Well, I've been feeling it coming. My D-Max powered service truck has 99,000 miles on it, getting Rotella 15/40, A/C Delco filters (air, oil, and fuel) every 5,000 miles... And it laid down three days ago. Ingesting and burning 3-4 quarts of oil every two days. They say its not an injector, they are saying its in the lower end. Dealership took the head off today, I'm going by there tomorrow to survey the damage. I heard rumor that they my attempt to repair that one hole since its so close to being out of warranty... hhmmmmm!!!.. Not sure how much can be repaired on an intergrated bore block???.. This engine kicked two water pumps off of it last summer, has been thru several sets of injectors and injection pumps. I thought this engine was boasted and "We are Industrial Grade!"

 

Don't settle for less than a long block with those miles on it and past history!!
Just sat NO to them putting a diaper on your DIAPERMAX


Seriously i hope it works out well for you.

 

One bad out of many good ones running around. Sorry for your troubles.

 

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Dont listen to them. You would really be in good company if you were to put a Cummins in there instead. Just kiddin, well sorta. Sounds like you have done your maintenance, but the multiple pumps and injectors and water pumps??? That dog don't hunt.

 

You are not alone the local dealer had a one ton ext cab dually in last week only 30k on it needed headgaskets already truck was clean and looked well taken care of. Like i said before push for a long block replacement and let us know how it turns out.

 

BOY,,,cant wait for mine too....were having same probs here... Mine just clicked off 31K...only 60 more and its prolly toast.

I assume we have same trucks C5500;s not to mention mine burns about 2-3 quarts per 5000miles

 

yeah, pretty much... mine is the 4500. These things have been "shop hungry" since day one.
Palerider.... As much as I would like to put a Cummins in it, that wouldn't go over well with who my employer is..... Catdiesel knows what I mean. I already take some heat for my personal truck being a Cummins. What I would REALLY like is a new Ford with the Cat C-9 in it.... Give me one Saturday morning with a C-9 and my laptop, I'd have me a real service truck then....

 

I know how you feel. A local engine service company uses all chevy service trucks w/D-max engines, after having too many problems with their Ford fleet of 6.0's. I just figured they would order the service trucks with their own engines, so as to make repairs and service easier?? They definitely haul enough to make it justifiable for size. Why stay with the smaller light duty engines?

 

Oh -- I asked why they chose Chevy over Dodge, and it was due to no Chassis Cabs or 4500+'s when they switched over. They keep the service bodies when they trade in. Maybe the next round will be Dodge CTD's, if the 4500-5500's come out.

 

Not sure why we use GM instead of our own line... except for price. The Isuzu is cheap compared to the Cat. One good thing about our company is that it seems that we don't keep our service trucks for 100 years before replacing them, from what I've seen, about 5 years is the max. to keep one.. That probably has alot to do with why we just buy the Isuzu's and run 'em till they drop, then go get another one. I'd love to have a Ford 650-750 with a Cat though..

 

Injectors-many injectors on a duramax? Let me guess-LB7?

 

Well, I went by the dealership this morning to survey the damage... The tech. said that it didn't have an injector problem or failure. But, when he pulled the r/h head, he found the #5 to be missing a small piece of the piston, and #3 cylinder wall is scorched and has lots od discoloration. Crown of #3 piston is clean with no deposit build-up... we both agreed that it seems to be signs of burnt antifreeze. It doesn't have a cracked head or blown head gasket...Personally, I thing the #5 piston problem is most likely a result from one of the many previous injector failures. But all the cylinder walls on that side had "burnish" marks on the upper end of the cylinders.
I did learn from my supervisor Friday that the GM rep. had my service truck wreckered across town to have it weighed on D.O.T. scales. Something to do with the D-Max maximum load capacity of 24,000 lbs. I weighed in at about 17,000 lbs. RBRETT, its an '03 model... does that make it an LB7???.. does that stand for long block the engine seven times????...JK!!!

 

With the rep sending it out for a weight check looks like he is already looking for a way to wiggle out from fixing it for you. sounds like you were not even close to being heavy tell him we haul that much with a 3/4 ton dodge cummins everyday and don't even pull it in untill the 100k mark for a pit stop valve adjustment
Did you send him home for the weekend with your little file of previous repairs to read up on.

I met some cat engineers about 5 years ago when they were in the area on some equipment issues they were driving dodges and we got to talking about the truck engines for the big three and they said we had a very interesting meeting With GM when they wanted us to build them an engine for their pickups.

He said (One of their design parameters was we need this engine to run 100k miles but no more than 125k) The cat guys said to them sorry no thanks SEE YA!!!

 

Planned obsolescence is no conspiracy theory!

 

What I had heard about the GM/Cat thing was that Cat stated they would warrant the engine for 200,000 miles but they also wanted the entire drivetrain warranted for 200,000 miles.
If I could buy a 3/4 ton pickup with a Cat engine and the entire drivetrain had a 200,000 mile warranty, I wouldn't care if it was built by YUGO!.