2015 down on power....

[Newsa]

See if you can push something flexible through the ram air duct (from the filter side) that goes through the fender well. Bob4x4 says it's about a foot long.

 

[kthaxton]

Can it monitor turbo vane position, desired and actual?

I doubt it, but I will check. Thanks.

 

[butchb]

having the same problem as kthaxton

 

[kthaxton]

I ended up taking it to the dealer today (begrudgingly). Another symptom I recently noticed is sometimes the exhaust brake doesn't work which makes it sound more like sticking vanes as John alluded to above. It was most obvious when going down a steep canyon on Sunday.....I found that when it didn't come on, I could floor it for a couple of seconds, let off, then it would work....but not work again the next time I tried to use it.

I'll post what they find.

 

[butchb]

What did the dealer find

 

[kthaxton]

Nothing yet. I took it in for the second time and they could not conclude anything. They said they were working with Ram to find a solution and they would get back to me. That's been a few weeks ago (I have the truck and drive it daily still).

Sometimes I feel like they aren't really paying attention to what I am saying, because at one point, both the lady at the service counter, and the guy who actually looked at is said "every vehicle I've had needs to shift out of OD to climb that grade", then I have to remind them that normally, I would agree, but for the first 6-7 months I owned this, it NEVER needed to shift down. The point being....something changed. Then I remind them that it is intermittent and when it works properly, as the grade gets steeper, boost will creep up into the mid-upper teens and she chugs right along in 6th. When it doesn't work properly, boost stops between 7-11 psi, slows down, then shifts to 5th. In fact, while towing recently, I saw boost slowly drop off on a grade.

I wish I could just talk to Ram myself.....while I'm not totally bagging on these guys yet, as I get older, I have less and less confidence in people that should be experts in their field. There have been too many times where I ended up knowing more than the people that should be experts.

 

[kthaxton]

So just a little update, the dealer has not contacted me with a solution nor have I called them and asked. However, the problem is mostly gone.

A couple months ago, I switched back to synthetic 5/40 (was running Rotella 15/40 conventional), snugged all of the turbo-intake tube clamps and cleaned the map sensor. I noticed a slight improvement, but likely more coincidence than anything (I've cleaned the MAP before with no change and if there was an actual leak in the tubing it would likely affect boost no matter the scenario).
Then, once the weather started getting cold, the problem is pretty much gone, I have only had the issue happen a couple of times in the last two months or so (as opposed to daily). With that said, this issue did not come on with the warm weather....it was a couple months into it.

So really, I don't know why it is working or if it will stay that way, but is working fine now.

 

[photowrite]

Sometimes I feel like they aren't really paying attention to what I am saying, because at one point, both ...

I wish I could just talk to Ram myself.....while I'm not totally bagging on these guys yet, as I get older, I have less and less confidence in people that should be experts in their field. There have been too many times where I ended up knowing more than the people that should be experts.

Thanks for the update.

I bet they are not paying attention, you know what you are seeing and hearing from them.

I know there are some good professional mechanics (though I dislike the 'flat rate' system) and some service writers ('advisors') too, but I'm generally very cautious and skeptical about taking my vehicles to a dealership; for anything.

 

[butchb]

I am still having problems with low boost but not all the time 5 dealers have told me they never heard of my problem did you get your problem fixed or just living with it

 

[kthaxton]

The whole thing is really quite odd, and random. I would say that from the time I made my last post (Dec 2015) it worked perfectly until late June, it started doing it again, a couple of times almost everyday, then it would be fine. There have been a few times where it started to slow down, and boost would stay put, then it's like it all of the sudden woke up and increased boost again before shifting down. It has been working fine for the last month or so.

So in short....late fall, winter and spring, it fixed itself and was fine. Mid summer it started again but has since gone away. Last summer it did it way, way more than this summer. With that said....it doesn't seem to be specifically temperature dependent. Again, it is an odd, random issue.

 

[WyoGuy]

Did you ever find a cause or fix for this issue? My 2017 3500 with Aisin is doing the exact same thing! It stated last March 2017 and after researching it on this site, I had them do TSB 18-037-16 last May but it has randomly done it since. Specially the last couple weeks its done it twice in the last four trips at almost the exact same place each time.

I'm towing about 4K and running in 5th gear (tow/haul), with cruise control at 68mph, ambient temperature about 30F at about 5000 feet elevation. It shifted back and forth between 4th and 5th grade several times. Then down the road just about a mile, it crested a steeper grade in 5th without any problem. I monitored the boost pressure and as others have mentioned, it's like the boost is 'stuck' at 7-9 psi.

I'm thinking it must be a programming issue? I thought about it being in regen but can't imagine it would always do occurring at the same place in the road!

Any help, information or suggestions would be appreciate.