Appropriate way to drive a CTD

[SpectatorRacing]

Howdy gentlemen,



I just purchased my first Ram CTD, a 2010 2500 6. 7L. I'm coming out of a 2008 Hemi.



I'm scouring the forums and am obviously seeing a lot of mixed information so I'm hoping to set the record straight. I'm at abouty 600 miles on the odometer, I have taken it relatively easy thus far. A few WOT runs but mostly cruising in the low end of the tach.



The truck sees mixed duty, I drive it to work often (10 miles each way, 8 of them highway) as well as tow a 10,000 lb rig on the weekends. So my questions pertain to cool down and overal driving style.



I keep reading that I'm supposed to "drive it like I stole it" and that "yuppies keep mechanics in business"... I'm happy to stomp on it at every light, but that is sure going to kill my wallet. The gas mileage is bad enough with me babying it.



And cool down - seems that the 2010's don't need a cool down anymore? Any comments on that?



Thanks in advance for some advice to a newb...

 

[odinjunior]

Welcome aboard. The lessons I have learned are: Don't let it idle and short trips cause more frequent regens.

 

[hsmith]

The economy is not going to be good with your new truck no matter what. . It needs to be driven hard most of the time. Probably won't decrease the mileage that much anyway. I'm thinking the new ones will do as well loaded as my old 12 valver does pulling 14k plus. Loads of difference though in comfort, noise, power, etc.

 

[24V-DSL]

These engines like to work, and history has shown that those that are broken in hard end up getting better fuel mileage, altho, as has been said, you're not going to get great mileage out of this truck due to the disgusting emissions equipment set-up (regards to Al Gore and the rest of the snail-darters)



If it were mine, I'd hook up, head for the nearest mountain pass for a good workout. I'd also change the oil/filter at 1K (just me). I don't personally know about cool down on the 6. 7, but every farmer in my neighborhood lets their big Cummins cool down for a good 15 minutes after hard use. I never wonder why.....

 

[SpectatorRacing]

Good information, thanks guys!



A few more questions:



How long is too long to idle? I usually remote start it and let it warm up for 5 - 10 min (habits from gas motors), is this good or bad for it?



And I assume letting it cool down after a tow is idling that is good...



I live in the Midwest so I have no mountain passes nearby. Sounds like I need to get the trailer hooked up ASAP and put some towing miles on it. In the mean time, will some full throttle runs help, or is an unloaded truck not being worked at all?

 

[AMink]

Good information, thanks guys!



A few more questions:



How long is too long to idle? I usually remote start it and let it warm up for 5 - 10 min (habits from gas motors), is this good or bad for it?



And I assume letting it cool down after a tow is idling that is good...



I live in the Midwest so I have no mountain passes nearby. Sounds like I need to get the trailer hooked up ASAP and put some towing miles on it. In the mean time, will some full throttle runs help, or is an unloaded truck not being worked at all?

I don't have a 6. 7, but as far as warm up, I start it, put on my seat belt, adjust the mirrors, and go gently down the hill. As long as the oil pressure comes up quickly, there should be no reason to let it idle for a long time. That said, I don't get on it until I've been driving it for a few minutes. If I'm going to be pulling my trailer, I let it warm up longer. As far as cool down, around town driving with no heavy runs, it cools down for less than a minute. If I'm towing or hauling, much longer, up to 5 minutes. I'm guessing the 6. 7's have an auto idle rise to speed up the idle to prevent cylinder wash?

 

[Grizzly]

Welcome to TDR. You found a good home here.



Best thing to do with a new CTD is hook up your 10K RV and drive it to Alaska and back. That's what I did with both of my Dodge CTD with 2K miles on the clock. From Albuquerque they were 11K mile trips, which took my wife and I two months for each trip. Fuel did improve a little on the way home.



Good luck to you, george

 

[SpectatorRacing]

Welcome to TDR. You found a good home here.



Best thing to do with a new CTD is hook up your 10K RV and drive it to Alaska and back.

If only that were possible!



It's actually a car hauler (hence the forum name). Hooking it up and driving it 50 miles to the dyno shop will have to suffice for now.

 

[daverobb]

I do not let my truck shift into 5 or 6 in city driving. I run the engine brake at all times. If I have to let it idle for a short time, I use the manual high idle. Keep the oil and fuel supply clean and the engine will be happy. Follow a regular maintenance schedule and the whole truck will be happy, which in turn will make you happy.

 

[Wal_mart]

I am not 100% positive but I imagine the cool down is not because it is a diesel but because it is a turbocharged engine. The turbo needs oil to cool it down after a hard pull or it over time will coke up. Does the 6. 7 have a oil supply feeding it after shut down. Years ago on gassers their was a pressurized oil supply can you could install. I always thought that was a good idea.

 

[surfbeetle]

Drive it like you stole it. Don't lug the engine. Yes coking of oil in the turbo can be an issue if you shut it down right after a hard run towing. Get yourself some gauges so that you know what temp your turbo is at when you go to shut it down and you can let it idle until the temps drop enough.

 

[cojhl2]

If it were mine, I'd hook up, head for the nearest mountain pass for a good workout. I'd also change the oil/filter at 1K (just me). I don't personally know about cool down on the 6. 7, but every farmer in my neighborhood lets their big Cummins cool down for a good 15 minutes after hard use. I never wonder why.....

Fifteen minutes might be an overkill, but any engine should be allowed to normalize to some reasonable temp before turning it off.

Diesels because of their mass take somewhat longer to get rid of the heat. Remember that combustion chamber valves etc have been in something like 2000deg during a hard workout.

Depends how it's has been worked immediately prior to shut down but just driving it to work shut it off immediately.

And I would not beat the Sh. . outta it either. They like to work but so does a horse and they don't want to be abused. Watch the big trucks leave a stop sign, they pull away gentle and never run the EGT over 900deg post turbo.

 

[Jim W]

Hi, and welcome to this forum. Keep reading and you will learn a lot from others, that may have experience the same issues that you have or may have.

Like others have said you need to work the truck. In your owners manual you will see a time table on cooling down the truck after hard work such as towing or long distance driving. Follow this if you do not have an EGT (exhaust gas temperature) gage. I would install at least this gage for your peace of mind. Use this to monitor the EGT for cool down. In your case this would be a temperature under 600F, with DPF attached.

As far as idling the engine I would have the HI Idle feature enabled by the dealer. This is a feature that is turn on through the ECM, by the dealer on automatic trucks. When this is enabled you can turn the cruise control on and then hit the set button, the engine RPM speed will increase to 1100 RPMS. When this happens the engine is not lugging and will not build up extreme amounts of soot from the EGR that will be passed into the Turbo.

Always always run with the exhaust brake engaged this will keep the turbo from building up soot.

Good luck.

Jim

 

[PFranzese]

SpectatorRacing,



I am new to the CTD life as well. I have an 09 that I drive every day and so far I have no issues with it. I don't drive it like I stole it, I probably baby it more than anything. I have been averaging around 17 mpg with a city highway mix. I drive all the time with the exhaust brake on and I tow about once to twice per month (6500lbs). I never warm up the truck in the mornings, I just start it, idle for 30 seconds to make sure oil pressure is up and then I drive away taking it easy until the temp is at least 140+ on the gauge. I follow the scheduled mantainance with quality product and just enjoy the truck as is.



Congrats on the new truck.

 

[SpectatorRacing]

Ha, you guys have obviuously not seen the 2010 owner's manuals! They are nice color pamphlets with no useful information. The CD included with the truck is about as user friendly as a 1980's VCR. In other words, the only place I've been able to find good user information is on this forum when people post scans of the 2009 and earlier books.



The manual did tell me to use the exhaust brake for towning, but several of you have mentioned driving with it on all the time. What does this do, help get heat into the manifold more quickly?



PFranzese, sounds like our trucks will see very similar duty. Thanks for the post.



I'm looking into a programmer / guage monitor in the near future. It seems important to keep an eye on various temps, espcecially from what I've read about regen cycles. It's probably worth another thread, but Bulllydog and Smarty seem to be the programmers of choice around here.



And of course, thanks to everyone for the continuous stream of invaluable information.

 

[cojhl2]

Ha, you guys have obviuously not seen the 2010 owner's manuals! They are nice color pamphlets with no useful information. The CD included with the truck is about as user friendly as a 1980's VCR. In other words, the only place I've been able to find good user information is on this forum when people post scans of the 2009 and earlier books.



The manual did tell me to use the exhaust brake for towning, but several of you have mentioned driving with it on all the time. What does this do, help get heat into the manifold more quickly?



PFranzese, sounds like our trucks will see very similar duty. Thanks for the post.



I'm looking into a programmer / guage monitor in the near future. It seems important to keep an eye on various temps, espcecially from what I've read about regen cycles. It's probably worth another thread, but Bulllydog and Smarty seem to be the programmers of choice around here.



And of course, thanks to everyone for the continuous stream of invaluable information.

I don't have one cause my 1990 does not have a lockup trans. But I would assume they are like a Jacobs brake, they are only activated when power is off.

 

[Champy]

I have a relative new 2009 (bought in October). I drive it 5 miles to work each morning and home again at night. Tow a 6000lb trailer once a month on trips, etc... . Not quite a grocery getter but I'm probably kidding myself... .



I use the block heater in winter, or otherwise only idle long enough to get oil pressure or to let the grid heater finish cycling. I always drive with the Exhaust Brake on when going around town or in stop / go conditions. I also manually kick the auto transmission down into a lower gear to keep the rpms at least between 1500 - 2000. On my long trips with the trailer, I did not leave the EB on full time, only used it on steep downhills for braking.



I got my first "CHANGE THE OIL" message at ~2000miles... . and was surprised given the oil change interval is 7500. But with more city driving perhaps the duty cycle pushed this that way. I am now over 6000 miles and no 2nd oil change message so its probably breaking in, etc... I also am cleaning the MAF sensor as well to help things out. Engine is totally stock and no deletes. With no loads on the freeway I have gotten as high as 24mpg, and towing my trailer to FL and back I got about 12-14. I also have the 3. 43 rear end so that makes a difference too. I don't believe you have to drive it like you stole it, but if you do it doesn't care either way. I certainly would not baby it.



Also - watchout for using any tuners (Smarty) on your 2010 truck. ECMs built after 3/09 have a secured bootloader routine that detects if a tuner is in use and it will disable the truck... ... dead in the drive... . tow it to a dealer to be recalibrated. Bad news but none of the companies have yet figured out how to get around the newer ECM security issue.

 

[PFranzese]

ECMs built after 3/09 have a secured bootloader routine that detects if a tuner is in use and it will disable the truck... ... dead in the drive... . tow it to a dealer to be recalibrated. Bad news but none of the companies have yet figured out how to get around the newer ECM security issue.

Smarty cracked it!:-lafOo.

 

[Ereynolds72]

Just beware... as I've read on this forum many times, "You are your own warranty station" when you start tinkering with the engine control systems. These have 100k mile warranty on the engines. Are you willing to give that up?

It won't take me long to rack up a 100k miles so I can wait. I'm saving my pennies for KORE suspension and new tires. These pizza-cuttin' street tires look like donuts on these big trucks.

I was told by the service tech at my dealership that idling any longer than 15 mins starts to be detrimental to the DPF. He also told me to put a trailer on it and drive the sh*@ out of it to break it in.

 

[JRBurton]

Drive it like you stole it, donot lug your engine. Don't be afraid to stand on it, especially when you tow or haul. It's a cummins it will take it.