[margeleept]

These foul practices should really be reported to @RamCares.

I did call Ram and was told that I had to "go with my gut" about what to believe. They said that sometimes dealers "see things" that the non-mechanics at Ram don't know about. They tried really hard not to say that our dealer was over-recommending. Is @RamCares something different?

 

[MaggieMarty]

I did call Ram and was told that I had to "go with my gut" about what to believe. They said that sometimes dealers "see things" that the non-mechanics at Ram don't know about. They tried really hard not to say that our dealer was over-recommending. Is @RamCares something different?

See their intro post here

https://www.promasterforum.com/threads/hello-from-ramcares.90962/post-709043

 

[manwithavan]

No way they're cleaning the injectors; they're fairly in there and you can be sure they'd bill you a good chunk of change to do that, not to mention it would be a very weird bit of maintenance to do on a 30k mile 2020 van. I'm positive what they're doing is throwing some "cleaning" additive into the fuel tank, which costs $4 or so and is completely worthless especially as a one off (if you want to throw something into your fuel tank and want it to work, you almost always have to do it long term, and even then the effect is not massive.)

No, the only thing they're cleaning out is your wallet. Stay away from that place. If you have a specific concern about your van then post it here or ask a legitimate indie mechanic, otherwise I would stick to the scheduled maintenance.

 

[margeleept]

See their intro post here

https://www.promasterforum.com/threads/hello-from-ramcares.90962/post-709043

Done, thank you! It'll be interesting to see what they say.

 

[margeleept]

No way they're cleaning the injectors; they're fairly in there and you can be sure they'd bill you a good chunk of change to do that, not to mention it would be a very weird bit of maintenance to do on a 30k mile 2020 van. I'm positive what they're doing is throwing some "cleaning" additive into the fuel tank, which costs $4 or so and is completely worthless especially as a one off (if you want to throw something into your fuel tank and want it to work, you almost always have to do it long term, and even then the effect is not massive.)

No, the only thing they're cleaning out is your wallet. Stay away from that place. If you have a specific concern about your van then post it here or ask a legitimate indie mechanic, otherwise I would stick to the scheduled maintenance.

Thank you! The fuel injector cleaning (or whatever they do) isn't even recommended anywhere on the maintenance schedule in the manual, but 3 of 4 dealers I spoke to said we should do it and all said it was $400. We are going to take it to an independent mechanic.

 

[MaggieMarty]

Done, thank you! It'll be interesting to see what they say.

So am I!!

 

[manwithavan]

Yep, $400 means they're not taking the injectors out (unless you have some incredibly cheap labor) - you're looking at probably 3+ hours of shop time just to get in and out of there with your typical rusty intake manifold bolts, plus whatever they're charging to clean them. I'd hope that they're not charging $400 to just dump injector cleaner into your tank, so that's probably $400 to kill the fuel pump and hook a pressurized mini-tank of injector cleaner directly into your fuel line. Sure, it gets them somewhat cleaner, but not totally clean... and they shouldn't be all that dirty on a 30k mile PM anyway. My philosophy - if they need to be cleaned, take them out and clean them the right way; if they don't, leave them be, like 99.9% of other Promasters.

Good choice to go to an independent mechanic!

 

[MsNomer]

A number of us here have vans approaching 10 years old that run just fine without that snake oil they are selling. Ours actually is 10 years old, 237,000 miles. We just follow the maintenance guide in the manual, change the oil early if we are headed out on a long trip so that MrNomer can do it at home instead of having it done on the road.

 

[phil]

Ram dealerships are independent business and that's how Ram treats them, Ram doesn't tell the dealer how to run their business.

If someone get's their fuel lines cleaned or any other scam at a dealership the next dealer service writer will see that as an opportunity to rip you off.

 

[HarryN]

One way to reduce your fuel injector cleaning requirement is to purchase the right gasoline.

My brother used to be in the refining business and said that union 76 has the best additive blend for this.

 

[MtBiker]

One way to reduce your fuel injector cleaning requirement is to purchase the right gasoline.

My brother used to be in the refining business and said that union 76 has the best additive blend for this.

I have purchased the last expensive fuel available for at least the last 25 years. Multiple vehicle's with 200,000 plus miles and never had a fuel injector clog.
I have dumped some Seafoam or Techron into my gas in occasion just because it made me feel good.

 

[HippieGypsy]

One way to reduce your fuel injector cleaning requirement is to purchase the right gasoline.

My brother used to be in the refining business and said that union 76 has the best additive blend for this.

I have purchased the last expensive fuel available for at least the last 25 years. Multiple vehicle's with 200,000 plus miles and never had a fuel injector clog.
I have dumped some Seafoam or Techron into my gas in occasion just because it made me feel good.

9mm or .45? Ford or Chevy? Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen? Po-TAY-toe Po-TAH-toe, To-MAY-toe To-MAH-toe? Expensive dino juice or cheap a$$ gas? Oh, the anguishing mysteries of modern life.
I've never had an injector clog either but, oh boy, back in the day when you could actually see what was going on I saw some absolutely filthy carburetors. I put the cheapest Top Tier gas I can find in my rig (TOP TIER - High-quality Fuel Performance Standard - TOP TIER™) and also otherwise avoid being impoverished by unscrupulous RAM dealers.

(P.S., A quick calculation shows that at my annual rate of mileage over the past 5 years of PM ownership it will take me another 21 years reach 200K. So actuarially I have little chance of adding any data to @MtBiker 's cheap a$$ gas hypothesis.)

 

[MtBiker]

A little of the main topic but relates to fuel.
I have purchased a lot of fuel in Baja over the last 20th years, about half of it went into dirtbikes. Lots of it came out of 55 gallon drums and gas cans on some remote road or beach.
1500 miles Ensenada to Cabo 6 times.
Never once have I gotten bad fuel or had any fuel related problem.
Just throwing that out there as I know that is one of the things people why about traveling outside the US.

 

[HippieGypsy]

A little of the main topic but relates to fuel.
I have purchased a lot of fuel in Baja over the last 20th years, about half of it went into dirtbikes. Lots of it came out of 55 gallon drums and gas cans on some remote road or beach.
1500 miles Ensenada to Cabo 6 times.
Never once have I gotten bad fuel or had any fuel related problem.
Just throwing that out there as I know that is one of the things people why about traveling outside the US.

Viva Mexico!

 

[HarryN]

Sometimes the gasoline sold in those locations is more stable than what we can purchase in California.

The very high refinement levels required, along with the oxygenates leads to unstable fuel and that is what we have here.

The very tight specs leads to a very small improvement in emissions levels but dramatically increases the cost of equipment to do the job. Typical CA.

____

I have unfortunately fought this issue in my honda lawn mower for a long time. Tried every possible brand of fuel stabilizer, all for naught.

What finally worked ? Exactly what the lawn mower shop told me to do the first time and I ignored. Gasoline sold in a steel can for small engines.

The stuff sold at gas stations - no matter which ones, was not stable in a honda fuel system. Within months they gum up.

You are welcome to purchase whatever you like.

 

[manwithavan]

@HarryN agreed, CA gas is a worse product and of course more expensive as well.

In terms of additives, for small engines or otherwise - Back years ago when I had fuel issues I did way too much research and stumbled upon PRI products (PRI-G for gas and PRI-D for diesel.) As it turns out, this is the only serious product in terms of gas stabilization, and is used widely in industry. There is a reason why PRI products are mainly sold in 55-gallon drums, and Sta-Bil is sold in tiny bottles to end users only. (PRI now sells PRI-D and PRI-G in smaller bottles, as small as 256-gal treatments!) I have since treated both gas and diesel - years old and in very poor quality - with PRI-G and PRI-D respectively and had zero issues. It is entirely different in composition and effect to anything such as Sta-Bil or its various similar competitors. I would highly recommend it.

 

[HarryN]

@HarryN agreed, CA gas is a worse product and of course more expensive as well.

In terms of additives, for small engines or otherwise - Back years ago when I had fuel issues I did way too much research and stumbled upon PRI products (PRI-G for gas and PRI-D for diesel.) As it turns out, this is the only serious product in terms of gas stabilization, and is used widely in industry. There is a reason why PRI products are mainly sold in 55-gallon drums, and Sta-Bil is sold in tiny bottles to end users only. (PRI now sells PRI-D and PRI-G in smaller bottles, as small as 256-gal treatments!) I have since treated both gas and diesel - years old and in very poor quality - with PRI-G and PRI-D respectively and had zero issues. It is entirely different in composition and effect to anything such as Sta-Bil or its various similar competitors. I would highly recommend it.

Thanks - that is really interesting. I completely agree with you that the stabilizers sold at the auto stores were not in any way effective. Will look into the PRI as well.

 

[IRamos]

Hi, all,

I have a 2020 Promaster 2500 that's due for its 30,000 mile service. I was shocked when our local dealer quoted us $1600 for the service! Well, OK, only $1300, but they failed to add in the brake fluid change, which we do need. But they did recommend transmission fluid change, which isn't recommended until 60K in the manual. There's also a bunch of stuff that just sounds like adding a can of this or that to the gas, but nothing that would justify this estimate.

I've called 2 other dealers (several hours away) that both said basically $300 for brake fluid and $400 for cleaning the fuel lines. Both discouraged changing the transmission fluid this early.

We've had zero issues with our Promaster, but our local service manager gave us a story about doing what's optimal to keep our van running, that Ram only cares about keeping it on the road 3-5 years, bla, bla, bla. I called Ram but the person I talked to just said I need to do what I'm comfortable with. Hmm...I'm not the doctor here!

I'm wondering what your experience has been with your 30K service? How much did you do and did you go to a dealer? I'm thinking about dumping our local dealer completely, but that may involve a long drive over a mountain range. What to do?

Thank you!

I suggest following the manual and dumping the dealer service center. call around and ask friends for a good mechanic near you that can perform the scheduled maintenance.

 

[robert_3193]

A little of the main topic but relates to fuel.
I have purchased a lot of fuel in Baja over the last 20th years, about half of it went into dirtbikes. Lots of it came out of 55 gallon drums and gas cans on some remote road or beach.
1500 miles Ensenada to Cabo 6 times.
Never once have I gotten bad fuel or had any fuel related problem.
Just throwing that out there as I know that is one of the things people why about traveling outside the US. View attachment 103147
View attachment 103146
View attachment 103145

I live in Southern Arizona and a lot of the country around here looks just like your pictures of Baja. Same ecology.

 

[chriscook]

Hi, all,

I have a 2020 Promaster 2500 that's due for its 30,000 mile service. I was shocked when our local dealer quoted us $1600 for the service! Well, OK, only $1300, but they failed to add in the brake fluid change, which we do need. But they did recommend transmission fluid change, which isn't recommended until 60K in the manual. There's also a bunch of stuff that just sounds like adding a can of this or that to the gas, but nothing that would justify this estimate.

I've called 2 other dealers (several hours away) that both said basically $300 for brake fluid and $400 for cleaning the fuel lines. Both discouraged changing the transmission fluid this early.

We've had zero issues with our Promaster, but our local service manager gave us a story about doing what's optimal to keep our van running, that Ram only cares about keeping it on the road 3-5 years, bla, bla, bla. I called Ram but the person I talked to just said I need to do what I'm comfortable with. Hmm...I'm not the doctor here!

I'm wondering what your experience has been with your 30K service? How much did you do and did you go to a dealer? I'm thinking about dumping our local dealer completely, but that may involve a long drive over a mountain range. What to do?

Thank you!

Basically a 30-k service is a oil change,Trans service, brake fluid, power stearing flushing they add a fuel injection service to the tank and spry injection spray in the intake. If you got a valvoline oil service place they do it and you stay in the vechicle way cheaper less than an hour to do. This will not void your warranty that they did that service. Plus they can rotate yor tires too. Check it out good luck