Horrific Gas Mileage Hemi eTorque

[Cdcrawford25]

I refueled (put in 89 octane) Monday AM and have been hand calculating mileage since. Another 150 miles and the trip meter says I'm getting 9.8 mpg. My hand math says 10.3.

Have appointment with dealer Monday; when I called the dealer I purchased from, the service department said they'd updated the RAM with all TSBs before I drove off the lot, so we'll see.

The dealers are really not proactively helpful when it comes to these TSB’s even though we have spent a lot of money with them. I had to go to the service manager yesterday because when i described my issues (knowing I could not tell them the TSB’s directly) the service advisor immediately gave excuses. He said all Hemi’s are rough idling when I tried to get the PCM TSB put in. Then when I said about a dragging feeling when coasting for the TCM TSB he discounted that. When I mentioned it was getting poor mileage he stated “it isn’t broken in yet and nothing he can do about mileage. That is unfortunately the service you get from these dealers. I think they must be trained to do it because both of my local dealers have the same attitude towards these TSB’s. Just be persistent or go to manager and make them show you they are done in their computer system if you don’t feel you are getting the truth. They don’t seem to feel they get reimbursed appropriately for doing these flashes apparently. The advisor in the end showed me his work order system. They have a diagram of blue boxes for every module in the truck. When they plug the truck in it tells them what module has a flash available and the box for that module turns a different color.

 

[Gman]

Where did you see that the manufacturer recommends 87? My manual Cleary says 89 octane is preferred.

Keep reading. I was corrected and explained my mis-statement. "Plus" here is 87, 89 is Premium. The only place I've seen octane levels higher than that is Costco (91).

 

[ExcursionDiesel]

I feel a drag on the truck. When I'm going down a hill I will slowly lose speed. Truck does not free roll. I always feel like something is dragging and I have a small vibration and a audible howl every once in a while. I am calling the dealer today. I don't want it to get worse if I keep driving it.

The eTorque does feel different. It's a mild hybrid system. The "drag" during deceleration is normal. That's the regenerative braking. It's recovering energy to the eTorque battery while decelerating... and saving your brakes to a degree. If it did this while running at steady speed the eTorque battery would overcharge and fry. That energy has to go somewhere. When the truck isn't decelerating, the eTorque motor is acting like an alternator which indirectly charges the 12v battery. That's how it is *supposed* to work. Hopefully the TSB's will get it working optimally.

My eTorque Hemi with 3.92 gets 19-20 mpg at 55mph on gentle hills and 14-18 in the city depending on how I drive. Even better if I drive for max economy or flat ground (which I don't do often) When it was new, it was 2-3 mpg lower.

 

[Micko24]

That’s crazy, because I too had those deceleration drags, but I thought my truck still needs to brake in... 3k Miles’s 15mpg on the freeway... anyways, I took it to my dealer for an oil change and I told them about the tsb’s and my service manager told me that’s my truck will have all those tsb’s taken cared off, it took all day but everything Is done for my truck...
For your service manager discount your concerns is BS. Go to a different dealership I’d say.

 

[JoeRam]

So I had the 3 TSB’s done this afternoon related to TCM, PCM and hybrid controller. The TSB’s are 21-050-18, 18-077-18, 08-39-18 all released 10/23/18. They immediately came up on dealers computer as Rapid response fixes that they should address. The truck now shifts a bit differently up and down and I do definitely notice it seems to roll more freely on grades and when I take my foot off the gas. I will update fuel economy after a tank or two. I have averaged 15.3 (hand calculated) through the first 2000 miles. Fingers crossed for some improvement.

@Cdcrawford25 thank you for listing these three, I have been re-reading this thread in search of these

 

[slimchance]

4300 miles on wife's 2019, see sig below ... 230 miles on tank of 88 octane (Sheetz E15 gas) local driving combined with hwy here in rolling hills of PA PLUS 50 miles pulling a 1500# trailer with a 4000# car on it ... filled up just to see how it did ... truck said 16.4 and hand calculated said 16.3 mpg ... very happy with this

 

[Runagun]

Does E15 mean 15 percent ethanol? I don't think this new truck is E15 compatible. Double check you owners manual.

4300 miles on wife's 2019, see sig below ... 230 miles on tank of 88 octane (Sheetz E15 gas) local driving combined with hwy here in rolling hills of PA PLUS 50 miles pulling a 1500# trailer with a 4000# car on it ... filled up just to see how it did ... truck said 16.4 and hand calculated said 16.3 mpg ... very happy with this

 

[Gman]

Does E15 mean 15 percent ethanol? I don't think this new truck is E15 compatible. Double check you owners manual.

He's Good. E15 is OK according to the manual.

 

[OldSkull]

I have a 2019 Rebel E Torque. I wouldn’t have bought it if I’d known it was this bad. My 2015 Rebel got Way better MPGs than this one.
I’m getting 9- 13.5 mpg. Mixed driving. 1400 miles on it. I’m going to trade it in if it don’t get better by summer. Can’t stand the Start Stop either. I’m really disappointed with the truck.

 

[Bsjoiner]

I have ~1100 miles on my '19 Limited 4x4 w/ 3.92, no bed cover, 5.7L non-e-torque. I drive pretty conservatively, mostly CITY miles, and fill w/ 91 oct. OEM 22" rims w/ OEM all season tires (not off road). Car computer says ~12.2 to 12.4 avg MPG. Yikes!

I'm getting the exact same. My delaer says everything is okay and there are no updates.

 

[OldSkull]

I'm getting the exact same. My delaer says everything is okay and there are no updates.[/QUOTE

 

[OldSkull]

Ram should have been honest with the Real MPG. It’s a deal breaker for me for a DD truck. There will be a class action lawsuit.

 

[Wxgs333]

Drove 450 miles today. Before the trip my truck's mileage was at close to 500 miles and had 15.6 mpg with mainly urban driving (30-50 mph with some red lights), and today's trip had 95% hwy and it is now at 14.8 mpg...

Well, the first half 250 miles were hilly and speed limit was 70, and last 200 miles were mostly flat but speed limit was 80. At these speed the gas mileage isn't optimized for sure, but on the good side it ran smooth, quiet, and a tap of gas paddle easily made 95+ when passing.

 

[ExcursionDiesel]

Drove 450 miles today. Before the trip my truck's mileage was at close to 500 miles and had 15.6 mpg with mainly urban driving (30-50 mph with some red lights), and today's trip had 95% hwy and it is now at 14.8 mpg...

Well, the first half 250 miles were hilly and speed limit was 70, and last 200 miles were mostly flat but speed limit was 80. At these speed the gas mileage isn't optimized for sure, but on the good side it ran smooth, quiet, and a tap of gas paddle easily made 95+ when passing.

Yep. You should see some improvement up through 4000 miles. My ECO mode stays on more frequently now and 70mph is around 16-17.5 mpg depending on terrain. 80 is 15-16. I'm at 5300 miles now.

 

[slimchance]

yes ... E15 is 15% and it is ok .... i found this gives me the same or better mileage as the 87 gas ... have been running this in our 2016 and 2018 Tundras for a combined 50,000 miles with no problems ... so now we have moved on to the Rams

 

[upstateram]

I've got 900 miles on mine and I'm also extremely disappointed in the fuel economy. Going off the computer (haven't started hand-calculating yet), I'm seeing about 13.2mpg in the city and 16mpg on the highway. That's 33% and and 38% lower, respectively, than what's on the window sticker. On Fuelly, the 2018 Ram averages 17.1mpg across all models whereas the 2019 is averaging about 15.9. Something is wrong.

I called my dealership and they gave me no static about the three Rapid Response TSBs, and I'm scheduled to have them applied on Friday.

Can someone who's had these TSBs applied please report back on whether fuel economy has improved?

Is anyone else thinking about cutting their losses?

 

[Zeronet]

I've got 900 miles on mine and I'm also extremely disappointed in the fuel economy. Going off the computer (haven't started hand-calculating yet), I'm seeing about 13.2mpg in the city and 16mpg on the highway. That's 33% and and 38% lower, respectively, than what's on the window sticker. On Fuelly, the 2018 Ram averages 17.1mpg across all models whereas the 2019 is averaging about 15.9. Something is wrong.

I called my dealership and they gave me no static about the three Rapid Response TSBs, and I'm scheduled to have them applied on Friday.

Can someone who's had these TSBs applied please report back on whether fuel economy has improved?

Is anyone else thinking about cutting their losses?

It’s not really fair to compare fuelly numbers across all models since the 2019 v6 was a late introduction and the diesel is not offered. If you compare 2018 gas v8 to 2019 gas v8, they are pretty close.

Both the 2018 and 2019 gas v8 mpgs are .5mpg lower than the 2017 numbers tho. Break-in miles may explain the difference?

ETorque seems to get about .6 mpg better.

 

[JHowellAK]

Ram should have been honest with the Real MPG. It’s a deal breaker for me for a DD truck. There will be a class action lawsuit.

go get it updated. I just had mine taken care of (was getting 13.5 MPG on 55mph highways) After the update i enjoyed 23 mpg.

Here is what they did:
RRT 18-132: 2019 DT Hybrid Control Processor
RRT 18-131: 2019 DT TCM Updates
RRT 18-130: 2019 DT PCM Updates

 

[Wxgs333]

Yep. You should see some improvement up through 4000 miles. My ECO mode stays on more frequently now and 70mph is around 16-17.5 mpg depending on terrain. 80 is 15-16. I'm at 5300 miles now.

Does the eco light ever come on at 70mph and above?

 

[Wxgs333]

go get it updated. I just had mine taken care of (was getting 13.5 MPG on 55mph highways) After the update i enjoyed 23 mpg.

Here is what they did:
RRT 18-132: 2019 DT Hybrid Control Processor
RRT 18-131: 2019 DT TCM Updates
RRT 18-130: 2019 DT PCM Updates

When did these TSBs roll out? 23 is unbelievably good!