Turbo lag / Throttle response

[J-Cooz]

Yeah has it has the TSB?
My 2020 had the tsb applied and it solved all of my lag/response issues. There's still slight turbo lag (there always will be).

 

[Funeman]

No, it hasn’t had the TSB but this wasn’t normal lag, which I’m all too familiar with in the Ecodiesel, this literally wouldn’t move even though I was jamming the accelerator.
Trading this away for something else but I wish all of you the best with yours.

 

[J-Cooz]

No, it hasn’t had the TSB but this wasn’t normal lag, which I’m all too familiar with in the Ecodiesel, this literally wouldn’t move even though I was jamming the accelerator.
Trading this away for something else but I wish all of you the best with yours.

Why not try the TSB first?

 

[Blackhat]

Really noticed the lag this week when we were off road and in some pretty deep sand and went through some deep water holes, I didn't feel as confident in this Truck off road as I did in my Hemi, Dropping into the water holes with the delay in response made the Truck feel like it was always on the edge of getting Stuck. Now I do have to say the Freeway Driving over 500 miles was Fantastic 100 times better the the Hemi which always felt like it was searching for the right gear! I had zero issues keeping up with my friends 2500 HD Silverado over the Mountain roads, it was a Blast to drive on the freeway.

 

[wilsoncraft]

I have a 2021 RAM 1500 Rebel with the eco diesel (gen3). Overall its been a nice engine, albeit with only 4000 miles on it. I do get an occasional "stall" from a stopped position. I never try to punch the pedal to take off as I find the diesel works better with a more gradual push on the pedal, but even with a gradual push I can hit 2-3 seconds of absolutely nothing followed by a hard jerk taking off. That part I hate. Especially if I'm in a drive thru. If I don't do the gradual pedal pressure I can end up moving a little bit before I stall and then watch an on-coming vehicle with huge eyes for those 2-3 seconds.

 

[c3k]

I have a 2021 RAM 1500 Rebel with the eco diesel (gen3). Overall its been a nice engine, albeit with only 4000 miles on it. I do get an occasional "stall" from a stopped position. I never try to punch the pedal to take off as I find the diesel works better with a more gradual push on the pedal, but even with a gradual push I can hit 2-3 seconds of absolutely nothing followed by a hard jerk taking off. That part I hate. Especially if I'm in a drive thru. If I don't do the gradual pedal pressure I can end up moving a little bit before I stall and then watch an on-coming vehicle with huge eyes for those 2-3 seconds.

I've not punched it from a stop, but I'll have to give it a try and see if there's a similar hesitation. Mine (only 7500 miles) has never been slow or hesitant.

I have a VW TDi, with a DSG transmission. Dual Synchronous Gear: It's an automatically controlled manual gearbox. The "Dual" part means it pre-selects the next gear. For example, at a stop, in Drive, the power routes through 1st, and 2nd (the next logical gear) is pre-selected and engaged. The shifts are amazingly fast and smooth. However, if I "spoof" the logic, it sucks. For example, a hard pull from a stop from 1st, to 2nd, then 3rd, followed by a momentary deceleration then acceleration (like joining a road then turning off in just a few hundred yards), makes it lag terribly. It will go from 3rd, pre-select 4th, then when I slow it drops to 2nd and preselects 1st, but my acceleration, and speed, call for 3rd/4th.

Doing that, the TDi hesitates for about 1-2 seconds. I've had to modify my driving/throttle inputs to allow for that behavior.

I'm NOT saying that's what's going on with yours. Just that these vehicles have a lot of complex behaviors. Maybe getting the dealer to reflash the ECM and TCM and then redo the throttle learn (full push/release 3x while ON but not RUN...I think) may limit or fix it?

My long-winded DSG paragraph was prompted by the thought that your description sounds transmission or throttle position related.

My .02...and possibly worth a bit less.

Ken

 

[Howie Dub]

After my previous post, I’ve noticed hesitation a couple of times, but luckily never in a dangerous situation. It seems to happen when I’m not driving with both feet and take a bit longer to go from the brake to the accelerator. I’ve been driving in tow/haul mode for the past couple of days to see how it affects MPGs and I haven’t noticed any lag so far. Engine almost seems peppier, kind of like having the truck in sport mode.

 

[c3k]

After my previous post, I’ve noticed hesitation a couple of times, but luckily never in a dangerous situation. It seems to happen when I’m not driving with both feet and take a bit longer to go from the brake to the accelerator. I’ve been driving in tow/haul mode for the past couple of days to see how it affects MPGs and I haven’t noticed any lag so far. Engine almost seems peppier, kind of like having the truck in sport mode.

Oh. Please tell me you don't really keep one foot on the brake and one on the throttle?

 

[traveller09]

Does the turbo lag problem appear after a period of time or is it more a matter if you have the problem you have it and if you dont you dont? My truck was an April order and only has a little over 4K miles on it and I havent experienced any turbo lag at all. In fact, I wouldnt call the truck quick but it has way more pep than I ever thought I would get out of a small diesel. Just wondering if it is still possible for this problem to appear.

 

[Sascwatch]

I’ve experienced this a few times, it happens most noticeably after the engine is fully warmed up and sits for a bit to partially cool down.

After a hot soak on one of the first accelerations it’s as if the throttle pedal does nothing, Rpm’s do not increase no matter how much throttle you give it for a few seconds. And then the truck wakes up and accelerates like it should, can be a bit scary at times.

This does not happen often enough for me to reproduce the issue for the dealer, in the past I complained about it and they did a couple software updates to the ecm and tcm which made a big difference.

 

[Howie Dub]

Oh. Please tell me you don't really keep one foot on the brake and one on the throttle?

Yes I do

 

[reddog]

In 2019 I bought a 2020 Silverado 1500 with their inline 6 cyl duramax diesel. It was a very peppy vehicle and could spin the tires until the traction control kicked in. It pulled our Airstream beautifully. I live in a mountainous region and never had a hickup with it. However, it started to use an abnormal amount of oil when pulling so we sold it back to the dealership under warranty and ordered our 2021 Ram ecodiesel. It ended up being a 2022 and we got it last week. It looks amazing and we haven't pulled with it yet but the first thing I noticed (other than how gorgeous it is) that it was pretty doggy off the line compared to our Silverado. I'm going to drive it like this for a few more hundred miles (currently have 850 now on it) and try the throttle reset procedure, but if it doesn't improve I'm definitely going to try to have the dealership do the PCM reflash and hope that helps.

 

[bill-e]

In 2019 I bought a 2020 Silverado 1500 with their inline 6 cyl duramax diesel. It was a very peppy vehicle and could spin the tires until the traction control kicked in. It pulled our Airstream beautifully. I live in a mountainous region and never had a hickup with it. However, it started to use an abnormal amount of oil when pulling so we sold it back to the dealership under warranty and ordered our 2021 Ram ecodiesel. It ended up being a 2022 and we got it last week. It looks amazing and we haven't pulled with it yet but the first thing I noticed (other than how gorgeous it is) that it was pretty doggy off the line compared to our Silverado. I'm going to drive it like this for a few more hundred miles (currently have 850 now on it) and try the throttle reset procedure, but if it doesn't improve I'm definitely going to try to have the dealership do the PCM reflash and hope that helps.

What gear ratio?

 

[Chris3058]

There’s a TSB and a PCM update for this issue. The PCM flash fixes several little bugs.

 

[reddog]

What gear ratio?

I don't even know what the gear ratio was in my Silverado. It was never an issue. The new Ram is 3.92.

 

[bill-e]

I don't even know what the gear ratio was in my Silverado. It was never an issue. The new Ram is 3.92.

I asked because the 3.92 is peppier than the 3.21. I pull a 7k+ camper in the hilly New England region without issue.

 

[reddog]

I asked because the 3.92 is peppier than the 3.21. I pull a 7k+ camper in the hilly New England region without issue.

Yes, that's why we ordered the 3.92 in the new Ram. I figured it would be easier on the drivetrain when pulling our Airstream. Our ecodiesel runs down the road just fine. It's the hesitation when accelerating from a stop thats somewhat disconcerting. Literally 2-3 seconds when trying to accelerate briskly into traffic even when the engine is at operating temperature. We haven't pulled with it yet so maybe with the tow/haul button engaged and a trailer plugged in it will not be an issue. I tend to be much more patient when pulling our trailer but some situations require you to make your way into traffic a little more aggressively. We'll see. I'm hoping for the best as we continue to enjoy our new truck. If worse case and it doesn't get any better, I guess there's always the throttle booster options.
It's really odd when you consider that literally every other turbo'd vehicle that I've driven has not had this much throttle delay. We even test drove a 2019 ecodiesel before we bought our Silverado and it left the dealership parking lot like hot V8. I was astounded at that time at the power and smoothness, but my wife didn't like the interior of that Bighorn . She works at our local Chevrolet dealership as office manager so when GM came out with their 3.0 diesel we bought our Silverado. I move vehicles around for the dealership so I've driven quite a few different cars and trucks and have a pretty good idea of what feels normal and what doesn't.

 

[Sascwatch]

Yes, that's why we ordered the 3.92 in the new Ram. I figured it would be easier on the drivetrain when pulling our Airstream. Our ecodiesel runs down the road just fine. It's the hesitation when accelerating from a stop thats somewhat disconcerting. Literally 2-3 seconds when trying to accelerate briskly into traffic even when the engine is at operating temperature. We haven't pulled with it yet so maybe with the tow/haul button engaged and a trailer plugged in it will not be an issue. I tend to be much more patient when pulling our trailer but some situations require you to make your way into traffic a little more aggressively. We'll see. I'm hoping for the best as we continue to enjoy our new truck. If worse case and it doesn't get any better, I guess there's always the throttle booster options.
It's really odd when you consider that literally every other turbo'd vehicle that I've driven has not had this much throttle delay. We even test drove a 2019 ecodiesel before we bought our Silverado and it left the dealership parking lot like hot V8. I was astounded at that time at the power and smoothness, but my wife didn't like the interior of that Bighorn . She works at our local Chevrolet dealership as office manager so when GM came out with their 3.0 diesel we bought our Silverado. I move vehicles around for the dealership so I've driven quite a few different cars and trucks and have a pretty good idea of what feels normal and what doesn't.

I get this from time to time, but I don’t think it is turbo lag. There is literally ZERO response from the motor for a few seconds even if you floor it, you can watch the tach and it doesn’t move at all until the truck realizes you hit the throttle and goes. I’d bet it has something to do with emissions, but can’t confirm. It doesn’t happen often enough for me to take it to the dealer.

 

[bill-e]

I get this from time to time, but I don’t think it is turbo lag. There is literally ZERO response from the motor for a few seconds even if you floor it, you can watch the tach and it doesn’t move at all until the truck realizes you hit the throttle and goes. I’d bet it has something to do with emissions, but can’t confirm. It doesn’t happen often enough for me to take it to the dealer.

I have not experienced that on my Gen 3. On my Gen 2 after the EPA flash I experienced it more regularly.

 

[reddog]

Sascwatch you are absolutely correct. It feels to me like it's detuned not turbo lag. Could be a transmission setting or pedal position sensor issue. I drove a used 2019 Wrangler Limited 4 door just yesterday to the dealership with the 4 cylinder turbo. It had 35" tires on it. That thing would spin the tires without even trying hard. So I know what a turbocharged engine can potentially be. Granted it was a gas engine not diesel. But a diesel engine has more low end torque. Our 2022 Ram is definitely stifled in some manner. I have an appt. at the RAM dealership after the first of the year to see if they will do the updated TSB reflash. I'm not sure if our truck has a more recent update, but the one that seems to get the most positive comments on this site is the 8-008-21 TSB. I'll see if I can get them to consider it. So far they have denied that there have been anyone else bringing their ecodiesel in for poor performance so don't know. Hopefully they'll consider it. Like I said, if not there's always one of the various throttle booster options.