Official EcoDiesel Oil and Filter Recommendations

[AZbbydsl]

Just found this thread and thought I would put my Black Stone report here

This is Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5w40 in a 2023 Ram. Truck was GDE tuned almost exactly at the 1/2 point on this oil.

Lot of towing, around 1/3 of the miles are pulling a 6,500 lbs travel trailer through AZ and CO.

Was thinking of switching to the Quaker State 5w40 but after reading think stick with the Pennzoil.

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[biodiesel]

Lot of towing, around 1/3 of the miles are pulling a 6,500 lbs travel trailer through AZ and CO.

Was thinking of switching to the Quaker State 5w40 but after reading think stick with the Pennzoil.

Pennzoil Platinum can handle high heat, which is probably a good idea since you do a lot of towing. Amsoil MS would be a good oil, too. I'd love to see your travel trailer. We would like to get a small travel trailer for our Jeep Gladiator.

 

[AZbbydsl]

Yeah I have seen the oil temp get over 250 towing up hills, don’t think I have seen it break above 260 though.

Reading this thread it’s interesting that GDE runs T6 in his Eco Diesel. I may reach out to them and ask about it.

Here’s the truck and camper, our last trip to Durango.

 

[Teqsand]

Not sure if the ecodiesel has heat tabs, but the 3.6 does..... they tell you if you got the motor too hot

 

[Ericshere03]

Yeah I have seen the oil temp get over 250 towing up hills, don’t think I have seen it break above 260 though.

Reading this thread it’s interesting that GDE runs T6 in his Eco Diesel. I may reach out to them and ask about it.

Here’s the truck and camper, our last trip to Durango.

Hey there fellow zonie … did you notice a difference between stock and GDE water/oil temps?

I am in the process of investigating why my EcoDiesel JT overheats when towing my trailer. It’s a small 23ft airstream that weighs about 4000lbs.
The vehicle town FANTASTIC for a small truck and motor has great power and 17-18mpg TOWING. BUUUT, add in the hills and I’m looking at 244 degree water and 264 degree oil. I have to kill the AC and slow down to about 35mph until the cooling system catches up. From the point of the first overheating, the truck temperature is more unstable, quick to start ramping up temps with each subsequent hill.

I typically tow 55-65mph, I’ve seen the high coolant/oil temps with ambient temps in the 90s.

for hills I build a little speed on the down slope and downshift going up and allow the speed to fall down to about 50-55, and still fight with temps that cause a derate and have me crawling at 30-35mph.

not sustainable and the poor motor won’t last seeing temps like that all the time .

 

[smlobx]

Not sure if the ecodiesel has heat tabs, but the 3.6 does..... they tell you if you got the motor too hot

Where are those located on the 3.6?

 

[Teqsand]

Where are those located on the 3.6?

On the head I believe

Found out you can buy heat tabs and add them yourself

 

[AZbbydsl]

Trans temps have been the only temperature difference I have noticed between stock and GDE. Trans seems to stay cooler. Noticed no change in oil & coolant.

While I have seen my oil get pretty hot pushing the truck hard up grades with the trailer the coolant really didn’t budge much. I can’t remember seeing it break much above 230.

Going forward I don’t think I’ll push the truck as hard up the grades. This was more of me getting a new tune, with a new truck/trailer and testing its capabilities.

With the JT I wouldn’t think the GDE tune will help much with temps. (I really like tune btw and think it was worth every penny)

Going to be pulling it up to Flagstaff this weekend from the Valley. That’s around a 6k ft elevation gain and weather is going to be hot.

 

[Ericshere03]

Trans temps have been the only temperature difference I have noticed between stock and GDE. Trans seems to stay cooler. Noticed no change in oil & coolant.

While I have seen my oil get pretty hot pushing the truck hard up grades with the trailer the coolant really didn’t budge much. I can’t remember seeing it break much above 230.

Going forward I don’t think I’ll push the truck as hard up the grades. This was more of me getting a new tune, with a new truck/trailer and testing its capabilities.

With the JT I wouldn’t think the GDE tune will help much with temps. (I really like tune btw and think it was worth every penny)

Going to be pulling it up to Flagstaff this weekend from the Valley. That’s around a 6k ft elevation gain and weather is going to be hot.

Yea, I experienced my first derate headed up to happy jack… it was about 100 in the valley and 70’s up top.

I was wondering if the EGR strategy would help reduce heat loads by NOT having to cool the exhaust gases before they pass through the EGRs …

 

[biodiesel]

Here’s the truck and camper, our last trip to Durango.

Oh, you got the Ram. I thought you were talking about the Gladiator. The Ram has no problems towing heavy loads and oil temps. The smaller grille opening in the Jeep and tight engine bay is what causes the high oil temps in the Gladiator.

I also do a lot of towing with our 2020 Ram EcoDiesel.

 

[RudeJeepin]

I am in the process of investigating why my EcoDiesel JT overheats when towing my trailer. It’s a small 23ft airstream that weighs about 4000lbs.
The vehicle town FANTASTIC for a small truck and motor has great power and 17-18mpg TOWING.

Out of curiosity, which airstream do you have? We've looked at a few, but I always figured they were to heavy. Yours doesn't sound too bad.

 

[rharr]

Oh, you got the Ram. I thought you were talking about the Gladiator. The Ram has no problems towing heavy loads and oil temps. The smaller grille opening in the Jeep and tight engine bay is what causes the high oil temps in the Gladiator.

I also do a lot of towing with our 2020 Ram EcoDiesel.

I thought the bigger grille of the Ram made it run cooler, but if you think about it, the engine oil heat exchanger can't keep up, not the radiator. If the overall cooling system was undersized then the water temp and the oil temps would rise at the same time.

In my experience I can have high oil temps and good water temps at the same time.

That tells me the heat exchanger can't pull enough heat out of the oil to dump the heat into the coolant. If heat exchanger was bigger it would pull more heat from the oil and the oil temps and coolant temps would be more in line with each other.

SInce you have the Ram ED and the JT ED can you take a look at the heat exchanger on the engine and see if they are the same design?

Why is the Ram able to pull more heat out of the oil then the JT? Either the coolant going into the exchanger on the ram is cooler to start with from a bigger cooling system or the exchanger is pulling more heat out.

***Just read a thing over on the Ram forum where one guy aledges the engine oil heat exchanger is not for cooling but for heating the oil on cold days to improve efficiency, which is a interesting theory, buy why could we use it to cool as well.

The Link is to a PDF so me warned.
https://www.ram1500diesel.com/attachments/ram-ecodiesel-radiator-upgrade-draft2-pdf.88825/

https://www.ram1500diesel.com/threads/write-up-re-installation-of-large-aftermarket-radiator.70105/

 

[biodiesel]

I thought the bigger grille of the Ram made it run cooler, but if you think about it, the engine oil heat exchanger can't keep up, not the radiator.

The EcoDiesel in the Ram runs much cooler due to the large grille opening and the intercooler is separated from the radiator. The Jeep is a stack design, so that limits cooling capability. Jeep engineers touched on this topic back when the EcoDiesel was first released in the Wrangler/Gladiator. Consumers were confused why the EcoDiesel had a lower tow rating than the Pentastar. The answer from Jeep was a lack of air flow.

The 2014 - 2019 Ram EcoDiesel has a stacked design as well, so I've had to learn to take it slower. My goal is to find a small travel trailer for the Gladiator that is under 5,000 lbs loaded. We love finding campsites along mountain streams. A smaller camper will get us into more spots. Our current trailer is 23' 10" from bumper to hitch. For a secondary trailer, I'd like to keep it around 16' feet for total length.

 

[rharr]

The EcoDiesel in the Ram runs much cooler due to the large grille opening and the intercooler is separated from the radiator. The Jeep is a stack design, so that limits cooling capability. Jeep engineers touched on this topic back when the EcoDiesel was first released in the Wrangler/Gladiator. Consumers were confused why the EcoDiesel had a lower tow rating than the Pentastar. The answer from Jeep was a lack of air flow.

The 2014 - 2019 Ram EcoDiesel has a stacked design as well, so I've had to learn to take it slower. My goal is to find a small travel trailer for the Gladiator that is under 5,000 lbs loaded. We love finding campsites along mountain streams. A smaller camper will get us into more spots. Our current trailer is 23' 10" from bumper to hitch. For a secondary trailer, I'd like to keep it around 16' feet for total length.

You are talking about engine cooling, aka water, how does the Ram design reduce both oil temps and water temps? The bigger grill gives more opportunity to remove coolant heat but doesn't seem to do much for Oil unless they have a oil cooler built into the radiator like they do for transmissions some times. If you read the Ram forums there seems to also be a concern about oil temp spikes.

Very few ED owners here complain about over heated coolant, the main issue here (as well as ram forum) is oil temp spike that cause derate.)

 

[biodiesel]

You are talking about engine cooling, aka water, how does the Ram design reduce both oil temps and water temps? The bigger grill gives more opportunity to remove coolant heat but doesn't seem to do much for Oil unless they have a oil cooler built into the radiator like they do for transmissions some times. If you read the Ram forums there seems to also be a concern about oil temp spikes.

Actually, more air flow does reduce oil temps. The 2014 - 2019 EcoDiesel runs hot due to the intercooler/radiator stack design. Ram remedied this issue in the 2020 - 2023 EcoDiesel by lowering the intercooler to ensure the radiator and intercooler are getting proper cooling. Plus, the 2020 - 2023 trucks have a larger grille opening for more air flow.

In addition to the stacked design, Ram had different grilles from the factory. The Big Horn was the most restrictive grille. It reduced air flow by something like 30% compared to the Tradesman grille. For that reason, I switched from the Big Horn grille to the Tradesman grille. That helped reduce my oil temps.

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