mcasey329

Report of my first 5K miles on truck. Comments and observations are welcome.

2005 Ram 3500 DRW bought with 166K miles on it.
All results are hand calculated.
Bought truck on 3/11
Date Miles Gal MPG
3/11 Bought Truck
3/12 204 32.4 00.0 McKinney, TX
3/12 225 17.7 12.7 Head wind, Idle b/c of wildfires. Amarillo, TX
3/13 000 04.4
3/13 000 13.3
3/13 773 29.7 16.3 Casper,WY
3/21 455 32.5 14.0 50/50 mix of HW/City Sheridan, WY
3/24 486 30.2 16.1 crossed 2 mtn ranges. Evanston, WY
3/25 445 25.2 17.7 CC@71mph/1900 Winnimucca, NV
3/25 360 25.7 14.0 CC@1900 Wind till Reno x'd Sierras. Ripon, CA
4/02 000 10.1
4/03 581 31.0 14.1 Mods added 60/40 City/HW Ripon, CA
4/03 384 21.6 17.8 CC@71mph/1900 Crossed Sierras Winnemucca, CA
4/04 446 26.3 17.0 CC@71/mph1900 Evanston, WY
4/05 437 22.3 19.6 CC@67-69/1800 2 mtn ranges. Sheridan, WY

Observations related to trip to CA and back
mods added -
(bed cover, Rokktech Timing Sensor, FlashPaq towing package.)

The trip to California I would consider mostly downhill. Reversed on the way back. Because of the way the mountains are the trip west also includes more steep climbs and a lot more gradual downhills. Not sure how this effects things just an observation.

1. First off the over head display is always way way off, from 3-6 mpg. However if I add the miles travel on the tank to the DTE I get close to within 1-1.5 on the high side (miles traveled + DTE)/35.

2. Mods seemed to have made a real difference I used Cruise in both directions, stopped at the same fuel stations both ways and topped off the same every time. A difference of just over 2mpg on the return trip.

4. I used Power service in all but the Ripon & Winnemucca fuel stops on 4/3, it was raining to0 hard for me to bother getting the stuff from truck bed.

5. The MPG from the Winnemucca fuels stops is a lot consistently lower than the other stops and was the easiest section of road on the return trip and include about 80 miles of steady downhill on the drive to CA. I am not sure what is up with the fuel there but something tells me it was not good.

6. Truck programmed on performance mode was exhilarating. Leaving rubber on the road was not what I expected. Very fast and responsive!! I had a little fun after midnight but then reprogrammed to towing package which seems to be a more controlled ride. I noticed the on the performance package the rpm's would shoot up to 3100 rpms and then back down, seemed to be 3000+ for less than a second but since I am not mechanical at all it concerned me a little. Any comments about this are welcome. Boy was it fun though glad no officers were around.

I am going to run a tank of fuel with the mods around town for the next two weeks. I will see what effect it has locally. So far I am only getting 14 mpg around town which seems too low. Where I live going to town means driving 17 miles of 65 mph to town then a few stops and starts for abotu 5-7 more miles then back home at 65 mph. It is a 1700 feet decent to town though, I am not sure that should make a difference.

Any comments other observations about the results are welcome. I have pretty good details on the entire trip.

Bottom line is I am pretty happy with the mods. I may send the flahspaq back since at $385 it is pretty expensive toy. I think the Rokktech is making the biggest difference and it is half paid for in the fuel saving just on the trip back.

1800 prms seems to be the sweet spot and I am sure I will hit 20+ when the winter blends are gone.

I may switch over to Howes for an additive at 3 ozs a tankful it is more cost effect then PS is and they claim a 4.8% increase in mpgs, not sure about that claim but the warm fuzzy I will get from having a little extra protection wont hurt. The truck was put on the road in April of 2005 and it now has 172K miles on it. I have no warrenty isseus to consider with any mods I do.