Hercules130 said:
I moved from a Dmax to my current Cummins powered Dodge to get away from the new V8 madness going on between GM and Ford. I think the packaging, along with the strive for power, the eleventh hour incorporation of emissions controls is just destroying the reason for having a diesel in the first place.
Simplicity, minimum emissions control hardware and the beauty of a real workhorse diesel got me to switch to Cummins
To answer the question about who makes the Dmax... it was 99% designed by Izuzu in Japan. The plant in Moraine, OH is technically run by Japanese engineers. GM recently bought out the Isuzu stake in Dmax, LTD but all that does is change the financials.
The Duramax has been redesigned three times in five years to incorporate emissions controls and supposedly improve servicability. This latest redesign they had to beef up the block because it was shown to crack in durability testing. I like the way it runs. The power is smooth. I don't like what it is. A high revving smog engine with too much junk on it. The second redesign added cooled egr which seemed to have created an overheating problem. GM had to address it with a TSB. I read where some people were getting stranded. Engines were getting destroyed. The third redesign specifically identified cooling system improvements. I had lot's of issues with my 2001 including defueling shutdowns on the highway I could never get fixed and a blown headgasket.
The Duramax has been one big diesel in beta form in the middle of redesign throughout it's five year life.
Yea the Cummins has it's share of changes but it's still a cast iron block/head medium duty inline six that has all the attributes of a true workhorse diesel. It's still relatively simple in design. No cooled egr. Tons of room under the hood. Reliable as all heck and has a history Ford and GM can't touch.
International(Ford) and GM(Isuzu) are in some kind of crazy hp war without regards to what a diesel is supposed to be. They are in a marketing craze that literally almost destroyed the Powerstroke. The Dmax was a good thing for GM considering what they had for diesels in the past. The engine is a technicians nightmare more so with the latest redesign. It's friggin got glow plugs still to control startup emissions, not neccessarily to aid cold start. It also has in intake grid heater that get this, has been redisigned from last year to use the same design as the Cummins has been using for years. I hear they are having issues with glow plugs melting now. I also heard they are having a devil of a problem getting it to be 2007 compliant.
The Allison is a beauty but it's not really as heavy of a trans as we all thought it would be way back when it first was announced. Believe me I know. I used to put mine in limp mode at will with not much extra power. You want to load up an Allison you need to put the same kind of money in it as you do the competition. Now, with six speeds, does that make it a good drag transmission? No think so. All that shifting ain't the way to go. It is a GREAT stock transmission though.
The new International 6. 4 twin turbo is a scary prospect considering what they produced last time around. Again we are looking at an emissions V8 with tiny twin turbos. Little screamers designed to reduce emissions at low rpms. That one will be interesting to watch. Hopefully it will be reliable for Ford and International's sake. It's sure to be a technicians nightmare though.
Finally, what the heck happened to the fuel economy advantage with diesels. All three have come down in mpg and up in power. With the price of diesel today it's becoming harder and harder to justify owning a high power diesel in a pickup truck with the initial cost now in the $5000 plus range and fuel at $2. 80- $3 a gallon.
I guess the commercial haulers don't have as much of an issue with it as they are now passing the cost over to the customers with surcharges but us regular users get hammered.
I'm in my second year as a first time Cummins owner after being GM diesel for the prior 10 years or so. I feel good. This truck has been great to me so far.
MACKIN smack daddy chew on that. :-laf This post would get me banned on thedieselplace
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