That is way premature for an engine problem. What happened?

 

For a stock Cummins (or any stock diesel for that matter) not to reach 200.000 miles takes work and does not just happen. Sure everything and anything can fail as its man made but to see a stock diesel engine (Cummins in paticular) not make 200.000 miles is insane. I have personaly worked/fixed on Cummins 5.9 I6 motors that have had over 700.000 and only needed a head gaskets. These engines were all towing miles and well maitnenced without even having as much as a cylinder score. Say what you want about Cummins/Chrysler but you will never find a better mid size diesel/truck setup out there period!!!!

 

The newer common rail engines are sensitive and require very clean fuel, or the injectors can go to heck in 100k.

Adding a 2 micron filter isn't a bad idea. Very rarely you will also hear about a dropped valve seat.

Running a power adder, particularly without monitoring egt's, can melt pistons. Pressure boxes often result in a cracked injector, which will dump gallons of fuel into the oil in short order. Too much of a timing box plus towing can destroy an engine, and the stock turbo will only put up with so much abuse from a boost fooler.

 

Rings in Cylinders #3 & #5 or 6 cracked/broke, the ring in 3 went through the cylinder, scuffed up the wall pretty bad, I believe part of the ring actually got embedded in the wall, and the other cylinder, I don't remember if it was 5 or 6 got scuffed up pretty bad as well. I caught the problem around 110,000 miles, when I noticed metal shavings in my oil filter, it was all down hill from there. This led to a noticeable power loss, as well as very excessive blow by, toward the end it was using over a quart of oil per week! Motor was stock, no chips, intakes, exhaust mods, I admit to doing my fair share of towing with it but nothing too extreme, and that was our initial reason for getting a diesel. I honestly don't even think the motor was ever even red lined. Needless to say I was pretty pist off with what happened. Now I have a fuel problem with my new motor, looking at either an injector pump, fuel pump, or fuel injector problem... Truck was a good truck up till about 110,000 miles, now its in the shop more than it's on the road, costing me money rather than making me money.

 

That is a strange one. Those things are known to do half a million miles with no problems, and it seems like the harder you work them the longer they last.

Sorry you've been having trouble with it.

 

Thanks for the comments so far everyone; keep them coming. This truck will not be my daily driver, so I want the least costly truck that will tow my trailer (1 ton dually 4x4 is the minimum). I don't need leather seats, navigation, DVD players, or even a satelite stereo. I want a truck that will last forever when used a few weekends a month. Essentially all of the miles on this truck will be accumulated while towing, with most of that towing being only 4000 to 6000 lbs, but some of the towing being up to the rated max of the truck with the trailer I showed on the first post.

I looked at Ford, Dodge, and GM, and for base model trucks I like the Dodge best. A black Dodge with the ST trim package looks good with a black grille and painted bumpers. The GM doesn't look too bad in that configuration. The Ford looks hidious in their base trim package though, so if I go Ford it would cost me about $4000 more right off the bat just to get the higher trim package that doesn't look so bad.

I priced out a 2010 Dodge 3500 Crew Cab 4x4 Dually, with the Cummins engine, 6-Speed Auto Trans ($1575), ST Popular Appearance Group, which is cloth seats and carpeted flooring ($520), Trailer Brake Controller ($230), and 4.10 axle ratio ($50). The MSRP after destination charges is $44,875. The dealer I talked to will sell it to me for invoice price, minus any incentives in effect at the time. Right now there are no incentives, and invoice price is $41,107. I'm going to wait up to three months to give Dodge a chance to add some incentives after the first of the year. If I can buy for less than $40K I think I'll do it. In the mean time I'll continue to check out the pros and cons of the competition.

 

Wait until new years eve, go back to the dealership. They are trying to pump out as many vehicles as they can before the year ends. If they have a truck on the lot that fits what you're looking for they might just be willing to wheel and deal on it to get it off the lot for 2010. Just a suggestion, the worst you could do is try... even if they have to dealer trade for it they might just do it.

 

Missouri oddly enough.

We still have a throwback personal property tax system many states abandoned decades ago. You're sent a form to declare your vehicles, motorcycles, airplanes, livestock, crops in storage, tractors, farm machinery, construction equipment. All sorts of stuff. Of course people lie, hide assets and move stuff across state lines to avoid paying tax. They really soak you if you have a newer vehicle. We're talking hundreds of dollars a year plus what it takes to license it. It doesn't take long before people start figuring out a way to get new chassis under a used body. The cost of the swap can pay for itself a in a year or two easily.

 

Too bad you weren't shopping early this year when the market kind of fell out of heavy duty trucks. Anyway, rubber floor isn't a bad idea, even in a loaded truck. You might also see what is out there in the used market, unless you really need the new crew over the slightly shorter quad cab.

 

So what happened to the ram? What broke?