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.