well i bought my first cummins like 4 months ago and i'v already replaced the clutch,rebuilt the front end, and i had to replace the pcm and ecm and i have a cracked 53 block. wtf this thing went from fun to a nightmare in a couple of months.

 

well if you guys think about it sometimes guys sell trucks because (and i hate to say it) they have done some type of temporary repair to them that they know will fail. not saying that is what happened to you but it is a fact. and another thing to think about is these trucks are getting a little on the older side. things happen with age! as with all cars they are money pits. if i gave up on my truck after replaceing all of that my wife would have killed me . there is a light at the end of the tunnel. and it also seems like one thing breaks and then once you fix it another breaks, but in my experience once one electical sensor fails it seems that the rest aren't far behind, just an age thing. i had a 88 iroc camaro that i literaly had to replace EVERYTHING electronic that went to the engine. ran great when i bought it and within a couple of months it was a pos .

as for your bad fuel mileage the drw truck seems to only get about that around town but on the highway they get awesome. my srw gets about 16 in town and on the highway around 21.

 

Did you ever hear the song... "should of been a Cowboy" By Toby Keith.

Well my advice to you is " Should have been a Ford"

































I am just messing with you. I have a body that has one. Its not a bad rig. Its just not a power house. But it gets the job done.

 

^^^ thats a load of crap^^^

You have to keep in mind that this is a 12 year old truck! The previous owner obviously didnt keep on top of maintenance.


I guess Fords require no maintenance and last forever? Yeah right.

 

first used truck break! Even new trucks break. I have to say that one thing most people dont mention is driving habits and where you drive regulates fuel milage. I have found that if you have to replace brakes every 30k you will never get good milage. I would get a mild programer , do exaust and you should be good. i have a 3500 HO with 410s and it gets 19 on high way 15-17 in town and it weighs 13000 pounds. I had a brand new 2000 ford and it was at dealer for waranty 5 times befor it got to 36k, steering, ujoint, paint prob, heater, and and steering and stearing again. i dare you to buy a v10 you will burn so much cheap fuel you will be best freinds with all the gas station attendents. that is my 2 cents worth. but every body has ther favorate brand.

 

Yeah I hear all you, I just can't keep dumping money into it. But I figure I'm halfway there. And yes my girl will kill me if I sell it and take the loss. So fudge, I'm going to own it for awhile. I've just had my best experiences with Ford. I traded in my 03 expidition on this thing and that Ford was soooooo reliable. I just needed a truck to tow with so I bought this Dodge. I was going to buy a 7.3 but the dealers wanted way too much for them. I live in W. Pa and we have a lot of big hills. The Dodge doesn't climb them all that well. But once I have the $ I'm going to get a smarty tuner. I'm sure it will cure what ales me. I will get 18 mpg damn it! Lol

 

its not worth it, ill trade ya for my 12v

i get 17-18 mpg out of my 98 12v dualy in all conditions.

 

Read everything i wrote. O and Ford take work to. I have a 97 wait that is older yet. i have over 200,000 miles on it no bad trouble yet

 

many people have been in your shoes. Major issue is the lift and injection pumps. Get the lift pump taken care of and it keeps injection pumps going. The front ends can be troublesome, and the 53 block. But many of them don't break. Do you have any gauges on the truck at all? boost numbers would be helpful you could have a boost leak that will kill mpgs. Have you inspected the fluid in the front and rear diffs could have some old oil thats pretty worn out and can cause some resistance. I noticed some mileage gain going to synthetic. Your tires properly aired up? Front end alignment good? Is it stick or auto? If it's an auto your converter may not be locking properly and that kills fuel mileage. I good converter helps mpg's majorly

 

just a thought to the ford guy in this dodge thread. if the cummins and the dodge were not as good as your little ford and powerstokes, why does every for owner that wants a real truck to make real power put a cummins engine in it. as for you mpg issues who built the injection pump? and where are you buying your new sensors at? also might want to check your turbo for shaft play it could be binding causing it to operate inproperly