Hello, we just purchased a 06 Dodge Ram CTD. We have had it for about 2 months and have put about 3500 miles on it. My husband is a Diesel mechanic but this is his first experience with a 06. We are only getting 11.5 mpg on it and it really sucks! I was wondering if anyone else has a 06 and what they are getting right off the lot? I know the more miles we put on, ect that we will get better fuel mileage, but this seems a little extreme especially since we arent even towing anything. Anyone else with the same issue??? [sm=boohoo.gif][sm=feedback.gif]

 

if you have the 6spd or the auto with 4.10 axels that sounds about right for it coming straight off the lot. if you have the auto and 3.73's then you might have a slight issue. but I do need to ask one thing, is this off the overhead console or hand calculated from the pump? My overhead is about 2mpg lower than what my hand calculated is.

anyway, pulling off the lot the auto's w/3.73 axels should be getting about 16 and go up from there, when I pulled off the lot I was getting about 13 adn I have the old 6spd and 4.10 axels.

some things I have learned about my truck is that even though you do have THE most powerful diesel on the market for the 3/4 adn 1 ton trucks, and it is fun to floor it when taking off, that kills fuel mileage worse than towing and being easy with it. I know showing the mustangs and corvettes that a 8000 pound truck can keep up with them is fun, and I am accused of it myself, be easy with the take offs. another thing is that the engine is fully broken in like you said, give it time and it will get better. One thing I found is a home brew of Power Service(16oz) and Marvel's Mystery oil(8oz) that I add to each tank. I get about 2-2.5 and sometimes almost 3 miles to the gallon better then not useing it, plus I also notice the engines throttle responce is better. now I know additives arent necessary for the newer engines since they can handle the newer lower sulfur fuels. but when I can save myself over $5 a tank it pays for itself.

however the best thing I ever did was tow 8k worth of junk in a box trailer and thrash the go pedal as much as I could. I even put a piece of tape over the fuel gage so I wouldnt pay attention to it[8D]. granted I was running into the single digits with fuel mileage cause I was florring it. but afterwards my fuel mileage has been on average 2 mpg better.

at first you might seem a bit apprehensive about driveing it due to mileage, but just get in it and drive and enjoy it.

if you have any other questions dont be afraid to ask

besides I used to be a Diesel Mechanic for the military, but that is also about saying that I was an oil change guy at a dealership[:@] but I have since moved on to bigger and better things

 

Hey, thanks for the info. We have a 4x4, automatic with 3.73's and I am going off of the digital gauge that tells me what my average MPG is. We have also used a fuel additive which seemed to help 1-2 mpg more, but it didnt seem to last long. I will try and hand calculate and see what I am truly getting. We are just waiting for the chip to come out in hopes that it will help. I do tend to have a lead foot and like to gun it when taking off from the stop lights, so I will watch that and see if it makes a difference. I know that it doesnt make a difference on the digital gauge, but am very curious how it will turn out with the manual calculations[sm=gears.gif]!

No worries about me not driving it. I drive that bad boy every day to work! Anyway, thanks so much for your feedback! Let me know if you think of anything else!

 

I started with 13 mpg no matter what I did pulling off the lot. Nothing changed it in the first 1000 miles, neither my foor, additives, #1 or #2, nothing. I towed the camper one last time this year (first time with the truck) average speed 70, tried to push it like you all said towing to break it in lots of hills. I am now getting 14.8 to 15.3 with 1600 miles on it. I want the 20-21 everyone is boasting about. I am going to try an filter kit and see what that does.

 

When I first got mine in March, I was getting around 15 or so and was concerned.
After I got a couple hundred miles on the clock, I started getting better milage.
Im now getting around 18 or better with 12K on her.

 

Drew,
I bought some of your home brew. That stuff is expensive, but anyway. Do you premix the stuff adn keep it in a bottle behind the seat? Just wondering if I have to keep two bottles or just mix them and pour. Just wonderin'.

D

 

Ive got 4 32oz bottles that I keep in the basement pre mixed so all I have to do is pour it in at one shot.

it might be expensive up front, but you'll notice in the long run it will pay for itself a few times over after a while.

 

Well you make what you want of it, but I ran into a guy from Dodge tonight. I am a firefighter and we had a call to a local truck stop. After the call there was a Mega cab diesel attached to a single axle enclosed trailer. The trailer was covered with maga cab, dodge and cummins logos. We stopped so I could talk to him. He was driving a fully loaded 2006 mega cab CTD, 4x4 and I asked about his mileage. He said he was getting 18, he showed me the overhead and it read 18.2, and he ahd not yet calculated the trip meter so he did it with me there and was 18.

As many have said and he also said mileage and break in are key. His odometer read 6000 something. He said the mileage woould improve with miles and break in. So there ya go take it or leave it.

 

Thanks for the info Drew. My '05 QC CTD 4X4 is at about 6000 and its gettin right at 16.5. Most of my miles are highway (76mph) since I drive two hours to work every third day. Hopefully this stuff will make it better! Cant get any worse than the Jeep GC V8 @ 15.5mpg that I was driving.

 

I just bought my 06, 2500, 3.73 rear end, 4x4, automatic last week. I am still on the first tank. The overhead is saying 14.9 mpg. I have been driving it very easy except when I took my friend for a show-off ride (about 10 miles only). I only have 300 miles on this truck as of this afternoon. I to hope that the milage goes up but I'm not worried about it yet, I'm having to much fun playing with the satellite radio and power seats. Man, I love my truck.

Tim