mharvan
New Member
- Apr 17, 2022
- 12
- 7
- Truck Year
- 2018
I bought my 2018 Laramie in November of 2018 and have since put just over 50K miles on it. I occasionally tow a 5K lb travel trailer and absolutely love the performance towing. the RAMBOX is a great addition and should've been done long ago. I've used the Vantech ladder racks and just recently added an Extang Trifecta 2.0 soft tonneau cover.
I read a lot of the different forums including this one and all of the horror stories of what a bad engine the the vm 3.0L v-6 is. Add that to the Safety Recall VB-1 the emissions settlement and FCA's generally poor customer service and it's easy to get really worried. My concern however is moderated by the belief that the forum user's population likely is skewed towards a higher percentage of owners with problems, as : if one doesn't have any problems why go looking or complaining.
So far my truck has been relatively trouble free, except for the odd thrown code that resolves on its own so causes more worry than actual problems.
I keep up with the maintenance schedule, use Hot Shots Secret EDT at every tank and Diesel Extreme about every 6k-8K miles, and only use Rotella T6 5w-40 until last oil change when it was unavailable but found some t6 in 15w-40 and since it get's pretty hot in the Sacramento Valley figured that wouldn't hurt and should get me through until fall when the 5w-40 should be more available and hopefully cheaper.
Just put a Banks Derringer w/ I-Dash and a K&N filter on and have been pleased with the performance improvement, not that I was unhappy in it's stock form but who doesn't want just a little more? We just completed a 1900 mile RT to the Grand Canyon w/out the travel trailer and averaged over 28 mpg. So far, I couldn't be happier with the truck.
I read a lot of the different forums including this one and all of the horror stories of what a bad engine the the vm 3.0L v-6 is. Add that to the Safety Recall VB-1 the emissions settlement and FCA's generally poor customer service and it's easy to get really worried. My concern however is moderated by the belief that the forum user's population likely is skewed towards a higher percentage of owners with problems, as : if one doesn't have any problems why go looking or complaining.
So far my truck has been relatively trouble free, except for the odd thrown code that resolves on its own so causes more worry than actual problems.
I keep up with the maintenance schedule, use Hot Shots Secret EDT at every tank and Diesel Extreme about every 6k-8K miles, and only use Rotella T6 5w-40 until last oil change when it was unavailable but found some t6 in 15w-40 and since it get's pretty hot in the Sacramento Valley figured that wouldn't hurt and should get me through until fall when the 5w-40 should be more available and hopefully cheaper.
Just put a Banks Derringer w/ I-Dash and a K&N filter on and have been pleased with the performance improvement, not that I was unhappy in it's stock form but who doesn't want just a little more? We just completed a 1900 mile RT to the Grand Canyon w/out the travel trailer and averaged over 28 mpg. So far, I couldn't be happier with the truck.
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