Hello guys, I have been reading the threads the past day or so and decided to give some input and ask some questions. First, in December I bought 2004 HD2500 w/the Power Pac. I pull a 32' CM 3 horse w/ living quarters. Loaded down I estimate it to be around 13K lbs. Shes been giving me no trouble. 75mph is the sweet speed pulling the trailer, athough she has more to offer. I am getting around 11 mpg under this load at 75. My question is, I am hearing the stories about the injector stuff. I have already racked up 5500 milles in about 3 months. What should I be looking for here. Do I have the LLY LBY (????) version with the better design injector? Mine says 'common rail' on the side. Any suggestions? I did not get any kind of maintenance manual.


What filters should I be buying and do I need a secondary?


What about the chip thing. Is this somthing I should consider since I am towing alot? I have heard a couple of cases of people blowing out thier rear end.

Hello guys, I have been reading the threads the past day or so and decided to give some input and ask some questions. First, in December I bought 2004 HD2500 w/the Power Pac. I pull a 32' CM 3 horse w/ living quarters. Loaded down I estimate it to be around 13K lbs. Shes been giving me no trouble. 75mph is the sweet speed pulling the trailer, athough she has more to offer. I am getting around 11 mpg under this load at 75. My question is, I am hearing the stories about the injector stuff. I have already racked up 5500 milles in about 3 months. What should I be looking for here. Do I have the LLY LBY (????) version with the better design injector? Mine says 'common rail' on the side. Any suggestions? I did not get any kind of maintenance manual.


What filters should I be buying and do I need a secondary?


What about the chip thing. Is this somthing I should consider since I am towing alot? I have heard a couple of cases of people blowing out thier rear end.

You will have better mileage and better hp after break-in -> 8k to 10k miles.

Use an additive with good lubricity - only ones that have been shown to have enough are rotella DFA and Stanadyne Performance Formula (or their lubricity formula). The fuel you buy probably won't have enough lubricity to protect the truck's fuel injection system.

I don't think you absolutely need to add additional filatration - but I have anyway... Numbers here on OEM filter look a little fishy - one measurement with 16% efficiency at 2 micon and another at 80% -the RAcor product manager said it was probably 80 on the other site; BTW I can't find this post any more? Deleted for the benefit of the sponsors???

jeff

Welcome to the board. Since you bought in December you most likely have the LB7 engine same as earlier versions with the injectors located under the valve covers. You should be able to figure this out by looking to see if you have a fuel line going inside the valve cover. In response to your question about injectors I don't believe that the vote is in on the 2004 having better injectors but I could be wrong. As far as filters go the only one I know of that you want to stear clear of is the one from FRAM. I believe all other filters at this time are from the same source RACOR but just repackaged. As for secondary filteration on this board you would find it highly recomended but I believe the last pole showed that the majority of the members are not running secondary filteration. Lab results show it is a significant improvment over stock as far as fuel cleanliness goes so I recomend it. Now for the Chip... I have driven one truck with it and I got to say "wow does that run good" I hear it even pulls better. However there is a matter of $500 to $800 and the possibility of having your warranty voided if you get caught with it. So far I have not been able to justify the expense and the possible longer term expense if I am found out and you can bet it would be just my luck to have my wife try and be nice some day and drive it in there without me knowing to get something or another done and have it blow up in my face. so the dicision is yours. I haven't heard about to many rearends going bad but there were a few. I was more concerned with the rearends being 2 quarts low than a few goig bad. My suggestion is change the rearend fluid and fill it up like it needs to be.

On the addative, every fill up? every other? Whats the rule per say.

On the addative, every fill up? every other? Whats the rule per say.


If you were only using the additive to help handle water or clean injectors then every other tank would be fine. But, unfortunately, there is a high probability that the fuel's lubricity is inadequate - you need to add an additive to every tankful in order to ensure that the fuel has enough lubrication - this lubrication is needed by the fuel pump and the injectors.


This fuel issue should be resolved mid to late 2004 in california and 2006 (new EPA standards), as new lubricity standards are adopted. Currently, there are no standards enforced for lubricity. In california, the refineries have agreed to meet SLBOCLE (ball on cylinder test) - but unfortunately, this test doesn't correlate well with wear mechanisms for our truck (i.e. a fuel can pass a BOCLE test and still not pass HFRR test). High Frequency Reciprocating Rig (HFRR) test (particulary Euro EN590) does correlate with pump and injector wear on new high pressure (20k-30k psia) fuel injection systems (i.e. our engines pump and injectors).


There are presentations on the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the california EPA, that indicate that Bosch, CARB, and the truck manufacturers are aware that the fuel is inadequate. But, by law they have to produce a truck that will run on existing fuels; So, their choice is to buy truckloads of additives for all us DMAX owners (and now Dodge, and now ford owners have new high pressure bosch fuel injection) or repair the injectors when they fail - knowing the failure rate will drop off when the fuels improve in 2 years. Betcha it's cheaper to fix 'em when they come back...





jeffEdited by: dmax lover