Matstock4
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Matt
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2019
- Threads
- 19
- Messages
- 318
- Reaction score
- 432
- Location
- North Bay Area of CA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, 2018 Jeep Wrangler JLU, 2017 Toyota Sienna, 1989 Turbo Trans Am
- Thread starter
- #16
That was very helpful, thanks!I'm currently driving a 2015 4wd Quad Cab Ram 1500 3.0 Ecodiesel (same engine. more or less, that will be in the JT) and I have generally been very happy with it. It was nice 100% stock, and I have gotten, truly, hand-calculated, 28 MPG with it under ideal conditions of clear cruising around 50-55 on open rural 2 lane highways. I average in the low 20s during VT winters and mid 20s in VT summers. It tows with great ease and gusto, including things as heavy as a car carrier with another 4500lb vehicle on it, or a big dropdeck trailer with a 4000+ milling machine on it. A little-publicized company called Green Diesel Engineering (GDE) (I don't know if it is acceptable to post their web address here- I am sure that you can find them via Google) does an ECU swap that wakes it up substantially without stressing anything, improves MPG a modest but nice amount, reduces turbo lag, leaves the EGR shut off so that you don't end up with an intake system caked with baked-in soot+blowby, and causes you to go through the DEF a lot less quickly. GDE has done ECU offerings for the diesel Jeep Liberty, the diesel Grand Cherokee, and the Ram 3.0 Ecodiesel, so it seems likely that they may come out with one for the JL/JT. The turbo lag (even after the GDE, and it is less after the GDE) is a bit of a drawback if you really need to scoot around a corner rapidly in close quarters in a crowded urban intersection- you have a moment of modest power and then in justg about a single second, vavoom, almost more power than you were aiming for. In anything other than urban driving the lag is a non-issue at least to me. Traveling range is vast, between the MPG and the Ram's 25 gallon tank, I've literally, under ideal conditions, gone 700 miles between fill-ups, and typically get around 600 miles even under non-ideal for MPG driving conditions. If you change own oil, the service cost isn't that bad, since it has 10,000 mile oil change intervals- BUT it does take a scarce and somewhat expensive oil filter cartridge, and is spec'd to only be used with some slightly less-than-widespread spec low-ash diesel lube oil. I think Rotella synthetic now meets that spec.
Gale Banks has done some cool stuff with the 3.0 diesel V6, including some insanely high output build of it for an un-named specialized light military vehicle. If you own a 3.0 in a state without inspections, or otherwise "don't drive on the road' you can probably wake it up to a nearly ridiculous degree, and probably without a lot of internal 'build' to do it.
Just to be clear, I have no affiliation with GDE mentioned above, except as a happy customer.
The Ram 1500 3.0 diesel is my third diesel vehicle, following a 2006 5.9 Cummins Ram 2500 (which I wish I had kept) an a 1991 non turbo 7.3 F350 4x4 DRW. The Ram 3.0 is probably the most sane all-around vehicle of any of those, and I have been very happy with it. BUT modern diesels have become so complex that (even though I have done a lot of work on a lot of vehicles, my own and others) I do not want to own a 'modern' diesel like the Ram 3.0 when it is old or high mileage.
I am looking forward to getting a JT fairly soon as long as I can find a dealer who will help me order the specific features I want and will not try to stick it to me on price for a vehicle that'll likely be in high demand, but, because (1) I definitely want the manual 6 speed, and (2) I definitely anticipated keeping the JT for a very long time and (see above) I do not want to own an old or high mile modern diesel, I will definitely be getting the 3.6 Pentastar gasoline engine in my JT.
Hope the above user-observations as someone who has had an FCA truck with this same 3.0 diesel are informative to those of you who may be considering it for the JT
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