21RamEcodieselOwner
New Member
- Apr 16, 2022
- 3
- 0
- Truck Year
- 2021
I just turned over 57,000 miles on my 2021 Ram Big Horn which I really like driving, obviously, right? Yes, that’s a lot of miles in 23 months. 5,000+ of those miles were spent towing a 31’ travel trailer with absolutely no problems. My story below does have a happy ending but is full of worst case scenario warnings that I think I should heed.
A month or so ago I had a constant engine light with a glow plug light that flashed for about a minute or so before going out. Dealer read the code and determined it was a #4 glowplug that was out and ordered the part. I was told no problem continuing to drive it for the month or so to get the part in. Part arrived this past week and I had an appointment to install it next day. My plan was to wait at the dealership for repair to be done. Service guy has a discussion with his maintenance tech and then asks me if I can leave the truck overnight so they can soak the glowplug area in solvent to ensure they don’t break it coming out. I mentioned that shouldn’t be an issue as this is a 2021 and that issue was supposed to be resolved with 2020 models head redesign. Service guy says they’ve already had a 2020 Ram glowplug break on them and it was a couple months before all the parts (head, etc) were in to get truck back to owner. Seems it’s rust that locks the glow plug in. Oh, and they don’t have any loaner vehicles . I told him I could wait for a couple of hours but this is currently my only vehicle. A couple hours later my truck is fixed with no issues. My concerns: the service guy was so elated that the glowplug hadn’t gotten stuck or broke upon extraction. Terms like “We really got lucky this time,” and “We really dodged a bullet this time” were being bantered about.
I thought when I bought my Ecodiesel that FCA had fixed most of the Ecodiesel engine’s systemic issues and I wouldn’t have to worry about what a lot of you are posting here. When I read the discussion about someone getting a $8000+ bill for having a glow plug replacement that included the head and the body being removed from the frame…that’s too much. Factor in that Diesel fuel is about 40% higher in price than gas right now and you’ve eliminated the higher fuel mileage incentive. I shouldn’t even mention the higher price I paid for the Ecodiesel engine, $4,995, already cut into the economic excuse to buy it.
So, in conclusion I have started shopping on line for a 2022 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 L V8 gas engine. I’ll let you know what happens as I’ve only started doing my research on them.
A month or so ago I had a constant engine light with a glow plug light that flashed for about a minute or so before going out. Dealer read the code and determined it was a #4 glowplug that was out and ordered the part. I was told no problem continuing to drive it for the month or so to get the part in. Part arrived this past week and I had an appointment to install it next day. My plan was to wait at the dealership for repair to be done. Service guy has a discussion with his maintenance tech and then asks me if I can leave the truck overnight so they can soak the glowplug area in solvent to ensure they don’t break it coming out. I mentioned that shouldn’t be an issue as this is a 2021 and that issue was supposed to be resolved with 2020 models head redesign. Service guy says they’ve already had a 2020 Ram glowplug break on them and it was a couple months before all the parts (head, etc) were in to get truck back to owner. Seems it’s rust that locks the glow plug in. Oh, and they don’t have any loaner vehicles . I told him I could wait for a couple of hours but this is currently my only vehicle. A couple hours later my truck is fixed with no issues. My concerns: the service guy was so elated that the glowplug hadn’t gotten stuck or broke upon extraction. Terms like “We really got lucky this time,” and “We really dodged a bullet this time” were being bantered about.
I thought when I bought my Ecodiesel that FCA had fixed most of the Ecodiesel engine’s systemic issues and I wouldn’t have to worry about what a lot of you are posting here. When I read the discussion about someone getting a $8000+ bill for having a glow plug replacement that included the head and the body being removed from the frame…that’s too much. Factor in that Diesel fuel is about 40% higher in price than gas right now and you’ve eliminated the higher fuel mileage incentive. I shouldn’t even mention the higher price I paid for the Ecodiesel engine, $4,995, already cut into the economic excuse to buy it.
So, in conclusion I have started shopping on line for a 2022 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 L V8 gas engine. I’ll let you know what happens as I’ve only started doing my research on them.