Dumuzi
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2025
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- Age
- 30
A view from the top.
I bought a 2025 RAM 5500 Cummins 4WD 4-door chassis cab on July 2 2025 and it's been in the shop far longer than on the road. The single greatest issue with these trucks is that they are not physically possible to run or own out of warranty. I will come back to Dodge classifying schematics, however I demanded them as a condition of purchase. They declined. They also refused Mopar Protect and sold easycare warrenty instead. I talked at length about the new ZF Powerline transmission being great in principle, but that If I Do Not Have Complete Orthographic and Keyed Technical Drawings There is No Hope of Being Able To Operate It! The reason is that mopar is KNOWN for costly transmissions that perform great...but needn't be costly. The truck threw it's first major code on the fourth day. On the way home, actually, there was a clunk in the right front. But day 4 the check engine light came on and "service DEF see dealer". I was there the next day. They had me uber home. When I came back the next day, I took delivery and it LITERALLY failed on the way home from the dealership. I took it back. They said the number 5 EGT sensor failed. That's particularly concerning since the dealership ALSO said the truck didn't even HAVE a EGT (I didn't know I HAD a basement.) system, and that it was an "inference" pyrometer based on VGT, power, wastegate, boost, and regen status. (The computer guesses the soot load, so why not the EGT?) Anyway, they said it would be "two months" before the part came in....LET ME GUESS, you are smart enough to realize the DEF system and the EGT are not the same. Veeery Smaawt. Yes, correct. And you know what happened next?... The truck broke down! and poured all of it's DEF all over the ground....yep! Sunday night, haven't even gotten a bed on it... dumps all over town center virginia beach. bleeeuuughhh "DEF FAULT! REDUCED SPEED 5 MPH See Dealer!" Alright...well. Hold onto your hat if you can afford one, America because that's half of it Because THEN...the DEF gage did something I can't have imagined. All the fluid poured out...and the gage went UP! I called roadside assistance. As you do. but the power roof antenna failed, and they couldn't find a tow truck, so I idled in a church parking lot for six hours then brought it to a dealer, where they saidI DO have 14 codes. But there is no leak. ok.. let me explain. At this point. I have GOT to get a bed on the truck. I had them look at the brakes "no issue".
How about the alignment that pulls violently right at all times, and is worse at speed? No the alignment is straight.
Ok. I'll believe you Stelly! (JK, it was at this time i initiated a buyback. They would later decline that).
Finally they said they can't find anything wrong. So i call my welder to fabricate a hotshot flatbed body for the thing....and that's when the truck completely died in traffic a few days later WHILE i was doing lastmile package delivery so i could have something to buy diesel. *its 280 to fill this truck*. So...it died in an intersection.... i shift back and forth to park, i restart it a few times. Finally i call the police to close the busy city intersection the truck is sitting in the middle of (with temporary tags from less than 20 days ago, mind you), and then suddenly, on the fourth restart, the transmission allowed a shift. We don't know why, because we don't have reference material. I took it straight back to dodge. They said "when i hit a bump the valve body in the transmission failed." Of course it did. Because I have now had 6 German transmissions and you know what they're known for? No. Actually, they're outstanding. So that doesn't explain why it ran rough before it shut off, or why "adaptive cruise unavalible" DEF FAULT "collision mitigation fail" ABS fail " AND 4wd shift not possible" ALL illuminated WITH a flashing check light. So I haven't seen it in a long time. By this time I had probably refilled the DEF, but the gage was at 1/3. There is nothing in the world more infuriating than a bad engineer. However...this doesn't even APPROXIMATE the real issue. Ram doesn't WANT to release diagnostic procedures, because if every time the truck glitches, they get to bill for valve body and transmission, YOU DON'T THINK THEY'LL GLITCH YOUR TRUCK WITH OVER THE AIR UPDATES AND THEN BILL YOU FOR A VALVE BODY? YES! And the WORST part is that the ECU is locked, so there IS no way to code that out of it. You want to put Haltch or Holley in there? HAHA. Good luck with your dashboard replacement because when you set tow mode and the trailer weight from two different parts of the center console, your ignition button, cluter, wheel...a giant SQUID of wires and modules ALL have to go with it. So aside from a defective 20,000 dollar emissions control system. Aside from a 20,000 dollar transmission, aside from the transfer case, ok, Lets Look At Frame Connections. THIS IS WHERE IS GETS GOING.
The floor pan/cab/rockers? All too thin. Also, the doors?... they SAG... so badly you can't close them. They won't sell it with floormats. the end. oh, no....wait...there's more: The interconnecting hardware in between the rear frame rails are ALL too poor metal quality, and are not corrosion mitigated. They'll all rust. The wiring insulation is too hard, and the sheathing is chinese crap. The parts used to connect the "everything else" are pathetic wrong gage, insufficient, budget cutting budget less afterthought items that will make the truck IMPOSSIBLE for an australian farmer to own and repair over 150,000 miles. The brake hoses are poor quality, non UV rated rubber and the compression fittings appear to be made with high Tin metal? The brass content is too high where is shouldn't be and it's alloyed WITH the wrong stuff, because what the metal is cut with is WRONG AND IT IS TOO THIN. Every bolt, every exhaust hanger MOUNT, every weld. IT'S INFERRIOR AND THEY KNOW IT. the paint is the ultra hard "long life" type that doesn't adhere to the cab, and the frame paint is the wrong type AND too thin, and you have to ask if this truck is even designed as anything more than an example of what one might look like if they put it into production. It does not look like it can survive outside. ALL of the hardware out back is too thin EXCEPT where it can be complained about. They didn't try and it feels like a North Koren store front...looks great when you look at it outside, but is barren like a coronavirus shelf everywhere inside because China came in a commie cost cut every fastener to the point this thing IS HAZARDOUS TO DRIVE! They did this on purpose. I've worked on mid 2010s cummins trucks. the 0070708 were not like this The glow plug system indicated operation but no heating or start assist appears to happen, as the engine may take anywhere..and i MEAN anywhere on either side of 3 to 12 rotations to start. The boost controller has a mind of it's own, ramping and doing whatever it wants, and the vehicle WILL accelerate above 2000 rpm but it clearly does so while exhausting about 30 or 40 percent of the boost (it's being derated). That's not a bad thing. as long as when I am towing the thing slams my wastegate, i don't care if it won't spool on the street. But...here's the issue...any Stelly tech will tell you the boost actuator silinoids are KNOWN to need to be replaced. I asked on "what do you suggest upgrading". He said the front steering shock absorber (which you NEVER need on german cars because they aren't....whats the word....****) is a complete joke and that the turbo actuator will fall out at random intervals and costs about 4500 to replace...so just keep that "tucked away". So to all the real men and women out there who read this, here, let me cost Stelly a few million DO NOT BUY. The end full stop, ever, just....i'll let you know once we have a tune and a VGT actuator in the thing that I can run from my laptop and smartphone and I'll get back to you. In the mean time, I want you to remember...YOU CANNOT GET DIAGNOSTIC OR REPAIR PUBLICATIONS FOR THIS TRUCK, and that means whatever is inside of the transmission OR electrics are considered proprietary, and you may NEVER be able to service the V outside a dealership. THEY CAN SHUT OFF YOUR TRUCK! You can NEVER service this thing out of warrenty without taking to a dealership. As of right now "never" is correct, because they locked the ECU and will NOT publish manuals for the transmission. If you read their diagnostic procedures it's like "clear codes" did this work "no" REPLACE VALVE BODY. did this work? 'no" REPLACE TRANSMISSION. They are not going to suddenly give you the wiring schematics to interact and code that transmission into the truck. WE HAVE NO DOUBT THE TRANSMISSION IS SOUND. IT IS GERMAN. BUT THE FACT THE TRUCK COMPUTER CANNOT BE TOUCHED MAKES THIS TRUCK UNDRIVABLE AND 4500 DOLLARS WILL NOT TOUCH IT On my Vw i keep 14500 for emissions and engine issues at the same time. It's thusfar been restored and that's prevented...but...with this truck? Try 50 k? Basically if you are the second or later owner of it, you will NEVER be able to repair it or sell it or upgrade it and then sell it. Ever. no shop can touch it.
p.s. Stelly states "we don't have any fix for the DEF gage, and it's two systems you have issues with. Two different measurement systems. ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS THEY WANT YOUR TRUCK DERATED! If they don't THEN GIVE ME THE THINGS I ASKED FOR FOR MY 114,000 US Dollars. You've already agreed to PAY ME for the damages, but you will NEVER be able to buy the American spirit you damaged back.
I bought a 2025 RAM 5500 Cummins 4WD 4-door chassis cab on July 2 2025 and it's been in the shop far longer than on the road. The single greatest issue with these trucks is that they are not physically possible to run or own out of warranty. I will come back to Dodge classifying schematics, however I demanded them as a condition of purchase. They declined. They also refused Mopar Protect and sold easycare warrenty instead. I talked at length about the new ZF Powerline transmission being great in principle, but that If I Do Not Have Complete Orthographic and Keyed Technical Drawings There is No Hope of Being Able To Operate It! The reason is that mopar is KNOWN for costly transmissions that perform great...but needn't be costly. The truck threw it's first major code on the fourth day. On the way home, actually, there was a clunk in the right front. But day 4 the check engine light came on and "service DEF see dealer". I was there the next day. They had me uber home. When I came back the next day, I took delivery and it LITERALLY failed on the way home from the dealership. I took it back. They said the number 5 EGT sensor failed. That's particularly concerning since the dealership ALSO said the truck didn't even HAVE a EGT (I didn't know I HAD a basement.) system, and that it was an "inference" pyrometer based on VGT, power, wastegate, boost, and regen status. (The computer guesses the soot load, so why not the EGT?) Anyway, they said it would be "two months" before the part came in....LET ME GUESS, you are smart enough to realize the DEF system and the EGT are not the same. Veeery Smaawt. Yes, correct. And you know what happened next?... The truck broke down! and poured all of it's DEF all over the ground....yep! Sunday night, haven't even gotten a bed on it... dumps all over town center virginia beach. bleeeuuughhh "DEF FAULT! REDUCED SPEED 5 MPH See Dealer!" Alright...well. Hold onto your hat if you can afford one, America because that's half of it Because THEN...the DEF gage did something I can't have imagined. All the fluid poured out...and the gage went UP! I called roadside assistance. As you do. but the power roof antenna failed, and they couldn't find a tow truck, so I idled in a church parking lot for six hours then brought it to a dealer, where they saidI DO have 14 codes. But there is no leak. ok.. let me explain. At this point. I have GOT to get a bed on the truck. I had them look at the brakes "no issue".
How about the alignment that pulls violently right at all times, and is worse at speed? No the alignment is straight.
Ok. I'll believe you Stelly! (JK, it was at this time i initiated a buyback. They would later decline that).
Finally they said they can't find anything wrong. So i call my welder to fabricate a hotshot flatbed body for the thing....and that's when the truck completely died in traffic a few days later WHILE i was doing lastmile package delivery so i could have something to buy diesel. *its 280 to fill this truck*. So...it died in an intersection.... i shift back and forth to park, i restart it a few times. Finally i call the police to close the busy city intersection the truck is sitting in the middle of (with temporary tags from less than 20 days ago, mind you), and then suddenly, on the fourth restart, the transmission allowed a shift. We don't know why, because we don't have reference material. I took it straight back to dodge. They said "when i hit a bump the valve body in the transmission failed." Of course it did. Because I have now had 6 German transmissions and you know what they're known for? No. Actually, they're outstanding. So that doesn't explain why it ran rough before it shut off, or why "adaptive cruise unavalible" DEF FAULT "collision mitigation fail" ABS fail " AND 4wd shift not possible" ALL illuminated WITH a flashing check light. So I haven't seen it in a long time. By this time I had probably refilled the DEF, but the gage was at 1/3. There is nothing in the world more infuriating than a bad engineer. However...this doesn't even APPROXIMATE the real issue. Ram doesn't WANT to release diagnostic procedures, because if every time the truck glitches, they get to bill for valve body and transmission, YOU DON'T THINK THEY'LL GLITCH YOUR TRUCK WITH OVER THE AIR UPDATES AND THEN BILL YOU FOR A VALVE BODY? YES! And the WORST part is that the ECU is locked, so there IS no way to code that out of it. You want to put Haltch or Holley in there? HAHA. Good luck with your dashboard replacement because when you set tow mode and the trailer weight from two different parts of the center console, your ignition button, cluter, wheel...a giant SQUID of wires and modules ALL have to go with it. So aside from a defective 20,000 dollar emissions control system. Aside from a 20,000 dollar transmission, aside from the transfer case, ok, Lets Look At Frame Connections. THIS IS WHERE IS GETS GOING.
The floor pan/cab/rockers? All too thin. Also, the doors?... they SAG... so badly you can't close them. They won't sell it with floormats. the end. oh, no....wait...there's more: The interconnecting hardware in between the rear frame rails are ALL too poor metal quality, and are not corrosion mitigated. They'll all rust. The wiring insulation is too hard, and the sheathing is chinese crap. The parts used to connect the "everything else" are pathetic wrong gage, insufficient, budget cutting budget less afterthought items that will make the truck IMPOSSIBLE for an australian farmer to own and repair over 150,000 miles. The brake hoses are poor quality, non UV rated rubber and the compression fittings appear to be made with high Tin metal? The brass content is too high where is shouldn't be and it's alloyed WITH the wrong stuff, because what the metal is cut with is WRONG AND IT IS TOO THIN. Every bolt, every exhaust hanger MOUNT, every weld. IT'S INFERRIOR AND THEY KNOW IT. the paint is the ultra hard "long life" type that doesn't adhere to the cab, and the frame paint is the wrong type AND too thin, and you have to ask if this truck is even designed as anything more than an example of what one might look like if they put it into production. It does not look like it can survive outside. ALL of the hardware out back is too thin EXCEPT where it can be complained about. They didn't try and it feels like a North Koren store front...looks great when you look at it outside, but is barren like a coronavirus shelf everywhere inside because China came in a commie cost cut every fastener to the point this thing IS HAZARDOUS TO DRIVE! They did this on purpose. I've worked on mid 2010s cummins trucks. the 0070708 were not like this The glow plug system indicated operation but no heating or start assist appears to happen, as the engine may take anywhere..and i MEAN anywhere on either side of 3 to 12 rotations to start. The boost controller has a mind of it's own, ramping and doing whatever it wants, and the vehicle WILL accelerate above 2000 rpm but it clearly does so while exhausting about 30 or 40 percent of the boost (it's being derated). That's not a bad thing. as long as when I am towing the thing slams my wastegate, i don't care if it won't spool on the street. But...here's the issue...any Stelly tech will tell you the boost actuator silinoids are KNOWN to need to be replaced. I asked on "what do you suggest upgrading". He said the front steering shock absorber (which you NEVER need on german cars because they aren't....whats the word....****) is a complete joke and that the turbo actuator will fall out at random intervals and costs about 4500 to replace...so just keep that "tucked away". So to all the real men and women out there who read this, here, let me cost Stelly a few million DO NOT BUY. The end full stop, ever, just....i'll let you know once we have a tune and a VGT actuator in the thing that I can run from my laptop and smartphone and I'll get back to you. In the mean time, I want you to remember...YOU CANNOT GET DIAGNOSTIC OR REPAIR PUBLICATIONS FOR THIS TRUCK, and that means whatever is inside of the transmission OR electrics are considered proprietary, and you may NEVER be able to service the V outside a dealership. THEY CAN SHUT OFF YOUR TRUCK! You can NEVER service this thing out of warrenty without taking to a dealership. As of right now "never" is correct, because they locked the ECU and will NOT publish manuals for the transmission. If you read their diagnostic procedures it's like "clear codes" did this work "no" REPLACE VALVE BODY. did this work? 'no" REPLACE TRANSMISSION. They are not going to suddenly give you the wiring schematics to interact and code that transmission into the truck. WE HAVE NO DOUBT THE TRANSMISSION IS SOUND. IT IS GERMAN. BUT THE FACT THE TRUCK COMPUTER CANNOT BE TOUCHED MAKES THIS TRUCK UNDRIVABLE AND 4500 DOLLARS WILL NOT TOUCH IT On my Vw i keep 14500 for emissions and engine issues at the same time. It's thusfar been restored and that's prevented...but...with this truck? Try 50 k? Basically if you are the second or later owner of it, you will NEVER be able to repair it or sell it or upgrade it and then sell it. Ever. no shop can touch it.
p.s. Stelly states "we don't have any fix for the DEF gage, and it's two systems you have issues with. Two different measurement systems. ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS THEY WANT YOUR TRUCK DERATED! If they don't THEN GIVE ME THE THINGS I ASKED FOR FOR MY 114,000 US Dollars. You've already agreed to PAY ME for the damages, but you will NEVER be able to buy the American spirit you damaged back.
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