anybody else's power and mileage gone down alot?

[robobx]

I have noticed quite a decrease in power and mileage lately. I made a trip from charlotte to pittsburgh towing my Jeep in Nov. never down shifted from 6th to make the big hills, sometimes actually forgot I was towing the jeep, and got 16. 7 mpg on the comp. the truck only had 1500 miles on it at the time.

just made the same trip and had to down shift on many hills and the truck really felt like it was working. only got 12. 2 mpg. now the truck has over 17,000 miles, I thought things were supposed to get better as some miles accumulated?

I have also noticed around town and empty on the highway drop in mpg.

anyone else have anything like this???

thanks, rob

 

[Prairie Dog]

Mines dropped a lot too (1-2 mpg), I'm hoping it's just the winter blend of fuel.

 

[robobx]

I wish it were just winter blend but the mileage is still dropping and I don't think they're still selling winter blend in S. VA and NC...

I was getting better mileage in the dead of winter in W. PA

and I'm talking about 4+ mpg not just 1 or 2

 

[EXSTROKER]

Yes i know this is a stupid question ...

how are you servicing the rig?

air and fuel filter

 

[Fireman]

And check for intake leaks.



Fireman

 

[GWDiesel]

OH boy, I thought my rig was the only one with lost of power and

the fuel mileage is going away. This is a 03 ETH,DEE, I bought the power to pull a small cargo trailer, but with 4 people in the pickup

this rig falls on its face and pickups speed slowly and wont pull very good. Up here the problem is much worse at 6000 +feet than

what i said before. I sure hope someone finds out what the problem is! oh yes my mileage on the speedo is 5,894 miles since

new. .

D/D

 

[MattSt]

Towed the race car to Topeka Kansas last weekend on the big gooseneck. About 10,000 pounds. Got a steady 9 mpg and had to shift down to 5th on ALL the hills to maintain 65 mph.



I hope a chip/exhaust/injectors/something I can do will wake this truck up. I wish I had kept the 2001. :{ :{ It would tow 14,000 AND get 13. 5 mpg!.



Mine just turned over 7000 miles today.

 

[pstillo]

I towed a 11000 lb boat last weekend and i was happy with the way the truck performed. I was in 6 gear even up some good grades. I hope the performance don't go south from here.

 

[GWDiesel]

Well my last post went I dont know where,so here goes again

I wonder if the milage and power loss coould be in the blank-

blank computer??? the motor is slow to move out and is slow on

throttle return when shifting gears, and my torque is not their on

An easy to pull hill any more! and the milage ,was the best around

2000 RPM,not any moreIn 6th. gear on the freeway. EX Diesel/

Diesel now GWDIESEL we will see if that will let me post! GWD>

 

[Prairie Dog]

I haven't noticed any decrease in power (7K now), to the contrary, the engine spools up quicker and has much better throttle response. I had it dyno'd about a month ago - 255/466!

Over head still lies to the tune of about 2 MPG though. Dodge said it may get better as the odometer approaches 12K. Sounds like a bunch B. S. to me. I'm going to pull our 4500 lb TT tomorrow - can't wait!

 

[dmurdock]

Have ya'll done any troubleshooting? Change fuel filter, check for boost leaks (probably it), make sure sensor(s) in intake tract/filter box are clean, etc... . ???????

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I think Dodge changed the throttle parameters from the earlier trucks. Mine (which was built March 6th) responds very quickly when I hit the throttle and drops off quick when I let off of it. Much, much improved over the trucks I drove last fall which were downright annoying. I would think if you got the ECM reflash affected under the recall it would solve your complaint.



Vaughn

 

[E7mack96]

Will that re-flash fix the looonngg ssslllooowww drop in rpms between shifts. I hate waiting on the motor to pull her into the next gear. I have counted over 1 second for the rpms to drop enough to match road speed in the next gear.

 

[GWDiesel]

E7MACK96

ON a steep pull, it seems to take longer in my rig to unwind to shift

gears ,the motor drops to low to pickup the taller gear. I will time

mine soon and see if it takes longer than one second or not!GWD

 

[jimnance]

Originally posted by E7mack96

Will that re-flash fix the looonngg ssslllooowww drop in rpms between shifts. I hate waiting on the motor to pull her into the next gear. I have counted over 1 second for the rpms to drop enough to match road speed in the next gear.

It didn't help the problem in mine.



Jim

 

[Hammerhead]

I put 315's on my truck 2 weeks ago and now the thing is a DOG! Towing a 6000 lb trailer on the freeway It will barely hold 70mph on a VERY slight grade and even when pushing the throttle thruogh the floor board it refused to get above 2100 rpm's. Is it possible that I have a problem or is this what I should expect out of this truck? Oh yeah, just turned over 3200 miles and I get about 11 mpg now



The best mpg I ever got was about 15. I thought that diesels got good fuel mileage.

 

[jimnance]

Originally posted by Hammerhead

I put 315's on my truck 2 weeks ago and now the thing is a DOG! Towing a 6000 lb trailer on the freeway It will barely hold 70mph on a VERY slight grade and even when pushing the throttle thruogh the floor board it refused to get above 2100 rpm's. Is it possible that I have a problem or is this what I should expect out of this truck? Oh yeah, just turned over 3200 miles and I get about 11 mpg now



The best mpg I ever got was about 15. I thought that diesels got good fuel mileage.

I THINK YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. I did see about a 1 MPG drop in my economy after putting on the 315 70 17's, but I still see between 17-18 MPG combined driving and 18-19 MPG on the highway. I'm in a rural area and town is only 20,000 so I rarely drive in congestion.



Pulling a 14,000 lb fifth wheel on a pretty tough trip through the mountains I'm still getting 10 MPG and that is hammered down most of the trip.



Have you adjusted for the fact that your mileage on the odometer is now reading about 9% less than actual? Also, are these readings from the computer or actual computation?

 

[Hammerhead]

hand calculated. Besides the fuel filter what should I look at to see if I have a problem?

 

[jimnance]

Well, I'm just doing some guess work here, but the fuel must be going somewhere. Assuming that a leak that large would be obvious, I'm thinking something in the fuel pump or computer is screwed up. Maybe the pump is improperly timed (not sure how this works on the electronic injection) or the computer is sending the wrong fueling parameters. I doubt a plugged filter is the problem, but I suppose anything is possible.



You need to get the truck on the dealers computer and see if it's throwing any codes. Maybe the dealer can reflash the software in the computer and that will help. If all else fails I'd ask the dealer to refer you to a Cummins shop. They may have a better idea on what the problem may be.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I had the reflash done and nothing changed at all. I don't seem to have any codes either. I'm going out and checking all the intake clamps for tightness, I'll try anything!