I went Friday and picked up my new cargo trailer. 7x16x6 tandem axle with a 2' V-Nose. On the trip home I averaged about 55 or so on mostly highway, with plenty of stop and go mixed in. It is about a 250 mile haul. All seemed well, I ran in Tow mode and averaged about 10 MPG or so (by EVIC).

I spent the night and went for another shorter haul on the interstate. It was about 75 miles and I set the cruise on 70 for the trip. (again in tow mode) When I was accelerating down the onramp I noticed that the truck stayed in a lower gear for a LONG time. I eased up on the throttle a lot and it finally shifted up. That entire trip was completely different. I averaged a whopping 7.5 MPG. The transmission was spending most of it's time in a lower gear than usual, and I was turning about 25 to 2700 RPM. Trans temp was around 190 to 200 most of the way. I checked the trailer brakes and they were cold to the touch, so not dragging.

Today, I had another short trip to make. About 35 miles on the interstate, then back home. On the way there I tried running 70 again, same issues. Mid 7 MPG and revving like crazy. About half way there I hear a DING and the little orange engine lights up. I went through all the temps and everything was about the same as it had been before. 190-200 on the oil, 50 or so psi, seems like 210 or so engine temp.

The trip home I ran no tow mode, 65 ish, and petted the throttle and was able to get the MPG back up to about 9 and keep it in a higher gear to keep the RPM down. When in OD though the trans temp seems to run a little higher around 205.

Anyone else have a trailer about this size or bigger that can comment on their experiences? The trailer had very limited weight in it.... maybe 250 pounds total.

 

I have a 2010 Ram 3500 and the check engine light cam on at 360 miles on the truck. Turned out to be a leak on the egr. The dealer could not get it to leak but the sensor kept the light on.

 

The trailer is not as big as yours but a 12x6 U-haul with 2 motorcycle and all the stuff I had inside the total weight was around 4000 pounds.

The trip was about 600 miles round trip mostly freeway but there was some mountain climbing. It was also around 90 degrees outside.

The truck towed like there was nothing behind it. The only time I used the tow/Haul mode was climbing the mountains. All the temps where normal and I averaged about 13 MPG.

I would take you truck to the dealer and see whats up.

 

Took the truck in today. They called shortly ago and said the check engine light was due to a 'torque converter out of range' fault. They are replacing the torque converter and the transmission.

She said they should have it ready by Wednesday.

 

dweir- I noticed your sig.. How did your 2009 catch fire??

btw kinda sucks that you already lost a tranny so early.
Josh

 

A 11 Car pile up on I-5 north of LA. The Semi cab next to my truck was on fire.

 

Ouchhhh=(

 

Finally picked the truck up today. They had it ready yesterday, but I was out of town so I had to put it off for a bit. So, they had it a full seven days.

Here's the run-down:

Trouble code was P0740 TCC Out of Range. The tech's comments are as follows: "Check and found bad torque converter. Due to torque converter material in pan. Found sand pit in case. Leaking replaced case, torque converter, pump, seals and filter. Reasm and reinstalled and refilled and cleared codes and quick learn. road tested and chec out good at this time"

I don't know what caused the torque converter issue to magically happen all of a sudden. I've got about 15k on it total. Had about 250 towing the trailer and all was well. Stopped for the night and first thing the next morning it acted weird.

Anyway - The sand pit referrers to a (sand) casting defect in the housing of the transmission. I am sure there has never been any fluid under the truck after sitting in the driveway. I always take a quick glance when backing out in the mornings. I'm not sure where the 'leaking' the tech talks about was going.

One thing that I didn't like - They noted that there was material in the pan. That means it likely traveled all through the system. Yet they didn't replace the transmission, only removed the guts and placed them in a new case. Hopefully I don't have trouble with it again due to there being some damage from the material that was not corrected.

I can't really complain too much I guess. They had it a week and never offered a loaner vehicle which I thought was pretty crappy, but I didn't ask so I can't say much. I was hoping that they would either do the requested tire rotation for free, or starscan the backup camera for free while they had it... neither happened.

Oh well. If it goes down again, I might pitch a fit and ask for the backup camera activation...