new truck purchase.. school me on diesels

The vans are downrated mostly for packaging issues. The nose doesn't have room for a large radiator like the truck, and the Allison transmission doesn't fit under the body. So they are using a gasser transmission which can't hold as much torque.

 

Wow where the hell is that happening? Im sitting on my emissions stuff till i figure out if thats actually going to happen or not.

 

Same motor that is de-rated since the vans don't have the room for the Allison tranny, so you have a weaker tranny behind the motor.

I used to hook the block heater to a timer that cut it on two/three hours before I needed to leave. Got the block warm enough without having to leave it hooked up all night long.

 

Not in the 17 fords. The 250/350 legitimately have different axles now. The standard 250s keep the same Ford/sterling axle and the Srw 350 gets a Dana M275. If you get the HD tow package on the 250 then you the M275 axle, but only with the tow package.

 

I’ve got a 15 2500 and previously had an 11 2500 duramax. Don’t worry about plugging it in, the remote start bumps up the idle, engages the tranny somehow, and will be nicely warmed up after 10min or so. I live in Ontario Canada so very similar weather to what you’re dealing with. I use additive occasionally but not consistently and I’ve yet to have a fuel gelling problem even with a Fass lift pump that has filters exposed to the elements. The only thing I would add is the lift pump with extra filters. I change my fuel filter once a year (30,000km) as well as the spin on tranny filter.

Enjoy the truck! I love mine.

 

I would highly recommend you get the 3500 over the 2500 you're not losing anything but you sure are gaining a whole lot of payload. I love my 3/4 ton but even with my trailer loaded to 8k and what not I roll over the scales over weight.

With the GM having a 9th diesel injector in the exhaust for the dog filter cleaning you don't have the worries that Ford and ram do with fuel dilution in the oil. Because of that I wouldn't hesitate to install a bypass filter and run 10-15k oil changes with Amsoil, even in your climate. Because if the 9th injector deleting a GM isn't a necessity early on to save the engine like the other 2. however the emissions system will eventually degrade like every other so it eventually needs to be replaced or deleted.

Learn to do your own maintenance like fuel filters and oil, dealers charge way to much to do it and you can get the oem parts online for cheap. I buy in bulk from diselfiltersonline great prices and they ship by the next day.

Depending on how much you drive I recommend an aux tank. I used to drive cross country so I was a little different but even driving 8 hours towing a 5th wheel to the track and I didn't have to stop, before I was stopping every 2-250 miles. I got a 69gal RDS inbed tank that gravity flows into the main 30gal. Whole set up was like $250 on craigslist and closer to $500 if new. This is where I really wish I had a long bed. And I'll be getting one on my next truck no matter what. Harder to park at the store but that 18" really helps sometimes. There are other options that replace the stock tank with a 50-70gal one but that cost upwards of $1,000 with bobbed space taken up. Personal preference.

 

I would say check with your dealer first. My local Ford dealer does the oil and oil filter in my 6.0 van for 69 bucks, for that I'll sit and watch TV while someone else does it.

 

Do you have more info on this...."With the GM having a 9th diesel injector in the exhaust for the dog filter cleaning you don't have the worries that Ford and ram do with fuel dilution in the oil." I change my oil at 5k (F350) but was considering going to the Amsoil setup.

 

Wow. Just oil and filter costs me $72-75 at Walmart.

 

Geez...how cam they make any $ doing that? oil and filter is $100 (my cost) and that's doing the work myself.

 

I doubt they’re using a quality synthetic oil. A pail if rotella isn’t expensive when on sale so what would they pay for a barrel?

I got 4 free oil changes when I bought the truck. Got it back with oily hand prints all over it and dirty boot marks on the doors etc. It’s a Denali and had 1500km on it. I’ve still got 3 free changes.

 

That truck will have monitors for everything, fuel filer, oil etc. Just change it when it says. Diesels typically have 15k fuel filter and 6k oil change intervals, and the monitors reflect that from the trucks we service on the regular. Probably wont need much for winter operation, the V8 diesel is much easier to start than the inline 6. A winterfront isn't a bad idea to restrict airflow but even in WI only see a few here and there. Fuel gets blended in northern climates, unless we get a very cold spell or your traveling north with a full fuel tank from a southern region you typically don't have to worry about gelling (saw it once last year from a trucker that came from Georgia or something).

Not too much different really, costs go up for maintenance obviously. DEF is consumed about 2% the rate of fuel, so if you're burning less fuel DEF consumption will be lower linearly. I definitely wouldn't be "modding" something you know nothing about. If/ when you go to resell it that might break a sale if the next guy wants to be law conscious. The systems aren't that bad. Yes, we've put in DEF pumps and heaters but its just part of it.

 

See post #17

 

I saw that but wondered if Cali or some other (dungeon edit) state started it already

 

One thing I've heard is that the DEF system needs to stay clean of contaminants. To me, that would mean don't top off your DEF at the truck stop...there's no telling what kind of grime is on/in the nozzle from those pump stations. Buy your DEF in sealed containers.

As far as MPG, the default axle ratio is great for mileage off the showroom floor, not so much when you start using the truck for its capabilities or when going to oversize tires. Consider your usage, pick an appropriate available ratio. This option may not be available on Canadian vehicles, however. I do not see it for RAMs, at least.

 

Gm diesels are all 3.73. Even the Dually's. No other factory option.

 

Really...
Strike two for GM.
(Strike one is the off-center steering wheel...or have they fixed that?)

 

That's good since I'm not interested in paying for high dolla synthetic oil and it's being changed every 5k miles anyway. Rotella is what it would get if I were doing it, that much is certain.

Mine went in grubby one time and came out clean, service guy said we couldn't be going on vacation in a dirty vehicle so they cleaned it. Not all dealers suck, the guys at Akins treat me right and I didn't even buy the vehicle from them.

 

If you still have the DPF it's pointless to get bypass filter. There is no extra injector on the ford or ram so in order to get fuel into the DPF to clean it ford/ram inject diesel into the cylinder on the exhaust stroke. The big thing is that fuel lines the cylinder walls and "washes" them down, removing the oil and seeping past the rings into the oil sump. There were stories when DPF first came out people were gaining up to a gallon of "oil" in between changes which was really fuel getting past the rings and accumulating in the oil. Whether or not it's a gallon is moot but it is a very real problem with real effects you'll see on oil analysis, you can't filter out diesel from the oil so the only way to get rid of it is to change the oil. Not to mention that raw fuel that's injected into the exhaust has to travel through the turbo, EGR, etc. with some of it making a complete trip around the engine through the EGR-EGR cooler - back through the intake.

The GM has that 9th diesel injector in the exhaust so it bypasses the engine and everything the ford/ram deal with and goes straight to the DPF for cleaning, you have to deal with an extra injector possibly failing but you're guaranteed not to have any of the issues listed above for Ford or Ram

Now if you have the DPF deleted and preferably the EGR along with it then you can add a bypass filter which runs usually 1-5 microns (2 microns for Amsoil filters) The filters process about 5-10% of the oil at any given time but they eventually filter all of it to a fine level over some minutes. Compared to the full flow filter that comes on the truck it will filter 100% on every pass but only to 20-50 microns. With bypass filtration you'll change the oil every 10-20K miles or more with testing and the bypass filter (amsoil) itself will last up to 60K miles or 2 years.

Pretty much any bypass kit will work and you can get whatever filters you want. If you decide to go the Amsoil route let me know and I can drop-ship whatever you want at my dealer cost. You'll have to PM me for pricing otherwise some sissy narc will report me to corporate if I post anything but MSRP publicly.

 

Even if regular oil it is cheap since that engine holds 16 quarts of oil