Truck shaking at idle

[Cristyan]

I wouldn't bother. I've ran a few tanks of 89 to check mileage and performance and found a negligible difference, not enough to offset the extra cost. And it certainly didn't make the engine idle any "smoother".

If I was towing heavy regularly like 8k+, I might consider 89. But for daily driving and 5k towing on the weekends (twice a year 8k), I can't tell the difference between 87 and 89.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's a bit of a mixed bag; on one hand, it's good to know that running the test might not be worth the effort, thus saving time and money. On the other hand, it's a bit disappointing to think there might have been one last potential solution to the issue
Well, the search for the perfect fix continues! Thanks again for your input.

 

[Slutzk]

fuel octane isnt going to make a difference. people on this forum are cringe sometimes. Ive only ever ran 87 in hemis ever. and everyone i know except 1 person off the top of my head runs 89 or 91 (depending on prices in the country hes living in.... California i mean.). he switched to 87 when he got his 2022 and he said it runs... EXACTLY the same with now 45k miles on it. never met anyone running 93. never made a difference from beginning till end of life with the owner. cant tell me other wise, i legit have see it multiple times and no difference. your motor isnt shaking because of fuel. now if your vehical REQUIRES 91-93.... yeah running 87 probably aint smart. but 2 octane levels aint doing crap. if anthing going to high will be worst

 

[23RAM]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's a bit of a mixed bag; on one hand, it's good to know that running the test might not be worth the effort, thus saving time and money. On the other hand, it's a bit disappointing to think there might have been one last potential solution to the issue
Well, the search for the perfect fix continues! Thanks again for your input.

Apparently I had a bad wire in the harness causing a shake/stumble at first, leading to intermittent missing, to full time misfire on cyl 5 where the injector was not firing like it was dead. Somewhere in the harness a wire or connector was bad and caused the injector to not fire. Mine started with a stumble at stops like it wasn't combusting properly like I had some bad fuel or water in the fuel system.

 

[Fantastipotamus]

Also, just incidentally, check your oil level. My truck developed a weird, vibrating idle not long after an oil change, and it turns out they'd just put in the new oil on top of the old, so i was running double the recommended capacity. Yowza. They fixed/admitted wrongdoing, refunded and gave me a free oil change for next time and made note in case anything went bad (good dealer, tbh). But the only thing that tipped me off was the weird idle characteristics and a tiny bit of extra smoke out the exhaust at idle.

 

[Nascar Tommy]

I agree on idle of 500 rpm seems low to me. I'll have to pay attention next time I'm in mine. Thought it was close to 700rpm.
Checked my idle, it's 650 RPM. I think you should raise your idle a little bit.

 

[Ramhighflyer]

I agree on idle of 500 rpm seems low to me. I'll have to pay attention next time I'm in mine. Thought it was close to 700rpm.
Checked my idle, it's 650 RPM. I think you should raise your idle a little bit.

Idle control is 100% computer controlled, there has not been a ”upping your idle a bit” in 20 years……there is very little to nothing to “adjust” on a modern engine

 

[theblet]

Idle control is 100% computer controlled, there has not been a ”upping your idle a bit” in 20 years……there is very little to nothing to “adjust” on a modern engine

I think you can adjust this with alpha or jscan.

 

[Nascar Tommy]

Idle control is 100% computer controlled, there has not been a ”upping your idle a bit” in 20 years……there is very little to nothing to “adjust” on a modern engine

Yep! I'm old!

 

[Wirerat]

I think you can adjust this with alpha or jscan.

It's takes a unlocked pcm with tune for idle adjustment.

 

[Ram15L23]

I bought a 2023 and notice a similar idle issue but it seems to do right after I start driving and come to a stop after a short drive . Has a little over 1000 miles.

Ill stop at a stoplight like the rest of yall, I run the recommended 89 octane and I get an oil change every 3000-5000 miles at the dealership, my truck will start to drop the rpm and shake, then it seems like it struggle to get back up into the 750 to 1000 rpm range, turning to neutral does nothing, I have had to turn the truck off twice because the shaking was getting so bad my drink was starting to splash inside, is the shaking this bad for the rest of you? Or is this some sort of issue I need to take it in to get looked at?

 

[OCD Solutions]

My shake has never been bad enough to spill my drink but I do get a rough idle depending on where I fuel up. It's happened enough that I've made the switch to Mid grade fuel with an occasional tank of Premium depending on where I'm fueling. The more consistent I am with good fuel, the better it runs. After almost two years of dealing with the rough idle, my truck is idling so smooth again, I have to check it's still running and I did nothing mechanically. I'm currently at 132k miles so it's reassuring that the truck can still run smooth and there's no major mechanical degradation behind the issue.

For the first 85k miles, I ran Reg and could grab fuel anywhere. It wasn't until we moved and I changed where I was fueling up that I started having issues. Then, a few months ago I got diverted from one of my sites to another for an emergency call and had to grab fuel at a Dollar General. I must have gotten a shot of water because it took several tanks to get the truck running right afterwards. I was almost to the point where I was gonna just drop the tank but it finally cleared out. I keep a couple bottles of the Chevron Fuel system cleaner in the shop now as those really seemed to help and I'm adding a bottle to the tank at least once a month to keep my fuel system cleared out. I was originally wondering if the variable timing system was gummed up or losing it's ability to adjust for lower octanes but am now under the impression that my issues were related to clogged injectors.

In it's current finicky state, my truck loves Chevron, Shell and Kroger fuel. It does not like Race Trac Gas. If I have to grab fuel from an unknown source, I lean towards a higher fuel grade but only from sources that rotate a high volume of fuel. Most mom and pop or rural stores don't rotate the higher grades often enough so you're likely better off just getting the regular in those cases. And just enough to get you to a better station! The only thing worse than a tank of bad fuel is a full tank of bad fuel.