Friend wants a Duramax

[LanceH]

Got a friend who wants to buy a new duramax but is woundering if they have had any problems. wondering if anyone has some words of wisdom to help him out before he makes a mistake.

 

[CUMMINS01]

Duramax is a good motor, I am a cert. tech for the duramax & 6. 5. The bigest problem I have seen is people boosting rail pressure and cracking injectors and having problems with relief valves. There is a buliten out that #4 cam bearing turning and staving turbo for oil,but havent seen any of them yet. But other than that it is a impressive motor will smoke my 12v any day. Kurt

 

[LanceH]

I have rode in a couple of them and they seem really impressive. just since they haven't been out that long didn't know if it was a good idea to buy one this early.



He really likes both the Cummins and Duramax engines but likes the Chevy truck more.



is there any talk about what dodge is going to do to match this engine. i know that they have the 6. 7 cummins in their cab and chassis but i read that they won't be in the other trucks until 2008 if they ever are. hopefully they will increase the power from what the 6. 7 is now in the future.



Thanks for the feedback

 

[BSwope]

I could of had a V-8 but i choose a CUMMINS!!

 

[Greenleaf]

The last issue of the TDR (#52) has a tally of the service bulletins for the 04/05 engines I think. Perhaps 06 models????? Don't recall. You may want to photocopy that page and give it to him.

 

[FFutch]

They have had some injector problems. A buddy of mine bought a used one with 70 k and had to get all 8 injectors put in. I've heard recently of glow plugs melting off the new ones and tearing up pistons and cylinders. I hope they aren't too bad cause I'm getting a couple in at work in 5500 service buckets... and I got to deal with them... Doug

 

[LOtero]

duramax problems are the injectors and glow plugs, as mentioned allready. injectors crack internally. there is a recall going out for the glow plugs melting. whats happening is the glow plug module is staying on, melting the glow plugs. this only is in the 06 models also, for some reason they decided to change modules. the new 06 models are pretty inmressive. they got a lot of power. other than the two problems the motor itself is good. we had a guy in with over 400k miles and he has had 4 sets of injectors, a ring job, and the botom end bearings done.

 

[LanceH]

thanks i will let him know. he probably won't get one for awhile so most of these problems will probably be worked out by then. i think that i will still have to try and talk him into buying a cummins. :-laf



thinks for the help

 

[HRDROKN]

Got a friend who wants to buy a new duramax but is woundering if they have had any problems. wondering if anyone has some words of wisdom to help him out before he makes a mistake.

Friends don't let friends drive chevy's or ford's... . :-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[Rebel Ram]

Friends don't let friends drive chevy's or ford's... . :-laf :-laf :-laf

Thats it!!!! I've added you to my buddy list. :-laf

 

[rjohnson916]

The Chevy trucks are solid, I don't think you can really go wrong with either of the "Big Three" when it comes to getting the jobber done. Things that steer me away from the GM trucks are petty, but important to me because I am a "Truck Guy" and I don't believe GM builds their truck for guys like me. I don't like the "Low frame rails" these frame rails can be seen hanging from a mile away, I go to some pretty remote fishing holes in my 4x4 2500 Cummins Diesel, my Buddy is afraid to take his D-Max because of his (IFS) and Low dangling frame. I just like the idea of a solid axle on a "HeavyDuty" pickup, the independent setup is superb for excessive highway usage, but inferior on a Ranch or Off-Road excursions. IMO I find short and long arm suspension weak and brittle and easily susceptible or prone to coming out of alignment.

Other things that annoy me about the GM trucks is the sound of the D-max, it sounds like a gasser. If drag racing is your thing the Duramax is your beast, but all the magic dies when this truck is asked to do some real work. The cabin is no doubt the most comfortable of the trio, but the interior is very dated and too gimmicky for me, it's got trip computers, buzzers and the seats move in 10 different directions. I don't like the the fact a bench seat can't be had in LT trim, I like it when my girl rides in the center seat in my Dodge. Last but not least it is a severely aging design, and why buy a new truck only to have the old body style in a few months? The only time this was a good was back in 1998 when the old body style GM trucks was a better looking rig.



-Ryan

 

[Flinty]

I have been and always will be a Chevy man. Their trucks have served me well for as long as I could drive. However you can't beat the straight six design, just look under the hood of nearly all the tractor-trailers and large farm machinery, the straight six seems to be best suited to work long and hard. Even gas powered in-line sixes like the Ford 300 and the Chevy 292 are known for bottom end torque and reliability. Furthermore diesel engines are Cummins' meat and potatoes, they're good at it. Case closed. My money went to Cummins via Dodge.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

personally know two different people who have cracked pistons... tracked down to a casting flaw in the piston. have heard of it happening from other people too. one truck was highly modified, but everything else looked great, the other truck was bone stock an 10k miles out of warranty. that hurts!

 

[klenger]

Friends don't tell friends what to drive.

 

[HRDROKN]

Friends don't tell friends what to drive.

Always one in the bunch... it was supposed to be a little humor

 

[MontyDyer]

Duramax is a good motor, I am a cert. tech for the duramax & 6. 5. The bigest problem I have seen is people boosting rail pressure and cracking injectors and having problems with relief valves. There is a buliten out that #4 cam bearing turning and staving turbo for oil,but havent seen any of them yet. But other than that it is a impressive motor will smoke my 12v any day. Kurt

They dont have the turbo oil feed line straight off of the filter housing so it will be the first to get oil once pressure is built?

 

[J.BURCHFIELD]

If he could find a good used 98 12v that is what I would try to do if my 98 12v got stolen or totaled. The 98 was the first quad cab and the last 12v. Might be hard to find in good shape. I put on a gear vendor and cruise down the highway with the greatest of ease and 500 RPM reduction makes it quiet. We had CNC machinery the last 7 years before I retired (in 1990) and I learned to not trust Cornpukers. Did not want that damn Hi-Tech stuff shuting me down miles from nowhere. But that is me, it's a free country and we still have some choices. Acceleration gets expensive so in the interest of fuel economy I am content to set my cruse at the speed limit and enjoy the beauty or our country. Once you get the mistakes corrected Dodge is a good PU truck and the 12v does a great job towing. -- email address removed --

 

[Champane Flight]

Workmate

He loves his Duramax, but is now having problems. It just won't start, he has had it in the shop a few times. They are now telling him that the fuel pressure regulator is the culprit. The other ones I have seen all have fueling problems. There are four I am quietly keeping tabs on.

 

[Big A]

Let your buddy drive both and pick. If he buys the Dodge, because of you, and it turns out to be a dud, he'll blame you .

Big A