Diesel

[HD-tech-NH]

Really now? I'm starting to wonder if you're the one with DING! CRAP!

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I just don't see how 90% of the people that live within 30 miles of me that i know, most of whom are farmers/ranchers, don't use any fuel additives, hardly ever have to have injectors or pumps rebuilt, and don't pull the ever living hell out of them. Almost all are Dodges BTW. Hardly any of these guys ever have their trucks worked on unless they hit someone. Maybe where you live your diesel is different than ours, and maybe you drive a chevrolet or something but the only dodge I've ever heard anyone complain about was an 07 6.7 and dodge wound up giving the guy another truck because it was electrical related, not engine related.

Typical Cummins owner, you guys all believe the Cummins is perfect and never breaks. That's just silly. My diesel and yours is regulated by the government. Older trucks and new trucks benefit from a good fuel additive like Stanadyne.
Home - Stanadyne

I'm also pretty willing to bet that one of the best engine mechanics in the world for pickups lives about 60 miles from here and he's the one that told all of us not to use a bunch of that crap. Besides that, how many diesels are in New Hampshire? I'll bet not very man per capita I probably own more diesel engines that most towns back there.

LOL nice .....Best engine mechanic in the world for pickups.....At least you have a sense of humor!

ding!... see this is only the last page and it's full of people who dont know what they're talking about... To the OP do your own research on the web and test drive all of the trucks you are considering.

I have owned and driven the big three for 14 yrs now. We own a tree service and do alot of pulling. Not sure where you are getting where I dont know what I"m talking about. I've did alot of research on the forum about these trucks. All the stuff I've stated in my last post is from my own experience. Not sure what you think is crap. As of right now I have 4 diesel trucks and the gmc by far is the best one.
To the OP I think it also comes down to how much you want to spend. Of the big 3 they all have there problems. Of the big 3 I have had the least amount of problems with my GMC.

So because you've owned a few trucks you think that means you know what you are talking about? Do you really think that your Duramax makes 628hp at the wheels with just a tune? It's not your fault you don't know what you are talking about. You probably are just listening to what someone has told you. Custom tunes are available for all computer controlled diesel pickups. You guys can get all bent out of shape because I am calling you out. I kind of expected that.

 

[loganj01]

I admit that I don't know about these little baby diesels in pickups...my old 318 in my 96 Dodge is running great at 206,000...can't seem to kill it. I bought a new Freightliner in 1996 with a 12.7 Detroit set at 475hp. I sold the same truck in 2002 with just over 983,000 miles on the clock. During that time, other than regular service (oil, filters, ect...), I replaced a coolant temp sensor and the air to air aftercooler. Never put anything in the tanks but what came out of the diesel pumps. That engine never showed any noticeable decline in either fuel mileage or performance during the time I owned it. Before that, I had a couple of older NTC Cummins engines in road trucks. While I did have to work on those engines some, I never had to do any repairs related to the fuel system on either of them. As before, I did not use any additives in either of them. I would probably not buy a diesel pickup simply because I don't do any towing or hauling that I think really requires one. JMHO.

 

[trost66]

No custom tune arn't available for all diesel pickups. Anybody can go out and buy a canned tuner which is just a tune for any truck. Efi you can have a tune made just for you truck. The tune is made for you turbo setup injectors tranny and so on. Dodge dosn't have this. You can buy a programer but it is just a basic tune. Efi tune is made just for you truck and its mods. Do a little research on EFI and you will know what I'm talking about.

The truck was dynoed at 628 hp to the ground at schied. The truck isn't totally stock. Truck has a bigger turbo and lift pump. Truck dynoed 530 to the ground with stock charger. When I got my bigger turbo all I had to do was change my tunning little and get another 100 hp. I could go high than that but stock bottom end on a duramax is only good for around 650 t0 700 hp.

You ever wonder why you see all the high hp dodge puking out all the smoke at the track and the duramaxs hardly smoking at all. That is because of EFI. There trucks are tuned to burn all the fuel and not waste any. EFI is a program that lets you tune your own truck on your own labtop and log all your data. You can hook EFI up to your truck take a run down the drag strip and record every thing your motor is doing. The cummins and ford guys would give there left nut for EFI on there trucks.

By owning a few truck I know which one performed better and which ones I had to put more money into. The 12 valve stock doesn't have that much power. My 95 12 valve hp rating was like 190 or somthing. I'm not some young kid, I own my own business and do all my maintenance the work my self.

 

[Oldtimer]

Really now? I'm starting to wonder if you're the one with DING! CRAP!

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I just don't see how 90% of the people that live within 30 miles of me that i know, most of whom are farmers/ranchers, don't use any fuel additives, hardly ever have to have injectors or pumps rebuilt, and don't pull the ever living hell out of them. Almost all are Dodges BTW. Hardly any of these guys ever have their trucks worked on unless they hit someone. Maybe where you live your diesel is different than ours, and maybe you drive a chevrolet or something but the only dodge I've ever heard anyone complain about was an 07 6.7 and dodge wound up giving the guy another truck because it was electrical related, not engine related.

Kansas is not NH. And diesel doesn't go bad. It either has contamination, or it doesn't. I have bought my diesel from the same small store for 20+ years with no issues. I can notice better engine performance with a quality additive in both my diesels, the 7.3 Cornbinder, and my 5 cyl Deutz. BOTH gain water over time, it's just a fact. Condensation never sleeps. Warm fuel from the return line hits a cold tank...and you get condensation.

Besides that, how many diesels are in New Hampshire? I'll bet not very man per capita I probably own more diesel engines that most towns back there.

Dude, NH has more diesels than you think. 7 out of 10 3/4 ton and up pickups here have diesels. And we have actual hills and mountains to get up and down.
We have actual deep snow to plow, and actual agriculture to tend to with our trucks as well. We have trees too, and lots and lots of diesels we use to kill them and drag them out.
It's not as though diesel is "new" to NH.

 

[HD-tech-NH]

Ding...Ding...Ding

No custom tune arn't available for all diesel pickups. Anybody can go out and buy a canned tuner which is just a tune for any truck. Efi you can have a tune made just for you truck. The tune is made for you turbo setup injectors tranny and so on. Dodge dosn't have this. You can buy a programer but it is just a basic tune. Efi tune is made just for you truck and its mods. Do a little research on EFI and you will know what I'm talking about.

The truck was dynoed at 628 hp to the ground at schied. The truck isn't totally stock. Truck has a bigger turbo and lift pump. Truck dynoed 530 to the ground with stock charger. When I got my bigger turbo all I had to do was change my tunning little and get another 100 hp. I could go high than that but stock bottom end on a duramax is only good for around 650 t0 700 hp.




You ever wonder why you see all the high hp dodge puking out all the smoke at the track and the duramaxs hardly smoking at all. That is because of EFI. There trucks are tuned to burn all the fuel and not waste any. EFI is a program that lets you tune your own truck on your own labtop and log all your data. You can hook EFI up to your truck take a run down the drag strip and record every thing your motor is doing. The cummins and ford guys would give there left nut for EFI on there trucks.

By owning a few truck I know which one performed better and which ones I had to put more money into. The 12 valve stock doesn't have that much power. My 95 12 valve hp rating was like 190 or somthing. I'm not some young kid, I own my own business and do all my maintenance the work my self.

What is a labtop? Just because you can change your oil and own a business doesn't mean you know what you are talking about. So now its not just a tune? Yeah I can see 630 at the wheels with a bigger turbo and new sticks. Yes you can have custom tunes for all computer controlled diesels, SCT for Ford, Mini Max for Dodge and then some. Scheid Diesel sells them! Just look on there website and do your own research. I know what I'm talking about.

 

[mdavlee]

If you've got the money the 5.9 commonrail dodges have just custom tuning as much or more as EFI live for the duramax. The smarty now has a lot of user enabled changes. SCT, H&S, and Spartan has custom tuning for the 6.0 and 6.4 ford. DPTuner does 7.3 along with several others.

Duramaxs are alright. The LB7 does get good mileage. A 12 valve dodge with the VE pump or the P pump can get more than 20 mpg. It's all in who tunes the pump. I had a 93 Dodge with 3.54 gears 4x4 5 speed that could get 24 mpg if I stayed under 70 on the highway. A 97 entended cab longbed with 4.10s and I could get 19-20 on the highway if I stayed under 70. Timing is what really effects mileage on the dodges. There's a sweet spot depending on your gearing. 3.54 trucks like 16-17. The 4.10s like a little more usually 19 maybe 20 if they have head studs. There is probably 3-4 mpg to be unlocked changing timing in the P pump trucks. The VE pumps you just turn the pump towards the block about an 1/8" and that will advance it enough to run bigger injectors and get the best mileage.

It doesn't matter what brand truck you buy there's some small problems with all of them. The most dependable diesel pickup I believe is the 89-93 dodges with the manual tranny. The bodies on most are beat and rusted now but they seem to run forever.

 

[fields_mj]

The 12 valve stock doesn't have that much power. My 95 12 valve hp rating was like 190 or somthing.

On this thread, I've read that the stock 12 valve didn't have that much power several times now. Compaired to the tweeked out turbos that came out later, no they did not put out that much power. However, at the time they were the most powerful diesel engines available in a light truck. I don't remember if it was a 95 or a 96, but I had a new stock 12 valve (engine only) on a dyno and it would put out right at 350 hp. On the dyno next to it I had a V8 (I think it was a 350 out of a camaro, but it may have been a 351 out of a mustang). It also put out 350 hp, but it only put out half the torque of the 12v and it used twice as much fuel per hour to do it. I knew right then that all trucks should be required to have diesel engines in them.

With tunes and everything else, 350 hp isn't much compaired to today's diesels, but it's more than any light duty truck needs. If you are hauling loads where you have a reasonable need for more hp, then you should be using at least a medium duty truck. 200 hp is enough to do almost anything that a light duty truck is rated for given the correct gearing. Hauling 10K down the interstate going through KY and TN may require that you slow down, but then again if you have 10K behind you in the mountains, you don't have any buisness running 70+ mph anyway. The old 7.3 IDI N/A that I have is only rated for about 180 hp, and when it had 4.10 gears I swear I could have tied off to a house and drove right on down the road with it. Until I hit 4th gear, I don't think I would have noticed that it was there, and even that's questionable.

At the end of the day, the HP rating is 100% advertising, nothing more. The only people concerned with how much HP their trucks are putting out are those who are pulling in competitions, and those who wish they were. Outside of that, no body cares. I get so sick and tired of talking to morons who have "chipped" their truck so that the can get 400 hp (and the 8 mpg that comes with it) just so they can blow black smoke while driving to and from work, or so they can "roast'em" in 3rd gear. It makes me want to take an axe handle and knock their buck teeth back in place where they belong.

 

[mdavlee]

Diesel is the new ricer sport. A lot of people now can afford diesels and a programmer to add hp and make their truck smoke. It has turned me away from a lot of it here in the last few years. I've built up several trucks to 450hp and more. It is a lot of fun to go hook to a sled and see how far your truck can pull it.

The first 12 valves in the 94 and up body had less power at the wheels than the 93 model it replaced. Those trucks were rated 160hp and 400 ft lbs. They would usually get 150-170 on a dyno. The 94 was a 160hp rated but wouldn't put out that much on a dyno. They were usually in the 130 or so.

 

[trost66]

What is a labtop? Just because you can change your oil and own a business doesn't mean you know what you are talking about. So now its not just a tune? Yeah I can see 630 at the wheels with a bigger turbo and new sticks. Yes you can have custom tunes for all computer controlled diesels, SCT for Ford, Mini Max for Dodge and then some. Scheid Diesel sells them! Just look on there website and do your own research. I know what I'm talking about.

With efi you can tune it your self. Build your own tune or what ever you want to do. You dont have to go to shop or have sombody else build it for you. With efi you can tune any gm product not just diesel. Mine max doesnt even compare to what efi will do. There is a million different things you can do with efi. They have there own forum. EFILive Forum . Research it a little.

I do alot more than just change my oil. What ever breaks I fix it. Alot of these truck arent really that hard to work on. Just have to do a little research and you should beable to figure it out.

 

[HD-tech-NH]

With efi you can tune it your self. Build your own tune or what ever you want to do. You dont have to go to shop or have sombody else build it for you. With efi you can tune any gm product not just diesel. Mine max doesnt even compare to what efi will do. There is a million different things you can do with efi. They have there own forum. EFILive Forum . Research it a little.

I do alot more than just change my oil. What ever breaks I fix it. Alot of these truck arent really that hard to work on. Just have to do a little research and you should beable to figure it out.

Haaa Ha LOL really? What is a mine max? just do some research.... LOL... a million... thats a lot! LOL.... dubba

 

[jimbojango]

Kansas is not NH. And diesel doesn't go bad. It either has contamination, or it doesn't. I have bought my diesel from the same small store for 20+ years with no issues. I can notice better engine performance with a quality additive in both my diesels, the 7.3 Cornbinder, and my 5 cyl Deutz. BOTH gain water over time, it's just a fact. Condensation never sleeps. Warm fuel from the return line hits a cold tank...and you get condensation.


Dude, NH has more diesels than you think. 7 out of 10 3/4 ton and up pickups here have diesels. And we have actual hills and mountains to get up and down.
We have actual deep snow to plow, and actual agriculture to tend to with our trucks as well. We have trees too, and lots and lots of diesels we use to kill them and drag them out.
It's not as though diesel is "new" to NH.

What is "actual agriculture" ??? 3500 acres of farmground that gets farmed with 400+ horse tractors, cut with 32 foot headers on combines that are about 300 horse john deere's. hauled to town with 475+ horse semi-tractors and grain wagons. and the headers pulled around with dodge pickups. Where is "actual agriculture" ?? oh.. pickups and semi's move an awful lot of beef out here as well. And amazingly, we have "hills" we don't have tree's... but we have hills. Not mountains though. at all... none

HD: I'm sure you've done your homework and can have your own opinion. I just know from personal experince that I haven't worked on any of mine and only know of one person that has worked on one in my area. Maybe its just that we start them once a day and shut them off once a day. I'd imagine thats the hardest thing on a diesel: startup. Easier on the motor to start it once and let it idle 10 hours than to start it twice.

 

[HD-tech-NH]

HD: I'm sure you've done your homework and can have your own opinion. I just know from personal experince that I haven't worked on any of mine and only know of one person that has worked on one in my area. Maybe its just that we start them once a day and shut them off once a day. I'd imagine thats the hardest thing on a diesel: startup. Easier on the motor to start it once and let it idle 10 hours than to start it twice.

That depends on what motor you are talking about, variable geometry turbos don't like extended idle times. Neither do trucks with a diesel particulate filter.

 

[bigbadbob]

The holy grail of dodge trucks is the early 98 12valve standard sport quad cab.
If you can find one.
Looks like a chip and brand war is heatin up!!!!

 

[mdavlee]

That depends on what motor you are talking about, variable geometry turbos don't like extended idle times. Neither do trucks with a diesel particulate filter.

Any of the newer trucks don't like a lot of idle time or just putting around in fields or offroad.

The grail of dodge trucks is real hard to find anymore in good shape. I would love to have one with a longbed. I need to the backseat for the little girl. I've been looking in my area for any 12 valve and there's only been one manaul tranny available since summer when I started looking.

 

[jimbojango]

Any of the newer trucks don't like a lot of idle time or just putting around in fields or offroad.

The grail of dodge trucks is real hard to find anymore in good shape. I would love to have one with a longbed. I need to the backseat for the little girl. I've been looking in my area for any 12 valve and there's only been one manaul tranny available since summer when I started looking.

I'd agree its not a good idea to let them idle for hours. i was just saying its not any harder on the engine itself.

There isn't a lot of "putting around" done out here. You get up to at least 50 multiple multiple times a day just feeding cows lol. Besides most guys do drive theirs to their actual job and its about 50 miles one way for that so they get the highway miles. Out in Western KS they get started up and driving like mad to feed cows in a day. I'd imagine there are more out west that dont' see a stop light in a month than do

 

[mdavlee]

My 09 6.4 don't like the slow driving in snow and around the farms. It went into regen for about 1.5 hours after a day on my grandpas farm and driving slow in the snow going home the day before that. The first 6.7 dodges that were hotshot trucks were having problems washing oil off cylinder walls when idled for long periods from 5 or more hours.

 

[NEW BURNER]

im new to the site but not new to diesels. now where to begin, if your after a good riding truck its between a powerstroke or a duramax. if you want one that will last forever with proper preventitive maintenance you need to go with a cummins( my personal preference) myself i wouldnt own anything other than a cummins. if you get a 03 thru an 07.5 you can get a programmer and it will average 22-24 mpg driven modestly. i know fords and gm's will do the same but cummins is my preference. if you get a dodge better get a manual, there automatic transmissions are ****. other two i'd get an auto. if you use the right oil you can get 6000 miles out of a single oil change. dont have to use an additive but it is recommended for now we have to use ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. hope this helps

 

[iowa]

Aside from all the BS and arguing. I would like to possibly know if buying a diesel 2500hd would be good for me or not. I would most likely be looking for a good used 05-06 Chevy duramax, club cab, 4x4, and under 125k miles.

I currently own an 03 f150, 5.4 l, ext cab, 4x4. I get about 15 mpg. I drive 30 miles one way to work.

So this new truck would be a daily driver. Used to haul firewood on weekends with an 18' dovetail. And occasional pulling a vehicle that needs repaired etc. It wouldn't be a die hard working truck pulling stuff every day.

Which yr is better for the duramax? 05 or 06? What can you tell me about them. What should I be looking for? This would be my first diesel besides a small 3 cyl garden tractor.

 

[ICindrich]

Aside from all the BS and arguing. I would like to possibly know if buying a diesel 2500hd would be good for me or not. I would most likely be looking for a good used 05-06 Chevy duramax, club cab, 4x4, and under 125k miles.

I currently own an 03 f150, 5.4 l, ext cab, 4x4. I get about 15 mpg. I drive 30 miles one way to work.

So this new truck would be a daily driver. Used to haul firewood on weekends with an 18' dovetail. And occasional pulling a vehicle that needs repaired etc. It wouldn't be a die hard working truck pulling stuff every day.

Which yr is better for the duramax? 05 or 06? What can you tell me about them. What should I be looking for? This would be my first diesel besides a small 3 cyl garden tractor.

I believe the 04/05/06 Duramax's all have the "LLY" motor, so they are all about the same. They changed the grill and hood slightly in 05 and this carried over until the 07.5 new body came out. In buying one, I would just make sure the previous owner has the service records and he did not go 10k between oil changes. If it has, walk away because this more than likely means the chassis has gone 10k between lubes and you will be in for extensive front end repairs! Also, be sure to check the transfer case for leaks. The oil pump in these transfer cases wears out its track and then drills a hole in the case, draining the oil. This is not a cheap fix, I know from experience!

 

[trost66]

Aside from all the BS and arguing. I would like to possibly know if buying a diesel 2500hd would be good for me or not. I would most likely be looking for a good used 05-06 Chevy duramax, club cab, 4x4, and under 125k miles.

I currently own an 03 f150, 5.4 l, ext cab, 4x4. I get about 15 mpg. I drive 30 miles one way to work.

So this new truck would be a daily driver. Used to haul firewood on weekends with an 18' dovetail. And occasional pulling a vehicle that needs repaired etc. It wouldn't be a die hard working truck pulling stuff every day.

Which yr is better for the duramax? 05 or 06? What can you tell me about them. What should I be looking for? This would be my first diesel besides a small 3 cyl garden tractor.

I would go with 06 with LBZ motor, most power, 6 speed tranny, no injector issues, no dpf pipes and new emission stuff, great overall truck. The lb7 will get the best fuel milage. I think the lly in 06 came with 6 speed auto but the 04 and 05 have 5 speed.

Here is a link to a duramax forum and you can ask all the question you want and do some research from people that have this motor. Chevy and GMC Duramax Diesel Forum