6.7L Cummins Forum

fellas,
I'm considering a full size, crew cab truck. It will need to tow my 05 unlimited rubicon which becomes more of a trail rig with every passing year, and the boat the wife wants in the near future. I'm considering a 2500 with the 6.7l, but i know nothing about diesels. reading through this forum today, it would seem maint intensive with a need to drain a fuel filter often (with the resulting leaks), and lots of fault lights. Now I think I might stick with a gasser. Thoughts?

Gramps

they do require maint. but not realy more than anything else just different, the engine has no spark plugs,coils or other ignition related components to deal with like a gasser for a tune up, the key to the diesels IS the fuel system... and the filter is not hard to maintain once you get to know about it, and like anything else they require oil and filter changes as well as air filter changes as part of routine maint. this is only my second diesel and I think it is easy to maintain, the oil change interval is longer than a car,( car @ every 3,000 miles, diesel@7,500 miles) so its not as often but costs about the same amounts as the diesel holds more oil but is done less often, the fuel filter can leak if not installed correctly, but thats the same too on a gasser, draining the fuel filter is done IF their is water in the fuel ...so if you get bad fuel or have water get into the system you will have to drain the filter when the light comes on that says to drain water.... I have never had to drain water from my system, and don't find any present when I change the fuel filter at its required maint. time....I have heard the horror stories as well about water , fuel leaks and all kinds of other things like mil lights etc, but if you ask how come you get I modified it,worked on it, run bio-diesel in it ,or the wrong fuel in it,took this off , un pluged that, have not done maint. when required, use it to do this, use addatives, this and that, I think people create a lot of the problems that happen to these new sophisticated systems that the factory never intended them for... even on gassers,, so In my opinion the diesels are not as bad as it seems, just different.

Gramps welcome to the site!

Gramps you need to remember that this forum was started in 07 when the 6.7L first came on the market so there is a lot of problems that we reported. But if you'll notice these were with the 07 and early 08 trucks but now that the software has been updated the 09 owners aren't having any problems and even my 07 is happy. As a matter of fact I'm now at 77,000 miles and looking to trade up to a Laramie.

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2007.5 Dodge Ram 3500 HD,QC, 6.7L Cummins, 6speed Auto, 4X4, Bighorn Edition.
Click for installs: Carr Steps PML Diff Cover Edge Juice with Attitude Volant Intake Hankook ATM RF10

Thanks fellas.

I have an '07 which I bought new in January of '08. I have had no problems with it unless I tried messing with the electronics ie installing a boost fooler etc. The truck consistently gets 20 to 21 mpg empty on the highway locked on cruise at 120 kph. Towing our 30', 8,000 lb travel trailer with 1,000 lbs in the box it gets 14 to 16 mpg at the same speed on the same highway. Around town it will get 12 to 16 depending on how heavy my right foot is. At 83,000+ kms, it has seen the dealer 2x, once for the firewall recall and once for the BA flash. I run it with a gutted intake tube, a drop in aFe air filter, a 4" hole in the bottom of the stock air box and the EGR unplugged. Those mods were good for 1.5 to 2 mpg.
I bought this truck to tow and it does an excellent job at that task. More than 1/2 the kms on it are while hooked to the trailer. Those towing kms were put on all over Alberta and B.C. The only thing that I wish the truck had is a centre console instead of the jump seat. That would give us rear air and heat.

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2007 Ram 2500 QC 4x4 SLT TRX4-Offroad 6.7L Automatic. '08 Jeep WK 3.0L diesel-wife's DD.
1998 Jeep ZJ 4.0L Automatic Selectrac-project for our son. '98 Jeep XJ-my wife's former DD.
1965 Dodge Polara 880 Convertible 383 Automatic.

I have an 09' 2500 Laramie with about 7000 mi on it now and have had no problems whatsoever. This is my second diesel and I have always bought my fuel at hi volume outlets where the fuel gets a fast turnover and moisture doesn't get a chance to settle in. The water in fuel light never came on in either rig. I drained it a time or 2 in my Ford just to see how it worked and because it was easy but don't know if I ever will with this Cummins. Don't see the need. I'll probably have the dealer change the filter every 10-12,000 mi. and that should be that.
When you tow that Rubicon behind one of these 6.7's it won't even know that Jeep's there. It'll yank the wheels right off the ground. I bought this Cummins so I wouldn't have to work on it. Some of the other fellas work on theirs a lot I suppose because they can't keep their hands off of them. Can't say as I blame them. I really like this truck.