New to me ecodiesel questions...coolant color and poor MPG?

[HarryTheHawk]

Hey forum folks. First post here. I just picked up a lightly used 2022 Ram 1500 Ecodiesel limited last week with 20,000 miles on it. Looked the truck through and through and didn't notice anything at the time of the transaction and it had a very clean CarFax with full service history through Ram dealerships. After a 295 mile drive home with my Honda Accord in tow and then a few short trips around the town since then, I'm struggling to get the MPG above 18.5. I was at 20 for the trip home with the Accord in tow and now it's dropped to 18.5 from in town driving. This is still on my first tank (33 gallon option). I started running hotshots EDT as soon as I picked her up. Hopefully I'm just being a little paranoid about purchasing a used vehicle, but mentioning this in case it goes with the following observations.

I was under the hood just taking in everything and the coolant level and color caught my eye. The level is low and the color is more of a maroon than the bright pink I've seen in many pictures. I also noticed some transparent, dark brown staining on the inside of the reservoir. Reached my finger in and it's more of a coating that's rust like in appearance when on my finger. Doesn't feel slick like oil/slime. Smells like normal coolant. I bought this truck from a Chevy dealer, so did they just add the wrong coolant, or am I looking at some bigger issue? Unfortunately I didn't note the coolant level or color right when I picked the truck up, and all the online listings have already been taken down, so I can't bring up a picture of what it was when I picked it up. I can't find any coolant leaks anywhere, and there is no coolant smell from around the truck. Here's what the reservoir tank looks like right now. I'll top off the coolant with the mopar stuff to see if I'm using up coolant or not.



I've never been around a modern diesel that uses DEF, so I have no idea what the normal smell is like, but there is a very strong odor coming from the exhaust if you stand near the back. It doesn't smell like ammonia. Almost sweet, gives you a quick headache / makes you nausious, but not the same burning coolant smell I had on my old 78 Chevy before I fixed it. No smoke on startup either. Here's what the exhaust tips looks like right now.



Fortunately the truck is still covered by the full factory warranty for another 15 months, so I can take it to the dealership. Does this smell like a bigger problem (no pun intended) or am I just being a paranoid new owner?

And lastly, but probably no relevance, when I looked up the window sticker online, it said it had the cold weather package with engine block heater. However, there's no plug under the hood and when I looked for the heating element, it just has the brass plug blank in the engine block. Is that normal for a truck to be delivered without something that is shown on the window sticker?

Other than the observations, I'm loving the truck so far!!! Thank you for all your forum wisdom!

 

[J-Cooz]

The coolant colour is normal, mine looks the same. The sweet smell from the exhaust is normal too. It's mostly there on cold starts and it goes away once warm.



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[go-ram]

My 2020 ED has absolutely zero odor, at any time.
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My coolant tank looks like yours.
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My exhaust pipe is clean as a whistle, but only 10k miles on mine.
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My ED block heater is a short pigtail tucked under the hood on the passenger side, between the passenger-side fender liner and the air cleaner housing. Mine has a black plastic cap over the three-prong plug. It's only about a foot long that's free of the wiring harness.
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Mine averages 25-27 MPG, but I only use it when I need to haul something, or on highway trips, and I very rarely tow. I never drive it to do errands in town, the DEF system is too easy to clog up and too expensive to fix, so I drive a beater compact car around town. If you drive your truck a lot in town, you might want to consider trading it for a gas rig, modern diesels should never be driven in town unless it's a small percentage of their overall use, with plenty of regular use hot running either towing or bed loaded or at 70 MPH on the highway.
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[BayouBengal]

I was under the hood of my ‘22 this morning, coolant is the same color as other mentioned. And my exhausts look about like yours with 26K; my ‘17 eco looked the same too at 80K. I’m assuming it’s something to do with DEF. Mine has a smell too when first started. It’s the urea in the DEF.

As far as the mpg’s, I don’t think there’s anything mechanical wrong. 20 mpg while towing the Accord is about what I would expect with the weight and aerodynamics of the car. In town mileage does seem a little low but you must have spent a lot of time at lights/idling. I’ll see the low 20s if too much in town driving, but never in the teens. Fill it up, reset the mpg and hit the interstate to see what it does! And report back!

 

[HarryTheHawk]

Thank you so much for your replies! I'm feeling a lot better about things now. I took it out on the highway and had my passenger watch the real time MPG display. They said it stayed above 30 MPG for nearly the whole time we were on the highway. I'll watch it more closely after the next fill-up, as suggested by BayouBengal.

In response to go-ram, yes, I did recently read about new diesels not liking repetitive, short, trips. That's why I decided to keep the Honda Accord as my around town daily driver. I'll use the truck for the camping trips with the trailer or any road trips. The kids and I couldn't help but drive the truck every excuse we had last week and this weekend as the new "toy". My 3-year old was not excited as I slipped him into the Honda this morning, and kept pointing to the truck and saying, "NO, TRUCK!". I taught him well!

 

[J-Cooz]

Enjoy your truck.
118,000km on mine and I can't imagine ever going back to a gas truck. Keep up on the oil changes and do them yourself, don't pay ridiculous dealer prices to do a very simple oil change.

Welcome to the ED club!

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

 

[go-ram]

Thank you so much for your replies! I'm feeling a lot better about things now. I took it out on the highway and had my passenger watch the real time MPG display. They said it stayed above 30 MPG for nearly the whole time we were on the highway. I'll watch it more closely after the next fill-up, as suggested by BayouBengal.

In response to go-ram, yes, I did recently read about new diesels not liking repetitive, short, trips. That's why I decided to keep the Honda Accord as my around town daily driver. I'll use the truck for the camping trips with the trailer or any road trips. The kids and I couldn't help but drive the truck every excuse we had last week and this weekend as the new "toy". My 3-year old was not excited as I slipped him into the Honda this morning, and kept pointing to the truck and saying, "NO, TRUCK!". I taught him well!

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Sorry for the late follow-up, but attached are a couple of photos related to your first post: (1) tailpipe on my 2020 ED with 10 k miles, (2) location of the engine block heater pigtail.
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For some reason, the tailpipe photo appears to have rotated 90 degrees, the rust spot is at the bottom of course.
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[HarryTheHawk]

Thanks for the follow-up images! I just filled the tank again but haven't really had a chance to get a good highway trip in yet. I did a 30 minute commute this weekend and the average MPG was pretty quickly climbing through 21. Best I can tell, doesn't seem like RAM is using a running average. It seems like the average MPG weights itself to the low end, or is possibly even using some sort of look up table, then slowly adjusting itself to what is actually happening. I did notice the weird smell around the back went away randomly. Smelled it for the first time again this morning when I started the truck with it being 34F outside, but it was gone by the time I got to work and no where to be found when I drove it for lunch. I'll keep an eye on the MPG, but think that one is just going to take some time to settle down.

As far as the engine block heater goes, it's not there. Complete mystery to me, but not a deal breaker. I'll just purchase the parts I need and install it myself. The write-ups in this forum are good and the steps pretty easy.

 

[J-Cooz]

Thanks for the follow-up images! I just filled the tank again but haven't really had a chance to get a good highway trip in yet. I did a 30 minute commute this weekend and the average MPG was pretty quickly climbing through 21. Best I can tell, doesn't seem like RAM is using a running average. It seems like the average MPG weights itself to the low end, or is possibly even using some sort of look up table, then slowly adjusting itself to what is actually happening. I did notice the weird smell around the back went away randomly. Smelled it for the first time again this morning when I started the truck with it being 34F outside, but it was gone by the time I got to work and no where to be found when I drove it for lunch. I'll keep an eye on the MPG, but think that one is just going to take some time to settle down.

As far as the engine block heater goes, it's not there. Complete mystery to me, but not a deal breaker. I'll just purchase the parts I need and install it myself. The write-ups in this forum are good and the steps pretty easy.

The truck will always smell sweet when it's cold. As far as the block heater I've only used mine a few times..I've cold started it when it's -27°C and it started no problem.

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[Chris3058]

Coolant colour and sweet smell on start up here too. Just like Cooz. 60k.

 

[go-ram]

"...I did a 30 minute commute this weekend and the average MPG was pretty quickly climbing through 21. Best I can tell, doesn't seem like RAM is using a running average. It seems like the average MPG weights itself to the low end, or is possibly even using some sort of look up table, then slowly adjusting itself to what is actually happening. .."

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My fuel-economy estimator is never correct, it almost always estimates 1-2 MPG higher than the hand-calculation numbers reveal. I have no idea how the algorithms work, but for my driving, it's always overly optimistic.
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Regarding the missing engine-block heater, one possibility that occurred to me is that the dealer took it off of the truck you bought to satisfy another customer who ordered one but the factory failed to install it, or a customer who was buying a truck off the lot that didn't have the block-heater but wanted one badly enough that the dealer swiped it off of the truck you eventually bought to appease that other customer. Pure speculation on my part, but dealerships do things like that all the time in order to make a sale.
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[StuartV]

18.5MPG around town is not unusual for me. Where I live, "around town" means lots and lots of stopping, accelerating to 35 to 40, then stopping again 1 - 3 blocks later. I also tend to drive with a heavy foot. It just is what it is, I think. My around town seems to be about "worst case" of how bad around town driving can be. Other places I have lived were a lot less stop-and-go-ish for "around town" driving than where I am right now.

 

[2021EcoDiesel]

Yeah, that sweet smell is totally normal on cold start ups. It will be more noticeable when the outside air temps are low and the engine has to high idle for a few minutes. I'm not certain of the exact reasons but I believe it is the emissions systems compensating for a "running rich" condition on cold starts. I work around and on many modern diesels and 9/10 of the Tier IV/DEF burning engines have this smell on startup!

As for the mileage I've gotten as low as 16 when slogging up the snowy north east hills in 4x4 and as low as 18 in stop and go traffic. These engines really are quite efficient, but the trucks are still heavy no matter how you slice it. Stop and go/city driving will drop your mileage quick. I have found that my truck is usually a little optimistic on displayed fuel mileage, usually by about .5 of an mpg. so 22.5 is actually about 22 actual mileage.

 

[TampaLaramie]

Reaffirming that the coolant res color is normal. Your city mpg is low. That may be because the dealer was idling it for an extended time and the engine settings defaulted. Keep driving it and it should raise up.

I accelerate relatively lightly, I try not to allow the RPMs to rise above 2500 normally. In short errands to places that are within 3-5 miles I’ll only get 18-19mpg. My normal city is 24. My highest highway is 31.6.

Enjoy the ED! It’s a great motor and should last when taken care of.

 

[66Fuelie]

I know this is older. Where do you live and are you on winter blend fuel? I live in Minnesota and during winter my mileage on highway drops about 2 mpg. I have only gotten 30 mpg two or three times. In summer I average 27 -29 depending on how fast I drive.
My around town is normally 17-19. Never higher.
Tom

 

[HarryTheHawk]

Hi 66Fuelie. I live in Oregon. I don't know how I hadn't noticed it, but after I started this thread I realized the previous owner had put on oversized 275/65 R20 tires. After more reading through these forums, I was seeing others mentioning the eco seems to bog down an MPG take a larger hit from up sizing the tires compared to other gas or diesels. So even though I had perfectly good tread, I bit the bullet and went back to OEM 275/55 R20 Falken Wildpeak AT3W (also because I need the clearance back for chains). On my drive home the MPG shot up to 23! I've put a couple tanks of diesel through it since then and what I've noticed is if I stay on the south side of town where it is really hilly, I average 19-19.5 MPG. On days where I'm running errands on the north side, which is flatter, I average ~21 MPG. Haven't had a chance to get a long highway trip in yet to see where it settles, but with your 17-19, I think I'm back into the expected MPG window for this truck.

 

[66Fuelie]

Harry,
That is good news. 95% of my travel is interstate. Mine is a 23 and I already have 43000 miles on it. When you do highway driving you will find your sweet spot. Mine is between 70-73. At 80 mph I still get 26-27.
Good luck
Tom

 

[mikeru82]

Hi 66Fuelie. I live in Oregon. I don't know how I hadn't noticed it, but after I started this thread I realized the previous owner had put on oversized 275/65 R20 tires. After more reading through these forums, I was seeing others mentioning the eco seems to bog down an MPG take a larger hit from up sizing the tires compared to other gas or diesels. So even though I had perfectly good tread, I bit the bullet and went back to OEM 275/55 R20 Falken Wildpeak AT3W (also because I need the clearance back for chains). On my drive home the MPG shot up to 23! I've put a couple tanks of diesel through it since then and what I've noticed is if I stay on the south side of town where it is really hilly, I average 19-19.5 MPG. On days where I'm running errands on the north side, which is flatter, I average ~21 MPG. Haven't had a chance to get a long highway trip in yet to see where it settles, but with your 17-19, I think I'm back into the expected MPG window for this truck.

Yeah, that would definitely make a difference. Another factor is the speedometer/odometer calibration. Did the previous owner adjust the calibration for the bigger tires? That's basically a 2 inch diameter difference. Which means the speedometer would be off by about 6.5% if not calibrated for the bigger tires. If they did calibrate it, then your speedometer is off with stock sized tires. You might want to make sure if your speedometer is currently displaying the correct speed.

 

[Ftarasi]

Yeah, that would definitely make a difference. Another factor is the speedometer/odometer calibration. Did the previous owner adjust the calibration for the bigger tires? That's basically a 2 inch diameter difference. Which means the speedometer would be off by about 6.5% if not calibrated for the bigger tires. If they did calibrate it, then your speedometer is off with stock sized tires. You might want to make sure if your speedometer is currently displaying the correct speed.

I have 35’s on my rebel and have had the dealership recalibrate my speedometer twice now. My truck holds the code for a day or two then it goes back to 7-9 mph over. I need you suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[go-ram]

I have 35’s on my rebel and have had the dealership recalibrate my speedometer twice now. My truck holds the code for a day or two then it goes back to 7-9 mph over. I need you suggestions. Thanks in advance.

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Might not be what you want, but I believe the Banks iDash lets you calibrate the speedometer and it'll show your corrected speed all the time. They also have some really nice "pods" to mount the iDash to the driver's side A-pillar (right below the grab handle).
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I have nothing to do with Banks, except I'm a satisfied customer. The quality and usefulness of their products can't be beat - they do hard-core engineering and meet all state & federal regulations, no hanky-panky with Banks.
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Banks iDash: SuperGauge & DataMonster
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