These diesel trucks (Dodge) are EXPENSIVE to own!!!

[Tomscreek]

Now that I have almost 5 years on my 2001 and 70,000 miles I have come to the conclusion that these are very expensive trucks to own and maintain. Given my fairly infrequent towing occurances and knowing what I know now I wouldn't have bought this thing. Examples, I just changed the transmission fluid, and only the Mopar $16. /qt. fluid is recommended, bought a signal flasher the other day, $49. , that's right $49. , melted some wires under the dash and a new harness is $1510. (thank god they could fix it), drivers door 6x9 infinity speaker just went out... dealer quote for one $297. What's with all these propriatery parts that cost a fortune? I'm almost at 5 years on the truck which now I guess I'm totally out of warranty. I never thought of purchasing extended warranty because of the way I baby and maintain my vehicles... . big mistake. I'm scared to drive the damn thing now. What about fuel pumps, starters, alternators. No doubt the Cummins purrs and pulls like nothing I've had before but I'm not sure it's worth it. Think I'll look for and older Chevy and have my buddy build me nice 350 with 4:10 gears, new cluth and transmission and be WAY ahead. Anyone else out there agree?

 

[macdaddy]

Tom

I'd try a later model Ford 6. 0 Powerstroke diesel I here they are real user friendly and inexpensive to own and operate.

Mac

 

[DanWilson]

I'd think long & hard about a Ford- this is from my 11-23-04 post:

"then the owner mentioned that it was a good thing I didn't have a Ford. He said sometimes they have Ford days at the place--nothing but Ford owners coming for parts. He said the new ones were only slightly better than the 7. 3s. As an example of costs, he said if you have an auto trans and replace all filters on the truck: Ford >$200, Chevy/GMC $180, Dodge $80" FWIW

 

[macdaddy]

Alright Alright!!!!!!!!!

I was kidding. :-{}

 

[SRadke]

You've gotta stop shopping at the dealer. You know they'll sell you a fuel filter too for $69 dollars Buy your parts from a parts store and thank goodness you bought a Cummins so you'll have some resale value now, 5 years later.



-Scott

 

[willysrule]

Tom

I'd try a later model Ford 6. 0 Powerstroke diesel I here they are real user friendly and inexpensive to own and operate.

Mac

:-laf



don't worry I got the joke...



as with any vehicle unless you don't drive it your going to have to put money in it sometime... . I wouldn't give my truck up for much... .

 

[Graphic man]

One Word "AFTER MARKET"

Never buy anything from a dealer unless in a jam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tomscreek]

You've gotta stop shopping at the dealer. You know they'll sell you a fuel filter too for $69 dollars Buy your parts from a parts store and thank goodness you bought a Cummins so you'll have some resale value now, 5 years later

I hear ya on the dealer (*******) found a Dodge online parts page... . big difference. Dealer here wants a hundred bucks for a fuel filter change. Changed it yesterday with a NAPA gold filter and 10 minutes time for $12.

Now that I'm off warranty I'll use Redline MTL at half the price of the Mopar... what a ripoff. Anyway I was just venting a little... . I do like this truck!!

 

[klenger]

You can buy the NV5600 lube from Penzoil for about $5 qt.



http://www.klenger.net/dodge/general-reference/nv5600-fluid/index.html

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

I have found my wife is expensive and sometimes hard to maintain too



But I love her anyway and can't imagine life without her. :-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[tractorseller]

I have found my wife is expensive and sometimes hard to maintain too



But I love her anyway and can't imagine life without her. :-laf :-laf :-laf

:-laf If she reads this forum, I hope she reads the second sentence of your post before the pots and pans start flying after reading the first.

 

[DPelletier]

My trucks have had zero repairs, so maintance is the only expense I can relate to. Diesel truck maintenance IS expensive if you get the dealer to do it (as everyone has stated), but I decided to perform the maintenance on my truck myself and I'm saving a ton of $'s. For instance, I just bought a 5 gall pail (20 litres) of GL-5 rated Texaco Synstar fluid for my axles for $129. 90. The dealer wanted $476. 60 which was on my business account. They said the stuff listed for $29. 79 per litre! To be honest, I decided to do my own maintenance mostly because I thought I would be more careful, but the money thing doesn't hurt, either.



Dave

 

[Kennywould]

It's a $30,000-$40,000 truck... of course it'll be spendy to maintain.



Napa is a good choice for electrical parts, just about anything attached to the engine can be purchased through Cummins sans Dodge specific components--and even then some Cummins shops have ways of getting those, too.



Oil, filters, maintenance items---holy buckets those are everywhere.



Shop around, there are many options for parts besides the dealer.

I bought a case of mopar oil filters a year ago on ebay for $80. 00

 

[DPelletier]

Oh yeah,

I forgot I was going to tell you that I just paid $450. 00 for a starter on my GM diesel (listed for $605. 00), so Dodge isn't the only place to buy expensive parts!



Dave

 

[Pmaloney]

As said before... ..... AFTERMARKET..... $300 for one 6x9 speaker!!!! :--) You can get a nicer set of aftermarket speakers for a 1/3 that price and it would be an upgrade. Also filters are cheaper aftermarket.

 

[nickleinonen]

i paid less than $10cdn per quart for the nv3500/nv5600 factory fluid [$9. 30cdn iirc]

 

[Chipstien]

Now that I have almost 5 years on my 2001 and 70,000 miles I have come to the conclusion that these are very expensive trucks to own and maintain. Given my fairly infrequent towing occurances and knowing what I know now I wouldn't have bought this thing. Examples, I just changed the transmission fluid, and only the Mopar $16. /qt. fluid is recommended, bought a signal flasher the other day, $49. , that's right $49. , melted some wires under the dash and a new harness is $1510. (thank god they could fix it), drivers door 6x9 infinity speaker just went out... dealer quote for one $297. What's with all these propriatery parts that cost a fortune? I'm almost at 5 years on the truck which now I guess I'm totally out of warranty. I never thought of purchasing extended warranty because of the way I baby and maintain my vehicles... . big mistake. I'm scared to drive the damn thing now. What about fuel pumps, starters, alternators. No doubt the Cummins purrs and pulls like nothing I've had before but I'm not sure it's worth it. Think I'll look for and older Chevy and have my buddy build me nice 350 with 4:10 gears, new cluth and transmission and be WAY ahead. Anyone else out there agree?

Lets see, I could have fixed all that for under 500. That is assuming that the harness is about 400 which I would suspect it is in that area. As has been said, stay away from the dealer.

 

[DKarvwnaris]

I hear ya on the dealer (*******) found a Dodge online parts page... . big difference. Dealer here wants a hundred bucks for a fuel filter change. Changed it yesterday with a NAPA gold filter and 10 minutes time for $12.

Now that I'm off warranty I'll use Redline MTL at half the price of the Mopar... what a ripoff. Anyway I was just venting a little... . I do like this truck!!

If you want to cut your maintenance costs in half and actually get honest recommendations about what needs and what does not need replacement, stay away from the dealer, period.

Since you live just down the road ( I-15) from me, I would suggest you call one of the best shops I have found in the state to take a look at your truck for you. They are in Great Falls. Some of the most honest and trustworthy guys I have seen bar none. Call John Haynes or John Romenesko at Rocky MountainTruck Service 406 452 8561. If I don't do it myself, they are the first I call. They are both Cummins and Detroit certified mechanics, not to mention CAT etc. The 1/2 tank of fuel you'll use to get there is nothign to what you'll save in repairs.

Napa filters are crap, stick with Fleet Guards, they are well worth the money which I buy by the case as needed. They are factory Cummins approved filters so Dodge can't say anything about it in the first place.

As for relying on th Dealer for anything other that catastrophic failures, I don't why you would bother. The dodge dealers in this state are pathetic, most cummins related problems are sent off to local commercial truck shops for diagnosis. If it isn't warranty, why bother they are useless half the time then anyways.

 

[2-ND TIME]

Expensive

Well just turned over 300,000 the other day and THE FACTORY S. N. A. F. U. 's aren't fixed yet and over 50,000 KM'S and $20,000 so far. This is the biggest pile of junk I have ever had or seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DKarvwnaris]

Well just turned over 300,000 the other day and THE FACTORY S. N. A. F. U. 's aren't fixed yet and over 50,000 KM'S and $20,000 so far. This is the biggest pile of junk I have ever had or seen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd like to see a GM 6. 5 live that long



I don't get the 300,000 and then reference to 50,000 KM's? What did I miss?