Lou_and_Bette
Well-known member
Thought you were getting ready to upgrade
Def
- Thread starter Gaffer
- Start date
Thought you were getting ready to upgrade
porthole
Retired
The truck ?
That was put on hold last June when we ordered the Landmark at Goshen.
Still undecided as to which route to go with the truck anyway, 450, MDT or HDT.
Maybe next year. For now the DEF needs to be done, gets old resetting the codes every other start.
WillyBill
Well-known member
WOW!!! I'll take some of that action. Where did you find it for that price. I just paid 14.00 at the auto parts store day before yesterday. Usually best sale around here is 11.99.
TIA,
WB
Gaffer
Well-known member
Bi-mart, a local discount chain with great prices. The Peak Blue DEF was on sale. The regular price is $9 and change.
Just completed an almost 2000 mile round trip from Houston to Tennesee and back. 2018 Ram 3500 DRW, 6.7L 3.42 gears, 68RFE trans, tow/haul mode on, exhaust brake on Auto. Before leaving, the DEF gauge was a 1/2, so I bought two 2-1/2 gal bottles of DEF from Walmart for $8-ish each. One 2-1/2 gal bottle put the gauge back on full. Drove from Houston to Hattiesburg, MS, stayed the night there, then drove from Hattiesburg to Rock Island, TN. Upon arrival at Rock Island, I noticed the gauge was back down to 1/2. So I poured in the extra bottle that I brought with me. Back to full. After our stay in Rock Island, we drove to Hot Springs, AR, stayed 1 night, then headed back home to Houston. After arriving back home, the gauge reads 1/2 again. So it appears that in 2000 ish miles, I burned 5 gals of DEF. This was pulling our RW that weighs in around 15k loaded, running between 60-70 mph depending on road conditions, using cruise control when possible. Overall fuel mileage of the whole trip ended up at 8.1 mpg.
JWalker
Northeast Region Director-Retired
Close to the same results here. Maybe slightly better. Last 2 trips. 1692 total miles, 1525 towing. Started with full DEF tank. Finished at just above 1/4 tank. 16 RAM 4:10 gears Aisin. Trailer is sitting just a tick above 15K.
NYSUPstater
Well-known member
Heading for vaykay soon so starting to get things in ship shape. Filled DEF up as the gauge said close to 1/4. Went to Pilot, pre paid 15 bucks or 5 gallons (2.90/gal). When all was said and done, I reached the $15.00 mark before the handle clicked off, but it had to be darn close to being full-full. Gauge says it's full. 2800 miles. IMO, should make the round trip w/o having to get DEF along the way.
khuffmanjr
Member
Wow, so many things I want to comment on... I'll stick to three. Oil change intervals, DEF/Diesel fuel at truck stops and DEF tank gauges in pickups:
So I read one of you changes oil at 5k miles...holy crap! I've driven three different 6.7 Cummins motors approx 300,000 miles in the last 7 years and over the last two years I've towed with two of those motors approx. 30,000 miles. I have a dealer perform an oil service and fuel filters change every 15,000 miles and have zero problems with my motors. I did have a water pump go out in Arizona in 108 degree heat, but a dealer across the border in New Mexico replaced it with a part that had less plastic in it...lol. Anyway, zero problems with my chosen interval. If you guys are changing oil at 5k or 10k miles, you ought to save a bit of money and let it ride. I read a while back that a guy that ran several RAM 3500 trucks with drivers doing hotshot used to have his oil sampled and tested along the way up to 30k intervals and it never tested bad. He still changed it at 30k intervals though. Wow! To each their own though, I guess.
As for DEF at the truck pumps and Truck Stop diesel... A while back I got the RV plus charge card for Pilot/Flying J and save about 8c/gal over the truckers on the cash price of the fuel. I love the convenience. We tend to look ahead a bit on maps and see which stops have Subway vs other fast food or Denny's. We like to keep moving but DON'T like burgers and fries at every stop (in fact, its rare that we eat a burger from a place like that). I also recently went through the process of getting a Love's Fleet card that draws from my bank account weekly. I'm driver number 1 in truck number 1, hehe. Similar convenience but we don't save 8c/gal over anyone else. We can also get our DEF at the truck stops pretty cheaply. Now anyone worried about getting that B20 diesel without your B20 certification from RAM/Ford/whatever, well, don't worry. It works well. Zero issues in all the miles traveled on B20 fuel. Some people consider it a treat to fill up on B20. RAM suggests a more frequent oil change schedule on B20 fuel but I won't do it. My fuel filter and oil life indicators still get to 0% at about 15k miles whether on B20 or regular diesel, give or take a few miles. Though I think the indicators in the computer go by fuel consumption and don't know what kind of fuel was put nor would the computer know how much crap is in the fuel filter. In any case, my Cummins motors do great on B20 and 15k mile intervals.
And as for the DEF gauges, especially in the RAM trucks, they're a bit off but pretty good indicators otherwise. For my last three 6.7 RAMs, the first half of the 5 gallon tank will be depleted before the needle moves. When it starts to drop below "Full", then I know a 2.5 gallon "can" will nearly completely fit in the DEF tank. So since I stopped using store-bought DEF and moved to the truck pumps, I basically just wait til the needle starts to move and then fill DEF the next time I need fuel. about 2-25 gallons goes in if I top it off. My towing/non-towing truck usage is probably a bit different than a lot of you though, so keeping a spare DEF "can" in the truck is probably handy for some.
As for my usage, I tow a lot. I use my RVs as a hotel on wheels for my out of town work. I have weekly engagements around the country and drive to them over the weekend. I work from "home" a lot too, online, so we have the habit lately of just picking a place and camping out for a week to do my work and also work in a bit of sightseeing as well. Long story short, I do a lot of towing, relative to non-towing usage, and so I go through a lot more DEF and fuel than a lot of you. At least its a tax deduction!
Hope this was useful to someone. Good luck!
Ken
Edited: because my brain got ahead of fingers!
So I read one of you changes oil at 5k miles...holy crap! I've driven three different 6.7 Cummins motors approx 300,000 miles in the last 7 years and over the last two years I've towed with two of those motors approx. 30,000 miles. I have a dealer perform an oil service and fuel filters change every 15,000 miles and have zero problems with my motors. I did have a water pump go out in Arizona in 108 degree heat, but a dealer across the border in New Mexico replaced it with a part that had less plastic in it...lol. Anyway, zero problems with my chosen interval. If you guys are changing oil at 5k or 10k miles, you ought to save a bit of money and let it ride. I read a while back that a guy that ran several RAM 3500 trucks with drivers doing hotshot used to have his oil sampled and tested along the way up to 30k intervals and it never tested bad. He still changed it at 30k intervals though. Wow! To each their own though, I guess.
As for DEF at the truck pumps and Truck Stop diesel... A while back I got the RV plus charge card for Pilot/Flying J and save about 8c/gal over the truckers on the cash price of the fuel. I love the convenience. We tend to look ahead a bit on maps and see which stops have Subway vs other fast food or Denny's. We like to keep moving but DON'T like burgers and fries at every stop (in fact, its rare that we eat a burger from a place like that). I also recently went through the process of getting a Love's Fleet card that draws from my bank account weekly. I'm driver number 1 in truck number 1, hehe. Similar convenience but we don't save 8c/gal over anyone else. We can also get our DEF at the truck stops pretty cheaply. Now anyone worried about getting that B20 diesel without your B20 certification from RAM/Ford/whatever, well, don't worry. It works well. Zero issues in all the miles traveled on B20 fuel. Some people consider it a treat to fill up on B20. RAM suggests a more frequent oil change schedule on B20 fuel but I won't do it. My fuel filter and oil life indicators still get to 0% at about 15k miles whether on B20 or regular diesel, give or take a few miles. Though I think the indicators in the computer go by fuel consumption and don't know what kind of fuel was put nor would the computer know how much crap is in the fuel filter. In any case, my Cummins motors do great on B20 and 15k mile intervals.
And as for the DEF gauges, especially in the RAM trucks, they're a bit off but pretty good indicators otherwise. For my last three 6.7 RAMs, the first half of the 5 gallon tank will be depleted before the needle moves. When it starts to drop below "Full", then I know a 2.5 gallon "can" will nearly completely fit in the DEF tank. So since I stopped using store-bought DEF and moved to the truck pumps, I basically just wait til the needle starts to move and then fill DEF the next time I need fuel. about 2-25 gallons goes in if I top it off. My towing/non-towing truck usage is probably a bit different than a lot of you though, so keeping a spare DEF "can" in the truck is probably handy for some.
As for my usage, I tow a lot. I use my RVs as a hotel on wheels for my out of town work. I have weekly engagements around the country and drive to them over the weekend. I work from "home" a lot too, online, so we have the habit lately of just picking a place and camping out for a week to do my work and also work in a bit of sightseeing as well. Long story short, I do a lot of towing, relative to non-towing usage, and so I go through a lot more DEF and fuel than a lot of you. At least its a tax deduction!
Hope this was useful to someone. Good luck!
Ken
Edited: because my brain got ahead of fingers!
NYSUPstater
Well-known member
Just got back recently from our vaykay trip to the sunshine state. In regards to the DEF (seeing this is subject), I ave just over 400 miles/gal of Def for the round trip (upstate NY to Orlando--around 2900 miles). Thought this was a tad high, but truck hardly ever got shut off once started while towing, stop/go traffic, etc. Never did see the msg display come up for cleaning exhaust filter. Side note, never did scale out either, so rough guess weight was around 24-25,000. Ave 70 mph, A/C on all the time and overall MPG was 8.9. Was aiming for 9 so was happy. 1st time w/ a dually on a long trip and VERY HAPPY w/ it.
Oregon_Camper
Well-known member
SNOKING
Well-known member
Yea...can someone show me HOW to use Peak Blue without having the cap leak?
Try tipping the box up into the fill with the boxes spout on the high side of the box, not the low side. AKA like upside down. Chris
