, way better then the other big 2.

Don't worry about the mds, either on or off whatever. It lubricates cam better on, but I had mine off 7 years even with hemi tick, no issues since I solved that too. The real thing you should follow is your transmission temps, if they get past 190f you might opt for a temp delete. Secondly, you might opt to read the oil filter thread here, just saying.

Enjoy the truck you old te rd, you must have bought it for a reason. Since 2010 rams won TOTY 6 times, that is more then 50% of the time against the field.

 

[Burla]

How heavy is your trailer and what gears do you have? You would need that info for feedback on towing.

 

[ramffml]

At least with the Ram you still HAVE the option to turn MDS off. With the chevy's, you get the same thing (AFM on older trucks, DFM on newer trucks but it's all cylinder deactivation) with no option to turn it off.

Seems to me you picked the best truck.

 

[lAWROSA]

Thanks Burla.

Save me the headache.. What oil filter? Mine is buried. I see the mopars are well made. What do you recommend? I can take it from there..

and the trans thing? I read about that valve block bypass thing. My trans stays cool at the moment and not sure if my truck has that. But I will remove it if it has it and get the straight thru to cooler kit if I need to.

I havent got under the truck yet to look around..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFjlhnuoBiE

 

[lAWROSA]

3.21 gears. My chevey was a long bed with 3;42 and 4 speed. towed no issues. Camper 6000 lbs if fully loaded but you cant fit all that crap in it. its about 4500 max. tounge weight not even 500 lbs

had to put that curt hitch on it. I have the factory brake controller coming in to install. was 500 bucks ouch.

 

[Burla]

That is a decent trailer, and sadly the worst gear option, use tow haul all the time. Not saying the 3.21 cant handle that weight, just that the other options would have done it better. The difference is like 2k pounds plus just by having a different gear, but because you have the hemi you still have more capability then the weight of your trailer. If you had a different engine and those gears, you could max out with less then 5k pounds trailer weight, as is it is somewhere around 8k pounds towing max. I would use tow haul, and manually keep it in 7, that is just how I roll, probably not really needed. Bright side, you will likely get better mileage with those gears then 3.92's, at least on freeway.

 

[2020PW]

Put it in drive and push the pedal, it’s been in the rams for almost 10 years and used in commercial HD over the road truck for even longer.

The issue you will hear about MDS is from people that don’t change their oil and follow the oil change reminder.

Chevy ever get their direct injection problem figured out or the transmission problems?

 

[lAWROSA]

Put it in drive and push the pedal, it’s been in the rams for almost 10 years and used in commercial HD over the road truck for even longer.

The issue you will hear about MDS is from people that don’t change their oil and follow the oil change reminder.

Chevy ever get their direct injection problem figured out or the transmission problems?

It cant be as simple as changing the oil at regular intervals

 

[2020PW]

Ok, don’t and let’s see what happens.

 

[G-Ride990]

You are just freaking yourself out after reading a ton of stuff on the forum. It has been said a bunch here before, but we are a small percentage of RAM owners here. And a lot of the engine failure posts made here are from members looking for solutions on google after getting an engine failure diagnostic from a dealer then finding this forum. And quite often those guys just make an account, rant and rave here then leave forever.

If every single Hemi is 100% going to have lifter failure like some people seem to think, there would have been a HUGE lawsuit against FCA by now and recalls for the millions of trucks they have sold with Hemi engine.

I tend to think that running quality oil and keeping up on maintenance will keep that Hemi running for a long time.

Or, if you got it certified pre-owned don't you have the 5 year 100k mile powertrain warranty? Let the dealer do all of your oil changes and sell it before your warranty is up.

I have no doubt in my mind that my 2016 Hemi will last as long as I wish to keep it. Runs smooth as silk and has never given me a sign of trouble.

 

[Dredger]

Wait, I see the problem:

so after reading countless threads here . . .

Seriously, No need to create problems - they'll eventually create themselves. Until then, enjoy that sweet new ride you have and take the forums for the entertainment value they are.
I came from a 2018 Chevrolet LTZ Z71. Man, did I love that truck! Then, on a rare day with little to do, I stumbled across a 2021 75A Power Wagon. Surf'n the web cost me a significant amount of money that day

 

[MoparProud]

Dude, stop worrying. Drive the damn thing and worry about what’s for lunch, as that’s far more a concern.

Some people really whip themselves into ridiculous worries.

 

[crash68]

Camper 6000 lbs if fully loaded but you cant fit all that crap in it. its about 4500 max. tounge weight not ev

Like Burla stated, use the Tow/Haul mode when towing and worry about driving safe around the idiots on the road. The ZF 8spd is smarter than your average bear and will keep it in the gear it needs to. Don't panic about the engine winding upwards of 4K rpms as that's where the torque band is for the Hemi. If you want to tow around 2K rpms, you should have bought a diesel.

 

[seabrook]

chevy has major issues with lifters too- my uncle had a 2014 5.3 that was ticking by 50k miles.

 

[Docwagon1776]

You're overthinking it. All of it.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

It cant be as simple as changing the oil at regular intervals

What could it possibly hurt? I change mine at 5000 miles religiously, if something goes wrong I did my part, the best I could!

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

I love my Mopars. I have friends and family that's give me a hard time about them for the past 45 years (Very wasted time on their part) and then they'll turn around and buy one. I always ask "WHY". They say their brand is best and served them well. Once again "WHY", I have never gotten an answer I can understand!

 

[kurek]

. What I did not know about the new flavors of trucks is the MDS crap.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with MDS. People want to argue about it all day long but the fact is that the lifter failure people blame on MDS happens to non-MDS versions of the engine too.

That makes it not a MDS thing. Period.

The only reason people want to freak out on MDS is it's new and people just hate new things, if there's a problem they can pin on the new thing they will. Except it's not even new anymore it's been in Hemi's since 2005 and if it was causing trucks and cars to fail in large quantities then Ram/Dodge/etc would have a huge sorry reputation by now over that. But it's mostly just forum posts from people it happened to - and there seems to be some correlation to extended idle time. MDS isn't active at idle.

Well, yeah that sucks but of course the people who are having a problem are going to complain about it how many people sign on to announce their truck runs fine today?

 

[lAWROSA]

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with MDS. People want to argue about it all day long but the fact is that the lifter failure people blame on MDS happens to non-MDS versions of the engine too.

That makes it not a MDS thing. Period.

The only reason people want to freak out on MDS is it's new and people just hate new things, if there's a problem they can pin on the new thing they will. Except it's not even new anymore it's been in Hemi's since 2005 and if it was causing trucks and cars to fail in large quantities then Ram/Dodge/etc would have a huge sorry reputation by now over that. But it's mostly just forum posts from people it happened to - and there seems to be some correlation to extended idle time. MDS isn't active at idle.

Well, yeah that sucks but of course the people who are having a problem are going to complain about it how many people sign on to announce their truck runs fine today?

What oil filter you use? Im thinking stick with mopar but would like a full synthetic one.. Possible mobil one ext perform 20 k protection