Brand new 2021 engine replacement.

[BL2020]

I was on a road trip with less than 5k miles on my brand new 2021 1500 eco diesel. The oil light came on and the pressure was super low. Also had a weird sound, sort of clinking. So I coasted into a dealer let them know what was going on. They Aled me back that night and said that I needed a complete engine replacement. He said they found the oil filter full of metal shavings and the engine was all torn up.

it took 3 weeks but they replaced it. Then I found this forum and have been reading about all the issues. All I can think now is what the hell did I I get into with this?! I need the truck for hauling and towing light-moderate loads and I can’t afford to be in the shop constantly. I also love the truck, it’s cool, comfortable, and stylish. But am I in for a bumpy ride with this engine? Should I have gone with the V8 instead? Who wants to talk me down a bit?

 

[TC Diesel]

BL2020, Your not alone, Many Owners have replace the power plant VM3.0 3 Times 2014-18.
Its this simple, their are Hero's and Zero's VM 3.0 nothing in-between.

In long term ownership in OEM, it will suck up your wallet. Why not just by 2500 Cummins and be done with it.

I bleed DSL but these 1500 DSL just are not worth it. My 2019 Gas is less cost in Insurance, Maintenance and Gas being 0.50 less here then DSL their no advantage to 1500 DSL VS Gas UNLESS you are putting 60K+ miles per year, and it will take you 5 years to break even on the upfront cost of VM3.0 because it does NOT keep its value like the 2500/3500+ DSL does.

You are the 3rd owner I know of on 2nd Engine, with the sales being so low (DSL) VS 2014-16 DSL, I NOW will state the 2020+ engine has the same failure rate or close to the same failure rate as 2014-18

 

[Augiedoggy]

The hemis seem to have their fair share of lifter/cam failures from what ive seen as well.. I had a friend that fought with it and sold the truck out of frustration and the ram forums are full of threads on this. Its interesting that the diesel engine effects the insurance price? Is that just because the value of the gas truck is lower?

My old 96 5.9L was a money pit that seemed to need repairs every 1000 miles of some sort from transmission failure to wheel bearings (One of the tradeoffs to 35" tires you dont hear much about here) The more complex the machine, the more that can go wrong. It seems to me we as a population are being conditioned to look at vehicle ownership differently, maybe from the costs and complexities the newer vehicles have but many people wouldnt dream of actually owning a vehicle, especially one without a warranty. Whether they lease or tell themselves they are buying it they continue to pay someone else for it the entire time its in their possession and the seem to trade it in on another before they ever actually own it.

The days of actually paying off a truck and just driving it for 10-15 years are fading away. Its almost as if they design them so people buy extended warranties and replacements out of fear of not being able to afford not to... How backwards is that?

So far my 3.0 has been great but Ive read a lot of the issues come from the egr and emissions on the US and Canadian models. mine was deleted when I bought it. time will tell if I come to regret my purchase I guess but I never dreamed id be getting as high as 34mpg average on a 3 hour drive in a full size crew cab 4wd truck and still have the power it has.

 

[Augiedoggy]

I was on a road trip with less than 5k miles on my brand new 2021 1500 eco diesel. The oil light came on and the pressure was super low. Also had a weird sound, sort of clinking. So I coasted into a dealer let them know what was going on. They Aled me back that night and said that I needed a complete engine replacement. He said they found the oil filter full of metal shavings and the engine was all torn up.

it took 3 weeks but they replaced it. Then I found this forum and have been reading about all the issues. All I can think now is what the hell did I I get into with this?! I need the truck for hauling and towing light-moderate loads and I can’t afford to be in the shop constantly. I also love the truck, it’s cool, comfortable, and stylish. But am I in for a bumpy ride with this engine? Should I have gone with the V8 instead? Who wants to talk me down a bit?

If it helps, it sounds like your engine had an issue from the get go and this is not a result of a component failure but rather a defect in that engine causing it to not break in correctly from the get go. There are people on this forum with over 300,000 miles on their ecodiesels.
The important thing to remember with forums and in general is is someone has a poor experience from something they are likely to tell 30 people... if its positive they are likely to tell many less. - Meaning you are foar more likely to hear from those who have had issues on here than those who are happily going about their business with their trucks.
There are many that joined here BECAUSE they were having issues. (Not all by any means but many) and some even stick around after they longer even own them.

 

[TC Diesel]

My Policy for My 2015 Loaded Laramie 3.0DSL Vs My 2019 Limited 5.7 was 22.00 Per Month less.

I agree the 1996 12V DSL bolted to the 47RE was problematic. That's why I and 10s of 1000s owner modded 47/48re's almost immediately after Purchase, at low cost for the life of ownership, Heck most added another 80-120HP+ to Pump and turbo. The DL and the suspension 1990-2012 and the 2013 2500, had early failures. All of these failures had aftermarket remedies at fair cost. The engine was solid even up today, their are 100,000s 5.9/6.7 with 200K+ OEM on just routine maintenance.

Thier are NO 300K 3.0VMs on OEM WITHOUT major repairs PERIOD, the only ones I know of are deleted and very few make it to 300K in DD use.

 

[Augiedoggy]

well my 5.9l dodge ram was gas but fair point... I know there are at least a few ecos on here with over 300k... I was reading a post by someone here just yesterday that said they had over 300k and didnt tune theirs till like 250k.. one things for sure with decades worth of cummins out there and only 7 years of ecos Id expect to see many more cummins with high mileage. Its also no secret an inline six is a more reliable motor wear wise at the cost of less power per cubic inch generally.

 

[TC Diesel]

300K Kilometers? yes , I forgot to mention miles in post #5 that's the scale.

I would require proof on 300K miles on just routine maintenance, The EGR recall is not routine so that alone! knocks out just about every 3.0s on OEM.

 

[Augiedoggy]

I was referring to miles not kilometers myself.

 

[Stormline]

My Policy for My 2015 Loaded Laramie 3.0DSL Vs My 2019 Limited 5.7 was 22.00 Per Month less.

I agree the 1996 12V DSL bolted to the 47RE was problematic. That's why I and 10s of 1000s owner modded 47/48re's almost immediately after Purchase, at low cost for the life of ownership, Heck most added another 80-120HP+ to Pump and turbo. The DL and the suspension 1990-2012 and the 2013 2500, had early failures. All of these failures had aftermarket remedies at fair cost. The engine was solid even up today, their are 100,000s 5.9/6.7 with 200K+ OEM on just routine maintenance.

Thier are NO 300K 3.0VMs on OEM WITHOUT major repairs PERIOD, the only ones I know of are deleted and very few make it to 300K in DD use.

You said it, you have to fully delete or not be prepared to Own a 3.0 VMs ; I have a 2015 in Australia and have it fully deleted with 68K km on it. The only thing that has gone wrong recently was, I lost the Power steering, the RAM agent spent 5hours trying all sorts of monitors that didn’t work. I initially sent him an email defining his scope “ Please check the main fuse for the power steering which is located off the positive battery terminal if that’s ok then check the board controller.

The RAM agents job supervisor rang me back after two days and asked me to come and take the truck away as they couldn’t fix it. I asked then did the use an Auto Electrican and then they admitted they hadn’t. I instructed them to find one outside their organisation as I required this in my scope of work, they then arranged this and he found the problem in 10 minutes!! They originally had an account at held of their normal charge out for 680.00 then once I got onto them they dropped this to 320.00 and shut as well. Most garages these days are labour’s with a diagnostics tool to tell them what to do next! I hope the GDE tune will carry me through to the 300Km!! As I love the way it runs and has all the power I need to pull my caravan off 2.9Tons at I get some 16L/100km burn which is good if I had the V8 it would be 28L/100km !! And I love the power at the lights and along
The Highway not towing I get under 10L/100km and it’s so Torque, a little light weight beast. The 2500 is a lump compared to the eco-diesel 1500. I will keep my fingers crossed