Learn Me Cummins Turbodiesels

A friend of mine has a 2000 Dodge Ram 2500, 4x4, Automatic, with the Cummins Turbodiesel. He just had to rebuild the transmission to the tune of $3,300 and is thinking about selling it. It has about 120K miles on it.

I am thinking about buying it.

He's been pretty good about maintenance. Heck, I helped him recently change the fan belt and all the fluids. The body is beat to hell, though, because it's been used as a truck.

Is there anything in particular I should look out for? How reliable would this thing be for daily driving and/or towing vehicles to long distance events? Any ideas about fuel economy?

About as reliable as any modern diesel, the cummins always seem to get better economy than the others, and thats coming from someone who personally hates Cummins in general due to ag related issues and the way the company itself treated us.

Best advice, don't expect to be wow'd by a nice interior, build quality, or low noise in the cabin(Its an old style dodge), and don't buy into the "Well its a diesel, so its worth 20 g's" crap.

I have nothing to add except I think it is some sort of county law that you have to put stacks on it along with a sticker that says "I would rather be Cummin than 'Strokin". At least it appears that way here in Lapeer County.

Hmm, depending on how much he wants, I might have to jump on this. Problem is, Blue Book value and what most people think their trucks are worth are sometimes off by an order of magnitude...

My 2003 has about 130k on it with no issues to speak of. The transmission is still original, which can be a weak point, I'm told. Of course, I have the later body style with the hydroformed chassis. No rattles anywhere. Not one. I've towed two racecars in an enclosed trailer across country numerous times. I'll get 13 mpg when towing.

The truck will probably eventually fall apart around the motor. I'm betting that these pre-emissions diesel engines will become valuable (get much better mileage than the new ones), so even when the truck falls apart I can get some cash from the motor.

A coworker just bought a brand-new 2012 Cummins diesel. He only gets like 17 mpg. Allegedly, removing the emissions bullcrap nets an additional 4-5 mpg.

In reply to Basil Exposition:

That major refresh on them signifigantly changed how I look at them. I'd still rather have a 7.3L in a super duty though(those are holding their value well)

Sky_Render wrote: A coworker just bought a brand-new 2012 Cummins diesel. He only gets like 17 mpg. Allegedly, removing the emissions bullcrap nets an additional 4-5 mpg.

Upping the power results in better milage while towing generally.

yamaha wrote: About as reliable as any modern diesel, the cummins always seem to get better economy than the others, and thats coming from someone who personally hates Cummins in general due to ag related issues and the way the company itself treated us. Best advice, don't expect to be wow'd by a nice interior, build quality, or low noise in the cabin(Its an old style dodge), and don't buy into the "Well its a diesel, so its worth 20 g's" crap.

Having worked in the heavy truck industry, I have the same jaded view of Cummins. If people knew more about the company itself, they wouldn't be so ga-ga about them. Still, other than core sand issues, none of that has any bearing on the engines themselves.

In reply to bravenrace:

It was sad that their engines are built 2 hours away, and yet they'd treat fellow hoosiers like the E36 M3 on their boot.

Truck engines seem to be ok, but their ag engines weren't tough enough for the job.

If you buy one, you will be informed (without asking) that you should have bought a Chevy/Ford. You will be told how it will fail. I expect this is also experienced by anyone who buys a Chevy or Ford. Truck owners are a pain in the ass in terms of brand loyalty.

The mileage improves as they break in. My 2010 Cummins is getting better and better as it racks up miles. I'm only at 25k so far, but the mileage has gone up by about 15%.

That generation had issues with the VP44 lift pump and a dowel pin in the front end of the motor (search killer dowel) that can cause catastrpohic failures of the drive system. Track rod and front end issues (search death wobble) due to alignment and tires being not load rated for the weight of the truck. Body rot front to back.

Look at the following forums for information on Dodge diesel trucks:

Turbo Diesel Register (owned by the good foks from Geno's-a GRM advertiser and great company to work with) Diesel Truck Resource

I had a 2003 Dodge Ram with the Cummins and 6 speed while I lived in Macomb County (but travelled through Lapeer County). The Cummins was solid but the rest of the truck, not so much. Multiple sets of wheel bearings (before I switched to a DynaTrac system), suspension issues-replaced with KORE, multiple U-joint failures(drive shafts, front end), FCA (fuel line solenoid) failures took me out of commission twice with no notice, and body rot at both rear fenders too early for my comfort level. I sold it in 2011 with 190k for a nice price though. It now lives near Logdog. I enjoyed it and enjoyed selling it.

All I can say is, that's a Cummins

I like the cummins due to the simplicity and ability to make big power cheap. I owned a 95 2wd Dodge dually with cummins and a 99 4wd 3/4 ton ford with the 7.3. I liked the Ford truck better, but the cummins engine and stability of the dually more, so I kept the dodge.

Hopefully the $3300 got him a built trans, so if you get the truck you can bump up the power, if you want, and not have to worry about the trans.

My '95 4x4 5spd would get around 20 mpg without really trying, but pretty much keeping to the speed limit. 18 mpg if I gave no thought at all towards mileage and wantedd to wake folks up (my truck had a 4" exhaust with a token muffler). Looking back at my records, my personal best was 23.3 mpg using some mild hypermiling techniques.

My '95 was supposed to be fitted with a cat on the downpipe, but it was long gone by the time I bought it. Fortunately, no emissions testing on older diesels in PA although my inspection station did insist on something that at least looks like a muffler - when I bought the truck, the exhaust was straight pipe. It was loud. Adding a resonator-style muffler didn't help much.

Reliability? Well... I don't own it anymore... let's just say that if you're willing to figure out how to fix it the Cummins apparently isn't too bad. I wouldn't know. I did some work on it, but when I bought that truck I was starting to get burnt out on working on the non-toys... and driving past a Cummins service center every day 5 min from my house was too tempting... so every time it broke, I paid them to fix it.

Wait a minute here! This many replies and NO ONE has typed "Cummings "?

Sup wid dat?

I love those truck btw. (Coming from a Ford guy)

In reply to ebonyandivory:

With a few exceptions, its just that people here aren't retarded?

Just watch out for the injection pumps and vacuum pumps, these two part are OMGWTF expensive. Last vacuum pump I replaced was north of $500 from NAPA the dealer wanted $1300 , the injection pump was dealer only (then) $2800!

This may have changed over the last two years, check it out.

I had a 96 Ram with the 12 valve Cummins, and it was a great truck, but it fell apart around the driveline and the interior is marginally better than a 70s Chevy. The engine was rock solid and the big dollar rebuilt trans was awesome.

Now I have an 02 Superduty with the 7.3. I miss the sound and power of a cranked up Cummins, but nothing else. The Ford is years ahead in every other category.

If I was to buy a new-to-me diesel truck though, I would look really hard at a Cummins again though. A 98+ with the nicer interior would be great, and one without rust would be a very nice truck. They are super easy to work on, easier than a 7.3 Ford, and all the issues have been well documented.

I still want to go a veggie conversion on a full size truck if I could find a reliable source for pre-filtered oil. At one point in time I dug one up in Los Angels, the catch was you had to buy about 250 gallons at a time that could be delivered on a pallette or pick it up. The bonus was the price per gallon was less than 2 bucks a gallon so cost per mile a ford excursion getting 12mpg was = to a prius getting 37

Your looking at a 5.9 VP 44 24 valve cummins. It has an HX 35 turbo.

With an HX 35/40 turbo and some decent injectors (more holes smaller diameter gets better atomization) also adds power. Top that off with a cheap timing tune like the edge EZ you will get 23-25mpg. My 4x4 dually 2001.5 ext cab was getting 25 with NV4500 trans. (Btw the 2001.5 up had 4wheel disk brakes, earlier models had rear drums. If you want to convert yours)

Your fuel pump is diesel cooled. I always ran 16oz of 2 stroke oil with every full up to make up for the low sulfur stripping the lubrication of the fuel. That pump is about 1,200 dollars if/when it fails.

20 dollars says the power steering is leaking on it also... lol super common. The head lights dim at night then brighten, that's common and normal also. As long as the trans is rebuilt well and you get a fuel pressure gauge and keep it above 12 psi from your lift pump to the injection pump your good to go. Super reliable and good engines... Unless you get one of the bad casts for those years and the water jacket cracks in the block for no reason.

As I understand it, you buy a dodge for the cummins, and put up with the truck that comes wrapped around it.