Delphi, all the defective instrument clusters they produced. Just happen to fail right out of warranty... At 500 a pop. Had to replace 2 of them. Was **** and that's an understatement.

$170 a pop with Summt's Pro Shop discount.

We have a few Dura Max diesel's at work 3500 mason dump trucks and we have had a lot of injector problems with them . The injectors are very expensive .

everything is very expensive with diesel truck engine repairs,all of them.

The injector issue has been primarily 2004 and early trucks.

Stanadyne helps with injectors and I believe is the only GM approved additive for fuel/fuel injectors. I ran it in both Duramax and run it in my Dodge also.

quote:

Originally posted by copper head:
My question is this, is it economical to buy a diesel truck verses gas with the additional amount of upkeep over the life of the vehicle?

Yes it does pencil out.
150K never any addatives.
The guy who delivers my police cars (Camel Towing) has over 300K on his with one water pump.

GM does not recommend, or approve any additives for diesel fuel.

A good fuel filter is very important. I bet Ed only uses AC Delco filters. I strongly recommend ONLY AC DELCO fuel filters on D-maxes. The water trap (part of the filter) is superior on an AC Delco filter. The black plastic filters sold under many names don't do a good job trapping any water. I've tested them, and water goes right through them. Modern diesels run over 20000 psi fuel pressure. Dirty fuel, or fuel with water in it destroys injectors. A vast majority of the dmaxes I see with fuel system problems have the black plastic filters on them.

you got that rght, I buy GM filters...oil, fuel, trans, by the case.

Woody B

I have been using Wix on my 2003 for a few years now, with no issues.

Does this filter fall into that category with poor water trapping?

quote:

Originally posted by stk 758 BP!:

quote:

Originally posted by copper head:
My question is this, is it economical to buy a diesel truck verses gas with the additional amount of upkeep over the life of the vehicle?

Yes it does pencil out.
150K never any addatives.
The guy who delivers my police cars (Camel Towing) has over 300K on his with one water pump.

Did you figure the difference in front tire wear and the price of oil changes? I understand that the diesel trucks do a better job towing and thats the only thing i do with mine but i just couldn't justify buying one not to mention fuel is a dollar a gallon higher.

quote:

Originally posted by copper head:

quote:

Originally posted by stk 758 BP!:

quote:

Originally posted by copper head:
My question is this, is it economical to buy a diesel truck verses gas with the additional amount of upkeep over the life of the vehicle?

Yes it does pencil out.
150K never any addatives.
The guy who delivers my police cars (Camel Towing) has over 300K on his with one water pump.

Did you figure the difference in front tire wear and the price of oil changes? I understand that the diesel trucks do a better job towing and thats the only thing i do with mine but i just couldn't justify buying one not to mention fuel is a dollar a gallon higher.

I have done the math and it usually doesn't work out for the diesel. Of course you have to do some guessing as far as resale, and that is a big part of the equation. The LS engines generally pretty reliable for 150k or so. Repairs on the diesels are usually higher too.

But you also have to consider that the better fuel economy typically offsets the increased fuel cost. Before my current duramax, I have a c2500 gasser and I was lucky to get 6-7 mpg bulling my 10k car trailer and that was driving very easy. I drive that same way with my duramax pulling the same trailer, I am looking at 12-13 mpg. So I am nearly double the fuel economy, with more power.

Not sure where the front tire wear comment stems from, but I have never seen a difference in the way the tires wear. Tire wear is more geared toward the type of tire and how you drive.

As far as oil changes, you can typically go a lot further on a change, I typically change between 5-6k miles, if I went by the DIC in the truck it would probably be around 10k.

For me the better towing ability is worth its weight in gold.

Banjo has a good point, but it depends on what you put on the miles doing. If it is strictly for pulling, the fule mileage difference is greater. Daily driving not so much. Is the diesel much better at pulling? Without a doubt. I consider it kind of a luxury. Not an investment. Of course I don't know if you can get the Allison trans without the diesel anymore.

I know you guys are talking about a duramax but in a f-350 i have seen some guys have tire issues because the weight of that engine. personally i use a v-10 and i get 12 to 14 pulling or empty but this is with a six speed.

Some plow mfr's don't like to hang a plow on the front end of a diesel since they have so much weight up there anyhow. Knew of a local company that bought a furd diesel and the dealer wouldn't put a blade on it.

My current diesel truck as well the one on order is/will be a daily driver. Anyway you spin it, the additonal upfront costs, fuel costs and repairs costs can't be justified over a gas powered truck but it's all about the POWER and the towing capacity that can't be had with a gas truck.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 1320racer,

Anybody tow with the 6.2L Gas Chevy? 420hp and 460tq. Dad had one in his truck but we never put a trailer behind it. 12,000 lb rating. I don't know what he was getting for mileage, but he said it was pretty decent compared to others he had.

quote:

Originally posted by copper head:
I know you guys are talking about a duramax but in a f-350 i have seen some guys have tire issues because the weight of that engine. personally i use a v-10 and i get 12 to 14 pulling or empty but this is with a six speed.

My last three Ford diesels averaged 80k miles on a set of tires.Some went almost 100k

quote:

Originally posted by MikeB4963:
Woody B

I have been using Wix on my 2003 for a few years now, with no issues.

Does this filter fall into that category with poor water trapping?

I can't answer about the Wix specifically. There's several brands of black plastic filters that "look" identical. The next time you change your filter take the old one, turn it upside down and pour water into the hole where the water in fuel sensor goes. On an AC Delco (or Baldwin) filter the water stays in the bottom, water separator part of the filter. It runs right through all of the black plastic filters I've checked. I done this with a Napa Gold a couple weeks ago. I check an old one this way every few months to see if anything has changed.

One of my commercial customers (a concrete finishing/grading company) had all kinds of fuel system problems with a bunch of his trucks and equipment a couple years ago. He had 4 duramax trucks. (3, 5500's and one 3500). He had his own fuel supply/tank, on his lot, and it got contaminated. 2 of his D-max trucks had AC Delco fuel filters, and had no problems except for the water in fuel light on. The 2 with black filters had injector problems. I don't know what brand filters he had on his other trucks, or equipment. On the advice of a local diesel shop he's now using Baldwin fuel filters on all of his trucks and equipment.



Regarding tires...the only tire problems we see are rear tires on single rear wheel trucks. The new duramaxes are really torquey. A heavy footed driver will wear out rear tires really quick. I suspect the Fords and Dodges are the same way. I've seen trucks with worn out rear tires at 10,000 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by mathews:

quote:

Originally posted by copper head:
I know you guys are talking about a duramax but in a f-350 i have seen some guys have tire issues because the weight of that engine. personally i use a v-10 and i get 12 to 14 pulling or empty but this is with a six speed.

My last three Ford diesels averaged 80k miles on a set of tires.Swome went almost 100k

You got 80k miles out of a set of steering tires.