New to the forum w/ questions

titanCO · 11-04-2006, 08:08 PM

Bought a brand new 06 LE CC 4wd, non BT, non OR last night after researching for a month and test driving Ford, Dodge, Chevy and Toyota. The Titan was the only truck that put a smile on my face whenever I drove it. I almost researched my way out of buying anything with all of the negative postings on all makes.

I broke the truck in on a 360 mile roundtrip fishing excursion today that took me on the interstate, through Denver and Colorado Springs traffic and into the mountains and got 18 mpg! The amazing thing was that I could keep the truck at or below 2,000 rpm for almost the entire day of driving consisting of 30 mph on rough mountain roads to 80 mph on the highway. The engine did not sound like it was struggling at all and acceleration and ability to pull on mountain grades was remarkable considering the low rpm's. It seems that this engine is perfectly matched with the transmission. and 2.94:1 gears.

My question is that I wonder if keeping the truck at consistent low rpm's is harmfull? Don't worry, the truck will see high RPM's also, as will Hemi's see my tail lights

Any advice on vehicle break in and how have your truck's performance changed after break in?

I guess I should throw my complaints out there as well to mess with anyone researching Titans. There are squeeks and rattles, but that just means the stereo isn't turned up enough. Also, the wheelbase is the perfect length for the concrete joints in the highway, giving an uncomfortable, jostling ride unless I was driving 85 mph. I was wondering if the cars next to me think I am having a siezure.

I look forward to posting here in the future and hearing from all of you. I almost forgot, fishing was great.

AgTitan06 · 11-04-2006, 08:17 PM

Welcome to TT!

SportCoupe · 11-05-2006, 05:53 AM

Avoid long, low rpm's while breaking an angine in. Also, avoid steady rpm's while cruising, you want to vary the rpm's as much as possible.

**Kronos1965** · 11-05-2006, 06:19 AM

Welcome to Titantalk!

Squeaks and rattles depending upon what they are have been brought up on the Forum. Use the search feature to see if what you experience is something you can fix or if it's a TSB...

Your ECU needs to have varied driving conditions to set itself. As long as you are driving in the correct gears for the conditions (i.e. not 1-3 gears for highway driving, you should overall be fine.)

Have fun with your truck.

**loufish** · 11-05-2006, 06:26 AM

Hello, welcome!

I tend to break-in a little heavy, but not crazy. I mix it up, a little cruise, then a little rpm and such. Also, try not to tow for a little while, the manual recomends 1000 miles.

Enjoy!

Aquaholic · 11-05-2006, 08:51 AM

To all the big smiles to come

titanCO · 11-05-2006, 01:50 PM

My bad. The squeeks and rattles were the cargo tie down cleats in a box in back that I forgot were there.

I drove it through Town today and every Dodge (there are a lot of brand new ones on the street) wanted to race. Is this normal as my previous truck was a Landcruiser and no other trucks would bother to race a Landcruiser. I read a lot of posts here on racing Dodges, but is it an almost daily occurence for people? Colorado has a lot of pick-ups and I live in a college town, so it may be a "Perfect Storm" for racing.

I did step on it once when a brand new 2500 Cummins Megacab was powerbraking at a stop light with a double left turn we were both at. I took off normal and made the turn with him and when we were both straight (I was on outside) he punched it. I nailed it and he wasn't even close when I reached 50 mph. He may have let off.

Misfit · 11-05-2006, 07:02 PM

I think Dodge Truck Owners are the most aggressive pickup truck drivers out there. Can't really explain why. Back when I had a Chevy truck, vette and Cutlass, it was the same thing. I bet they try racing the paper boy too.

I find it amusing that these "Hemi" drivers have no clue that their engines are not technically a hemi engine.

**HudsonValleyTitan** · 11-05-2006, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Misfit

I think Dodge Truck Owners are the most aggressive pickup truck drivers out there. Can't really explain why. Back when I had a Chevy truck, vette and Cutlass, it was the same thing. I bet they try racing the paper boy too.

I find it amusing that these "Hemi" drivers have no clue that their engines are not technically a hemi engine.

I think it's because Dodge trucks tend to cater more to a younger crowd. But as for the HEMI, it's not the original HEMI but, it is technically a HEMI because it does have the hemispherical shaped head...or rather we should call it a SEMI HEMI. Still a great motor.

miketan · 11-05-2006, 07:47 PM

You got to hand it to Dodge though. They rated the 5.7L Hemi at 345hp when it came out back in '03 and it has remained basically the same for 5 years. Yeah, maybe it's not actually 345hp or there's a ton of drivetrain loss through the tranny or something, but at least they didn't hedge their bets. I hate the way automakers play the "we'll increase HP just a little bit every few years" game. I wish Nissan did the same with the Titan. Rate the Endurance at the true rating (330-340hp) and be a class leader for a few years. I'm sure the '07's are putting out a real 350hp at the flywheel now so why not rate it at that figure? Put VVT on the exhaust cams as well and maybe Nissan can surpass the 367hp figure of the new Chevy 6.0L by a few ponies.

The heavy 2500 Cummins Megacab that you raced are pretty slow. Probably low 16's stock. I don't think you'd have a problem beating one of those in a Titan. However, if it had some mods on it the outcome probably would've been totally different.

titanCO · 11-05-2006, 08:57 PM

The Cummins had the temporary tag still, so probably no mods. It was some younger guys like Hudson Valley said, but I am 33 so I don't consider myself old yet, LOL. I honestly didn't buy the truck to race around in against other people although it is fun for me once in a while. I love the power and think it will a great benefit in my normal driving situations such as being an aggressive (proactive to be PC, not road rage) driver, pulling mountain grades and eventually getting a small slide in camper. My original post was giving props to the powertrain so people know the truck does not have to be driven hard to appreciate it.

It is too early to tell how my truck will perform gas mileage wise, but I was also wondering if keeping the truck in the low RPM's make a big difference in MPG's and if that was bad for the engine long term. A lot of people report bad mileage, but I wonder if that has to do more with driving habits and not necessarily the trucks themselves. In my mind, that could explain the big variance in fuel consumption numbers amongst different owner reports. Theoretically, there should be more variance in people than in modern manufacturing, unless the people doing the maufacturing are inconsistent.

My last pick-up was a 1997 F150 w/ the 4.6 Triton and I hated the lack of power. It sucked towing and sucked empty. One of the reasons Nissan drew my attention was that back in 2000 Nissan sent me a letter stating that they would buy my truck if I participated in a focus study. I thought it was BS, but participated. They bought the truck and assume they used the participants comments and possibly took the trucks apart to see what design elements caused negative and positive feedback and used that information to design the Titan. As a Civil Engineer, I can appreciate real world data and the higher comfort level that can be obtained vs. basing the design completely on theory. It probably saves the design team a lot of time. Funny thing is recently a Ford dealer gave me a DVD that showed how the F150 compares to the Chevy, Dodge, Toyota and Nissan where they stripped them all down and discussed design elements and pointed out the superiority of the Ford. They had valid points on some issues, but any of the manufacturers can point out areas where their product is superior, so I took it with a grain of salt.

I don't know if it is human nature or just my character, but now that I bought the truck I am finding myself going through the posts on this forum and appreciating the positives on the vehicle rather than focusing on the negatives like when I was still researching.

This forum is great and a wealth of knowledge. I hope as I spend time with the truck I can offer more input on some of these discussions.