Temps and cruise control

[Vette Racer]

OK, temps when pulling heavy in 100 degree heat, what are you seeing for the trans, oil, and water? My 2016 does not have any degrees, just idiot gauges so where do they run??

Next question is the cruise, mine wants to downshift from 6 to 5th constantly when on level ground, when I use the pedal it does fine, only on cruise. down up, down up, down up. Pulling 16,500 but when engaging a hill it will hold the cruise unless it drops more than two mph.

Worrying about the temps, fan kicks on and cools things down but the water goes into the upper 1/3th range of the gauge, (above the center point) oil temp is about 3/8 of and inch above the center line and the trans gauge is about an 1/8 of and inch above the center. Is this normal??

 

[RustyJC]

OK, temps when pulling heavy in 100 degree heat, what are you seeing for the trans, oil, and water? My 2016 does not have any degrees, just idiot gauges so where do they run??

Next question is the cruise, mine wants to downshift from 6 to 5th constantly when on level ground, when I use the pedal it does fine, only on cruise. down up, down up, down up. Pulling 16,500 but when engaging a hill it will hold the cruise unless it drops more than two mph.

Worrying about the temps, fan kicks on and cools things down but the water goes into the upper 1/3th range of the gauge, (above the center point) oil temp is about 3/8 of and inch above the center line and the trans gauge is about an 1/8 of and inch above the center. Is this normal??

Tom,

I can't be of too much help as I haven't towed the 5th wheel since setting up the dash to display the trans and engine oil temp gauges on the EVIC. As far as the downshifting, we run with the cruise set at 65 MPH, and the truck holds 6th gear on level terrain with no problem. If you're using cruise down around 62 or 63 MPH, I can see where it might want to hunt between 5th and 6th. On a hill, the cruise on our truck lets the speed drop to 62-63 MPH where the trans will downshift to 5th, pull the speed up to 66 or 67 MPH and upshift to 6th. At that point, it will generally hold speed in 6th gear.

On water temps, so far mine hasn't gone over center scale. The behavior you describe, however, is how our 2011 3500 DRW would run. It had a digital readout on the EVIC for coolant temperature and a 200 degF thermostat. The truck would run around 203 degF towing on level terrain on a 90 degree day. On a long 6% or so grade, the temp would climb to 219 degF (gauge at about 2/3 scale) where the cooling fan would kick on and quickly pull the coolant temp back to 199-200 degF. If we were still on the grade, the cycle would repeat. In that respect, yours sounds very similar to our 2011 - as an economy measure, I'm sure the Ram engineers delay engagement of the engine fan as long as possible to minimize its use. I suspect if we get into some 6% or better grades on 100+ degF days, ours will probably behave very similarly.

Rusty

 

[Vette Racer]

Rusty, I had the cruise set on 64, down and up, time after time, had to go to the pedal to stop it. Also tried using it in tow haul and not, didn't make any difference. Temps are not too much a worry, we were pulling into a 30 MPH headwind so thought that might have something to do with it, comparing to the Chevy. Just making sure we don't have an issue, Cruise is the main thing, have to be able to use it..

 

[RustyJC]

Tom,

Just for grins, set the cruise at 66 or 67 for a few miles and see if it still hunts. Based on the behavior of mine, it wants to downshift to 5th around 63 MPH under load (which you were pulling into a 30 MPH headwind, even on level ground), so you're right on the ragged edge at 64 MPH.

Yeah, pulling into a 30 MPH headwind is like a perpetual 6% grade with the frontal area and aerodynamics of these 5th wheels, I suspect.

Rusty

 

[Vette Racer]

Tom,

Just for grins, set the cruise at 66 or 67 for a few miles and see if it still hunts. Based on the behavior of mine, it wants to downshift to 5th around 63 MPH under load (which you were pulling into a 30 MPH headwind, even on level ground), so you're right on the ragged edge at 64 MPH.

Yeah, pulling into a 30 MPH headwind is like a perpetual 6% grade with the frontal area and aerodynamics of these 5th wheels, I suspect.

Rusty

Thanks Rusty, I think I'll not worry about it for awhile as I think you are right about the conditions I was towing in might be the main cause of everything, hopefully the worse conditions we will be in. We'll see how it acts as we get more miles on it, guess that's another variable since it only has about 1300 miles right now. one thing about it if the old saying about working these Cummins motors hard help them run better in the long run, mine should be a jewel. LOL.

 

[jacknife]

When towing I just put it in 5th and roll. You should be able to set up your evic located between the Tach and Speedo. that will show you your temps in degrees.Use the left right up down buttons on the left side of steering wheel. it should show you in your manual.

 

[jacknife]

Didn' see you had 410 and an Aisin ,you shouldn' have a problem with that combo on flat ground.

 

[RustyJC]

Didn' see you had 410 and an Aisin ,you shouldn' have a problem with that combo on flat ground.

Not normally, but he was also towing into a 30 MPH headwind, so I could see how it could happen with the cruise set at 64. When towing our 19K GVWR 5th wheel, our Aisin wants to drop to 5th at about 62 to 63 on a grade, so any drop in speed from 64 would put Tom's truck right there for a downshift.

Rusty

 

[Cummins12V98]

You running TH and EB while towing?

 

[RustyJC]

You running TH and EB while towing?

If you're asking me, always. Usually even when NOT towing, although the Aisin acts more like an old Allison when unloaded in TH as shifts seem to be speed dependent. It'll sit there at 2100 RPM or so at 42 forever, but if you nudge it up to 43 (for example), it'll go on and shift. In that respect, the shifting algorithms of the 68RFE in our 2011 were more sophisticated than the Aisin. Don't get me wrong - I like the Aisin, but it's definitely more of a truck transmission than the 68RFE as far as its behavior is concerned.

Rusty

 

[Cummins12V98]

If you're asking me, always. Usually even when NOT towing, although the Aisin acts more like an old Allison when unloaded in TH as shifts seem to be speed dependent. It'll sit there at 2100 RPM or so at 42 forever, but if you nudge it up to 43 (for example), it'll go on and shift. In that respect, the shifting algorithms of the 68RFE in our 2011 were more sophisticated than the Aisin. Don't get me wrong - I like the Aisin, but it's definitely more of a truck transmission than the 68RFE as far as its behavior is concerned.

Rusty

No, I was asking the op.

I had no issues with my 68 probably because I had it learn by driving the he!! out of it right from the start. Aisin has a mind of it's own! But I like it. I compare it to a built trans.

 

[Vette Racer]

Yes, I was using T/H and EB. Also when the truck downshifts it doesn't lose any speed, with the cruise on 64 it just goes to 5th and back to 6th almost instantly with no speed change! I have found out if you set it at 66 it will hold 6th all day, even on a hill it will lose two miles an hour then spool up the turbo and go right back to the set speed without downshifting but anything below 66 ie..65 and below, it will hunt 6-5-6-5-6 constantly without any speed change. Hope that helps clear up some things.

 

[RustyJC]

I have found out if you set it at 66 it will hold 6th all day, even on a hill it will lose two miles an hour then spool up the turbo and go right back to the set speed without downshifting.

Tom,

Well, there you have it. You just need to drive faster. :-laf

Seriously, that's what I suspected that it would do. I'm sure there's a calibration difference vehicle to vehicle, but the magic number for our truck seems to be 62 MPH for the 6 to 5 downshift. If I set the cruise for 62 or 63 when towing instead of my normal 65, I'll bet that my truck would do just what yours does. I'll try it the next time we're out and let you know.

Rusty

 

[kthaxton]

Just out of curiosity, have you paid attention to what the boost is doing during this? It almost sounds like an intermittent problem I have when using cruise. I'll notice it start slowing down, then it shifts. This happens on my daily commute on a stretch of road that normally does not need a downshift. Typically, boost picks up and no shift is needed. But I've found the reason it is slowing down is that boost appears to be stuck 9-11 psi where it would normally be in the 13-16 range for this particular stretch.

 

[Vette Racer]

When towing I just put it in 5th and roll. You should be able to set up your evic located between the Tach and Speedo. that will show you your temps in degrees.Use the left right up down buttons on the left side of steering wheel. it should show you in your manual.

jackknife, have not found any way to change my evic, wonder if you are thinking about another version since I have the uconnect 5.0. All mine shows is a bar with a low to high or cold to hot.I can set up different gauges but don't see any way to change from bars to degrees.

 

[Vette Racer]

Just out of curiosity, have you paid attention to what the boost is doing during this? It almost sounds like an intermittent problem I have when using cruise. I'll notice it start slowing down, then it shifts. This happens on my daily commute on a stretch of road that normally does not need a downshift. Typically, boost picks up and no shift is needed. But I've found the reason it is slowing down is that boost appears to be stuck 9-11 psi where it would normally be in the 13-16 range for this particular stretch.

I don't have any way to monitor the boost that I have found, keep in mind the speed does not change from what is set, it just downshifts for no apparent reason, speed never changes.

I am going to take it out shortly and see if it does this when not towing, thought that would be interesting.

 

[kthaxton]

Does your EVIC look like this? Obviously, the image in the center will be different depending on what screen you've selected.

 

[Vette Racer]

Not exactly but I did find the boost gauge, changed the trans view to it so I can watch it. Don't have the tire pressure or the SD card but other than that it is the same. Thanks! Didn't remember the boost gauge until I went through the menu again.

Did take it out without the trailer and the cruise holds fine so it is just when towing. Like Rusty said I may have to speed up some, hope not, we'll see.

 

[Vette Racer]

In response to a question about the boost, it runs about 1/4 to 1/2 most of the time and when pulling a large hill it will go to 3/4 on the gauge, looks to me like it is doing fine. During the last tow it would not hold 6th even at 66 and above if on cruise and level ground, as before no loss of MPH, just downshifting for the heck of it. It also didn't shift correctly from 1st to 2nd and 3rd a couple of times resulting in a hard shift after reving the engine in-between gears and slamming into the next higher gear. Going to check the fluid before the next leg of the trip.