Has anyone converted a 2011 Ram 5.7 to run on CNG? I am looking in to this and I am trying to find out a few things. I would like to find out who can program the ecu to work with cng?

 

Kit for the 4.7L. I suspect that the MDS system on a 5.7 complicates a CNG swap
http://www.automotive-fleet.com/News...x?prestitial=1

 

Seems to me if they have a kit for the 4.7 then they could have a kit for the 5.7. I wonder why they only have it for the 4.7? I also wonder if I could get a reprogrammed ecu for a 5.7 and make it work. I live in a state that it is not illegal to convert your vehicle to cng. As long as you don't screw with the emissions then it's not a problem.

 

4.7 is already set up for flex fuel, so they built it to deal with a wide adjustment range on the fuel side.

 

But is it possible to reprogram the ecu in the 2011 5.7 to work with cng? Could it be done?

 

No one has cracked the 2011 ECU yet... so its a problem

 

I have a 4.7, what would be the benefit of running cng?

 

The bad things about CNG are:

1) range (about half that of a gasoline-fueled vehicle)

2) time to refuel. If a station has a high-pressure (3,000-4,000 psi )tank, it goes quick.

3) Such stations are not common (At least not in the USA)

 

Possible advantages
1 cost depending on the prices in your area
2 very clean burning
3 engine longevity
I had a friend in NM some years back that had 300,000 miles on it with no internal repairs and the oil looked like new after 5000 miles. With the new gas discoveries going on might be the way to go. I am looking at a new truck pretty soon and plan to look into it.

 

CNG in my area range from about $1.25 to $1.85 a gallon (which is still criminal as it's basically a no cost by-product in the making of gasoline). I know a couple of guys who have done a CNG conversion who report about 60-65% of the fuel economy they get with gasoline, so it's still very cost beneficial.

It is the cleanest burning of all the fossil fuels

I had read a study about five years ago conducted in Germany that showed Mercedes gas engines in many cases could exceed even diesel engine longevity when running CNG, as there were many test engines with over 1,000,000 miles on them. Tear-downs of these engines showed remarkably little wear even at such high mileages.

If it ever gains enough momentum here in the US to threaten the oil companies, the politicians whose pockets they are in will come up with ways to regulate it out of existence or tax it so that it's not cost beneficial vs. gasoline just like they did with bio-diesel...