3.0 liter diesel half tons - real world experience

In tow/haul mode or not?

Ford's transmission programming drives me nuts, actually. The "new normal" is to lug the motor in the tallest gear possible at anything less than 80% throttle so it's in effect only using 1000-1200 rpm, but this is hell on the torque converter and motor. I'll throw it into towing mode if I'm around town and less than 60 mph to avoid this, but it also downshifts aggressively, which I don't enjoy because the rev-matching will only be correct 50% of the time. I get they're doing it to push fuel efficiency, but saving 1 mpg over 100,000 miles is only covering 1/4 of my transmission rebuild.

The other option I found is if you press the down arrow (not in full manual mode, just auto mode so you're capping the selectable gears) so it will only pick 1-5, you'll be above 1500 rpm around town at all times.

 

2104 2500 6.7 Cummins.

Best truck I`ve ever owned.

Unlike the fords, they rarely have problems.

Funny how stories go on and on. Dodge had a couple years of transmission problems early 2000.

My son has an 05 Cummins with 280K, with a tune, hauls his race 96 dodge (1200 hp, 2200 ft lbs) on a fifth wheel. The 05 has a tune and he runs it hard. Transmission and drivetrain going strong.

My truck has 52K towing miles, mild tune, and going strong.

Fords, including the ecoboost, are another story.

 

Very nice, congrats!

 

I'd have to see data to believe that. No way a turbocharged engine running 13psi on tiny turbos creating a ton of heat pulling weight in the heat of summer on 87 octane piss water isn't going to be near detonation at load. I would bet dollars to donuts that the ECM is pulling timing to some degree to prevent detonation.

 

I do use T/H mode so it uses all the gears, otherwise it skips 2nd and 4th. T/H lets it rev out quite a bit when accelerating, as does sport mode.

Honestly, I prefer lugging it a little over the GM stragety of downshifting 4 gears every time you get to a slight slope.

 

Still averaging over 30mpg with a weeks worth of driving around Toronto on my little Dirtymax. Just got it’s first oil change. I’ve had it for 3 weeks. Ha.

 

Coworker just purchased a brand new GMC Denali Carbon Pro with the option Duramax.

I'm interested to hear about how it performs, but more interested in HOW IN THE HOLY HELL he could justify spending $75K on a half-ton truck.

 

Is a Raptor a better purchase for the same money? I think not.

 

It’s stupid they advertise the carbon pro to hold motorcycles but they only come in miniature version. Who the hell wants to load bikes into a 5’ bed?!

 

Raptor will depreciate significantly less and therefore have a lower ownership cost. It’s arguable.


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Watched a TFL comparison of a loaded Ram Rebel and AT4 3.0. Between 65-70k MSRP on each. Even with nice discounts you’ll end up paying 55-60k. Woof.


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Strongly disagree here- on both depreciation and ownership cost.

 

Raptors definitely depreciate less being a more specialty vehicle with a smaller production run. The cheapest clean title current gen Raptor on cars.com is a 2017 with almost 150k and they're wanting almost $40k. A 2017 Platinum F150 with 40k less miles is $10k less and probably stickered near the same. I don't see how the ownership cost would be any different other than fuel. Same engine and most of the F150s anyway.

 

Interesting, as if/when I buy another diesel it maybe a Dodge. I think you own an automotive repair shop, so I presume you have a bunch of experience on the different platforms, which I don't have.

My 2000 Ford 7.3 lost a turbo, and within a year lost the rebuilt turbo but I got that replaced for very little $'s. I had to have the heads redone, where the injectors go into the coppers. Evidently it is somewhat common. At the time, I didn't know you could fix them with the head on the engine, so I yanked the heads initially thinking I had a blown head gasket, as the coolant system was pressurized. I had the heads rebuilt, and never had any more problems with that. I sold it and bought a used 02 GMC

My 02 GMC with the Isuzu engine (Duramax) had injectors that started failing right after I bought it used, so I replaced them with rebuilt injectors. They have now failed again with somewhere between 70-100k of mileage. Evidently a bad design and you have to pull the heads to do the job. I had hoped the rebuilt injectors would be made better and fix the inherent design flaw, but that wasn't the case.

However towing between the two is sooooo much better with the GMC because it has more power and an Allison transmission.

Recently picked up a 2008 Ford F350 6.4 Diesel powerstroke with a 6 speed manual for towing a forklift trailer, which may not happen now. Having said that, I like the 2002 GM power/driving better than this newer Ford.

Have the commercial version of the 7.3 in my international tow truck, a DT444. It had a couple bad injectors but it now has almost 400K miles and has had no engine problems other than the two injectors I replaced after buying it used in 2008. I wanted a DT466 inline 6, but didn't find a deal on one with that engine and in retrospect this engine has been flawless.

 

Get 06/07 duramax .
I would not trade it for any of this new crap.

 

Who has experience with the GMC Canyon diesel?

 

2016 GMC Denali HD ‘deleted’ Duramax has renewed my faith in diesel powered trucks.

Absolutely love it! Not loud at all with a 4” straight pipe exiting into the stock bazooka tailpipe. My neighbors V8 F150 with dual exhaust is louder. He doesn’t have the cool turbo sound I have though.

The truck runs so good now. Cannot wait until summer to start towing the toy hauler with it.

 

We do.

The 7.3 is probably the best ford (international) LT diesel they have, but it does have an over complicated hydro-electric injector setup that can be trouble, along with two oil pumps, high and low pressure.

But I had a rollback that had 700K with ony injector, glow plug, and turbo failure.

The newer diesels, we are seeing bearing failure as early as 70-80K, due to rod bearings spun.

The only real problem we see with our cummins fleets is Emission problems, but they all have that.

If you can get rid of it, great. Or buy an older model before DEF.

The 5.9 and 6.7 are excellent.

 

Mines still in the shop- it's not the oil pan that's leaking and they haven't diagnosed it yet. Covered under warranty but still quite annoying- I can't say I've driven it into the ground with the 36k miles on the clock.

 

My GMC had an early oil leak at the oil cooler housing. I think it had 8-9k miles on it. Covered under warranty. That is the only non-emissions problem it ever had. 2nd warranty issue was the DEF pump went out this past January.

I pulled the plug on that junk a month later. So moving forward anything happens to it now is on my dime. I voided a year left on the factory warranty by deleting it.

Had a rear door auto lock stop working and a front park assist sensor get knocked out by a rock in the front bumper. I payed out of pocket to fix those issues.