Heads up on 6.7 Cummins

[Choupique]

The 8 speed doesnt scare me at all. That was long needed and its going to be the best transmission in the market segment.

The engine on the other hand - thats what you get when you pander to the mall crawlers who unfortunately buy the top trim trucks and trade them in for a new one way before anything breaks. The 2016-2018 cummins was the best diesel engine ever put in a pickup truck.

 

[StuckInTheEast]

The 8 speed doesnt scare me at all. That was long needed and its going to be the best transmission in the market segment.

The engine on the other hand - thats what you get when you pander to the mall crawlers who unfortunately buy the top trim trucks and trade them in for a new one way before anything breaks. The 2016-2018 cummins was the best diesel engine ever put in a pickup truck.

I wish I had your confidence in anything new...but experience has taught me otherwise thus far
Ford and GM had virtually bullet proof 6spd transmissions in the Allison and 6r140...then the next great thing came along in the form of the 10L1000 and 10r140...won't take much searching to see how that's playing out.
I hope RAM got it right on the new engine/trans combo, but for me, none of them are worth the price of admission presently.

 

[Choupique]

The transmission will be fine. Its a good medium duty industrial transmission.

The motor is a mistake. Ram screwed up by insisting cummins build them a quieter and lighter engine. Let Ford and GM have that and the troubles that come with it. Give me a solid lifter garbage truck engine like we could still get in 2018.

 

[mt terry d]

New trucks went back to glow plugs?!!
I had a ford diesel ( mid 80’s vintage?) and it was common for glow plugs to break off and drop into the cylinder

 

[Colby]

So we have a 40k mile used motor going in. Should be about $17k-ish total. Still spendy but significantly better than the dealer quote of $56k.
Going to have them go ahead and retrofit the grid heater while we’re at it.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

just throwing this out there as quite a few people replied about the ram motor. Anyone know what might cause a ram 3500 diesel to be dripping oil on the front passenger side of the motor? It’s near the oil filter but also seems to wrap around to the front.

 

[Choupique]

Theres a bunch of stuff up there with oil in it. Filter, oil cooler, lines, front cover, front main, oil pan...

The fan can fling it all over the place too. Just gotta clean everything off and find it.

 

[mt terry d]

Sure it's not the water pump going?

If it's definitely oil I'd suspect a line to the filter. Sure the filter is sealed
properly? The old O-ring from the filter didn't stay when you changed it and you now have 2 in there?

Try spraying it down with degreaser or brake cleaner and get it cleaned off then
check it. You might have too much snow back there to want to do this ,
but pulling the inner fender off should give you a better perspective.

FWIW my front main seal was leaking and I'm dragging my feet to replace it but in
the meantime I've shot brake cleaner up in there a few times and it looks like it has
stopped (for now). It does blow over to the passenger side but not up above the oil pan .

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Thanks for the advice on pulling the fender liner out and using break cleaner. I’m also just going to replace the oil filter to see if that’s the cause. I figured any leak up there is just getting spread all over. The oil pan is about half wet.

 

[mt terry d]

If it's on the front of the oil pan and down the passenger side it's likely the front main seal.
Not a terribly difficult job but not fun, hence me dragging my feet

Guessing a shop will charge maybe 2 1/2-3 hours? The seal is cheap.
If it's that and you have maybe 150-200,000 miles on the truck I'd
suggest putting a wear ring in. ( It comes with it's own seal, still cheap, $50?)

But yeah, eliminate the easy stuff first. BTW: I always tighten my filter with a wrench, maybe a good
half turn more than by hand. Even though they seem to tighten themselves up I have had them
leak.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Yeah I’m at 188k on the truck. I do use a wrench to tighten the oil filter little.

 

[Weldor]

Did you change the oil recently? Those drip pans under the filter are notorious for holding spilled oil and getting it everywhere. I spray mine out every time and it still shows up for awhile.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Did you change the oil recently? Those drip pans under the filter are notorious for holding spilled oil and getting it everywhere. I spray mine out every time and it still shows up for awhile.

I did change the oil about 3000 miles ago. I just have never had oil dripping onto my garage floor.

I also changed the oil supply line to the turbo as that is what I thought was leaking. The one end by the oil filter was loose when I replaced it. So maybe some of the oil I am seeing is residual from that leaking.

 

[Weldor]

I did change the oil about 3000 miles ago. I just have never had oil dripping onto my garage floor.

I also changed the oil supply line to the turbo as that is what I thought was leaking. The one end by the oil filter was loose when I replaced it. So maybe some of the oil I am seeing is residual from that leaking.

You know one drop can make things look bad. LOL

 

[wyosteve]

On my 2018 3500 the oil leak was from the timing gear cover. Sounds similar to what you have.

 

[JGBowman]

It seems like most of you know more about trucks and engines more than I ever will.

I was looking at a 2024 Ram with the 6.7, low miles.

Is 2024 a bad year? Is 2025 a lot better?

 

[Weldor]

Ram still does not have a fix for the HCU recall. Dealers can't sell the trucks with an outstanding recall. Weird that they come up with a fix after 2-3 years. Just had mine in for Homelink and they said no parts available for the recall. They are still trying to get you to do the emission's upgrade, No way for me, my 18 runs just fine the way it is.

 

[Choupique]

Is 2024 a bad year?

Yes. Post 2018, they went to a pickup-specific engine architecture. Details are all over the internet. The 68RFE transmission sucks. Aisin is an excellent transmission. 2016 to 2018 6.7 is the best diesel engine ever put in a pickup truck - now let me go find some cover to duck all the flak I'm about to get.

Is 2025 a lot better?

Jury is still out. Engine was re-designed again for 2025. They have the 8 speed transmission which is a vast improvement over both the RFE and Aisin. Probably the best transmission on the market right now. The engine shares a lot of the features that made the 2019 to 2024 engines suck, with the addition of a modified CP4 fuel system. Why makers just absolutely insist on using that stuff I can't understand. It's supposedly upgraded and has a different name, but it sure looks a lot like a CP4 to me. The 25's have glow plugs instead of a grid heater so this bolt thing goes away. Broken off glow plugs are just as bad. We shall see. Me personally, I'd wait a couple more years and see or if you need to buy now, Chevy probably has the most dependable diesel driveline right now. Ford's is also pretty excellent and the power is absolutely stupid.

 

[JGBowman]

Yes. Post 2018, they went to a pickup-specific engine architecture. Details are all over the internet. The 68RFE transmission sucks. Aisin is an excellent transmission. 2016 to 2018 6.7 is the best diesel engine ever put in a pickup truck - now let me go find some cover to duck all the flak I'm about to get.



Jury is still out. Engine was re-designed again for 2025. They have the 8 speed transmission which is a vast improvement over both the RFE and Aisin. Probably the best transmission on the market right now. The engine shares a lot of the features that made the 2019 to 2024 engines suck, with the addition of a modified CP4 fuel system. Why makers just absolutely insist on using that stuff I can't understand. It's supposedly upgraded and has a different name, but it sure looks a lot like a CP4 to me. The 25's have glow plugs instead of a grid heater so this bolt thing goes away. Broken off glow plugs are just as bad. We shall see. Me personally, I'd wait a couple more years and see or if you need to buy now, Chevy probably has the most dependable diesel driveline right now. Ford's is also pretty excellent and the power is absolutely stupid.

In a way I can understand. Thank you!

 

[Choupique]

The main problem is you have a post-covid stellantis truck wrapped around the engine, and it's no cheaper than the other two maker's products. The post 2018 engines really aren't THAT bad since they went back to CP3 fuel pumps. They had some lifter problems but I think that was mostly due to people using 15w40 oil. The rest of the truck is really a POS compared to the fords and chevrolets though. When a dodge was cheaper and came with a true industrial engine in it, it was more palatable. At their current price point, no thank you.