Mileage

[Lawdog]

The wife and I are considering buying a used diesel truck, possibly a Chevy 2500 HD to provide a little less wear and tear on our current vehicle. Having never owned a diesel, how many miles are too many? Most of the trucks have right at 100k miles. Just wondering how many miles are too many miles.

[you da man]

That is around 1/4 of the life of that truck if maintained properly. I love my Dodge 2500 mega cab diesel. It has 130,000 miles with no issues so far. I bought mine for towing and fuel efficency compared to the gas trucks. It's not a "work" truck so mine is not abused and I don't haul 5th wheel RV's so it's never ever loaded over 1/3 of it's rated towing. Depending on how the truck you're looking at was used, could determine the life of it.

[rdlangston13]

do not buy an oil field truck! my work truck is a 2004 f350 with that 6.0 and tho the odometer only states that it has 142,000 miles it spends days on end at idle. i would guess that it has like 300-400k miles on it if you convert the hours to miles. my current truck is pre hour gauge though so it is impossible to tell

[mmandley]

Best advise is to go read the Chevy Diesel site.

Next get an Oasis from the dealer on it. It will give you all the info on warranty for that truck.

Next find out what the service records are for it. How often was it maintained.

Next and most important if you buy a Diesel be prepared to do maintenance yourself or spend a lot of money getting it done.

These trucks need regular maintenance, oil changes every 5K and your looking at 3 to 5 gallons of oil and pricey filter. You also have to change the fuel filters every 12-15K change the trans fluid every year, change the axle fluid every 50K things like this is why a Diesel will out last a Gasser.

Most people who own Gasser just run them till they die and this is the lack of maintenance, the ones you hear of lasting 300K are the ones meticulously maintained.

I love my Diesel and would never buy a Gas truck again. The best thing about a diesel is its so easy to make more power and better mileage with them, they don't care about anything but air and fuel and lots of both lol.

At 100K that truck is really just coming into its own but you will have repairs so be prepared, PS, Alt suspension, shocks, and other things like that because those parts arnt designed to last the life of the truck so drive it, don't turn the stereo on, no ac no fans just drive and listen to everything. Drive it off road if you can, hit some speed bumps, run over a couple curbs, make the suspension work for you. If the dealer has the truck and wont let you drive it like that then walk away man.

A diesel is a blessing and a money pit if your not diligent on inspections and taking care of them. A lot like boats. Take care of it and it will last you a lifetime and abuse it and it will cost you money every time you turn the key

[Lawdog]

So 500K miles on a diesel? Sounds good to me. No worries on the oil field truck since we dont have many of those here in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan.

[mmandley]

Dave funny you mention how your work truck is a 04 F350 and it idles all the dam time LOL. Thats the worst for the 6.0 engine it hates being idled. I hope you at least have a high idle switch to kick it up to 1200+ i know its a work truck just saying LOL.

Funny little history fact though.

Ford partnered with International for there engines performance in the oil fields. The 6.0 was notorious for being a water pump engine. It would be connected to a huge water pump and ran at full throttle 4K RPM for days and days on end with never being shut off and this is why Ford got this as there truck engine. Then Ford re-tuned it to make more power and faster response for a customer driver.

This engine is known to be a true work horse engine the harder to drive it the more it loves you. It wants you to romp on it all dam day and if you don't get get Turbo issues, the turbo loves to be spun up to 20+ Boost. I routinely hit 28PSI Boots and man this truck will put you in the seat.

Just the other day i smoked a ricer in a Honda Prelude who though he was the shit LOL.

Wanna have a kick in the pants mash the brake and stomp the throttle will you build 15PSI of boost then let her launch even a stock 6.0 will put you in the seat LOL.

I currently run 4inch straight pipe exhaust, no cat, no muffler, 100 HP tune and 200FT Torque, plus my ECM/PCM FICM all re-tuned and im building over 400HP and 800FT torque all the while getting 15 city and 20Hwy in my 8500 truck with 35s haha love my diesel.

[mmandley]

So 500K miles on a diesel? Sounds good to me. No worries on the oil field truck since we dont have many of those here in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan.

Yes that's the normal expected engine life but then again a know plenty on the diesel forums with 700K plus on there trucks. The drive train on these trucks is amazing because they are built to be work trucks not Passenger trucks and looking at the outside they look pretty common to the normal truck. Set it side by side and you start seeing all the difference.

1 they are wider
2 they sit higher
3 suspension is so much beefier
4 brakes are larger
5 trans are generally 5 or 6 speed autos now
6 axles are much larger 3/4 and 1ton < 250 or 2500 is 3/4 350 and 3500 1tons all makes >

What these truck do require is regular maintenance of all fluids, belts and hoses and this is what makes them run forever.
I warning you if you go diesel you will never go back LOL

[rdlangston13]

yeah i get on my work truck frequently and yes we do have a high idle switch. i use it often but not all the time. our newer truck like the 05s and up have one of the upfitter switches made for high idle so if that is turned on all you have to do is set the e brake and it will idle up after about 5 seconds. mines is old school pre upfitter so it is a pain in the ass to turn on the high idle.

at 325 hp and 560 torque this thing will throw you into the back of your seat. can't imagine what 400hp and 800 torque feels like....probably like the new 6.7 bone stock!!! OHHHHHH

[mmandley]

Haha yea i havnt been in the 6.7s but i hear they are a beast lol. The big difference with them is the emissions from the factory. You lose a ton of power thew it. I bet the truck is only getting 65% of that power tot he ground.

I would expect if i put mine on a dino im getting closer to stock numbers at my rear wheels, maybe slightly more or less but i know when i did the tunning it really woke this 6.0 up.

[viking]

at 40-50K they are just starting to get broke in. Well maintained Diesel with 100k and I'd certainly wouldn't walk the other way by any means.

[Lawdog]

All good info. Thanks. I'm pretty meticulous with my vehicles. Right now I have an '08 Chevy Tahoe that I bought new off the lot at the start of '08. It just hit 22K miles. Plan on keeping it and getting a decent diesel truck to help ease the wear and tear on the Tahoe.

[Sabe]

mmandley is right. I have an 06 3/4 ton Duramax. I could never go back to a gas truck after having the deisel.

[moombadaze]

ok, so 100k is no big deal on the motor---but what about the rest of the truck? in general-not one brand or the others

[mmandley]

If your talking about Diesels then 100K is only gonna be seen on normal parts such as, accessories, Alt, PS, Battery, hoses, shocks, things of that nature.

3/4 and 1 ton trucks is what im referring to, this type of truck is built much more substantial then a 1/2 ton and this is due tot he nature of it being aimed at the working mans truck.

Things are much heavier and designed to take a lot more abuse then say a 1/2 ton. Its the same case in Excursion < have to use Ford for this because Chevy and Dodge don't offer 3/4 and 1 ton SUV > this truck is built on the Super duty platform. Save diesel engine is offered. Take an E350 from Ford same super duty chassis.

Trans and drive train are completely different then in 1/2 ton trucks in these also. These are built and designed to handle up to 1,000 FT torque were a 1/2 trans might be 600 ft torque. These trucks tend to also come with Exhaust brakes or there's an aftermarket option to add engine braking going down hill.

Brakes are very different, 1/2 is larger then car brakes but same thing really, go look at a 3/4 and 1 ton and you will see not only are they bigger, the calipers are 2 and 3 pistons the pads wrap the rotors a lot farther for better braking.

This is not to say the Gas 1/2 trucks and SUVs arnt just as good over 100K because some are. They all have the potential but what tends to happen is people buy them and don't do all the maintenance, they go ehh no biggie i can wait a bit on that oil change. Next thing you know its 10K since it had one. In diesels people just tend to be a lot more aware of the maintenance because its shoved down your thought, don't do maintenance and that 10K engine will be trashed and it wont be covered under warranty.

Also since the majority of 3/4 and 1/2 ton trucks are work trucks they tend to get the business service plan and that's regular oil changes because its a company truck.

3/4 and 1 ton trucks are just designed ground up to be a heavy duty truck and this is what makes them last a lot longer. Sure there is plenty that got bad and get trashed much sooner, its all about the maintenance and care of your truck.