Maintenence

[Barbell]

We recently upgraded our tow vehicle and now pull with a 2016 Ram 3500 drw CTD. While it is a big improvement over our old truck (2001 2500 CTD), there is a fairly steep learning curve with it. It came with free oil changes for the first 60,000 miles. Since it was getting close to the 15,000 mile mark, I took it in this week and the dealer did the oil change and a complete bumper to bumper check of all fluid levels, tire pressures and tread depth, belts, hoses, etc. Since the fuel filter life as indicated on the DIC, was about the same as the oil and filter life, I assumed that the fuel filter would be changed as well. Not so. So I went to the parts dept and asked for a fuel filter for the truck and paid almost $100 for one filter. At that point, I did not know that there are two fuel filters on this truck. It uses a cartridge type filter (part #68157291aa) in a housing on the left side of the engine and a spin-on type filter (part #68197867ab) just to the right of the driveshaft ahead of the differential. I looked on the Cummins Owners site for information on these filters and found nothing of importance. Finally, I went to Amazon. There, I found you can buy both filters for about what the dealer charges for one. Also, on the Q&A section, I found answers to my questions the dealer's parts dept could not answer. Granted this is a small town dealer in rural Arizona, but they sell a lot of Ram CTD to farmers and construction folks so I would have assumed they knew something about their product, but as my father-in-law used to say, "don't never assume nuthin."
We love this new truck but wonder what else there is that we don't know.

[nellie1289]

Originally Posted by Barbell

We recently upgraded our tow vehicle and now pull with a 2016 Ram 3500 drw CTD. While it is a big improvement over our old truck (2001 2500 CTD), there is a fairly steep learning curve with it. It came with free oil changes for the first 60,000 miles. Since it was getting close to the 15,000 mile mark, I took it in this week and the dealer did the oil change and a complete bumper to bumper check of all fluid levels, tire pressures and tread depth, belts, hoses, etc. Since the fuel filter life as indicated on the DIC, was about the same as the oil and filter life, I assumed that the fuel filter would be changed as well. Not so. So I went to the parts dept and asked for a fuel filter for the truck and paid almost $100 for one filter. At that point, I did not know that there are two fuel filters on this truck. It uses a cartridge type filter (part #68157291aa) in a housing on the left side of the engine and a spin-on type filter (part #68197867ab) just to the right of the driveshaft ahead of the differential. I looked on the Cummins Owners site for information on these filters and found nothing of importance. Finally, I went to Amazon. There, I found you can buy both filters for about what the dealer charges for one. Also, on the Q&A section, I found answers to my questions the dealer's parts dept could not answer. Granted this is a small town dealer in rural Arizona, but they sell a lot of Ram CTD to farmers and construction folks so I would have assumed they knew something about their product, but as my father-in-law used to say, "don't never assume nuthin."
We love this new truck but wonder what else there is that we don't know.

Follow what your owners manual says, specifically the diesel supplement. I think the fuel filter is every 12,500 and yes there are two. word on the street is they are on really tight from the factory so beware. tons of information on other forums like cumminsforum.com.

[Desert185]

Parts and various other Dodge goodies available at: www.genosgarage.com

[Barbell]

I have the Ram Truck Diesel Supplement which says on page 321 that the fuel filters should be changed every 15000 miles or 12 months, which is the same interval for oil and oil filter change.