6.6 duramax vs 6.0 powertroke

powderman426 wrote:
I would get the 5.9.

The Cummins won't let you down.

:B

5.9 let my dad down and it required a tow. Hard to run the Cummins when the lift pump fails. He still has it and is well over 200k miles now.

Not throwing stones at the Cummins, just pointing out that ALL diesel options can and do have failure points.

Some Duramax trucks have head gasket and injector issues, some Rams have Lift pump issues,... Then there is the 6.0.

This is not a motor that you treat like every other motor. You need to carefully monitor engine oil and engine coolant temps, watch for tell tell signs of failure and get it repaired. Change the coolant often and keep a close eye on things. Many 6.0's live happy lives without failure.

IMHO before I bought a 6.0 diesel I would invest in a scan guage II and plug it into the truck on the test drive. Let the truck tell you the story.

- does the motor feel like it has a slight miss from cold start? Did it smooth out after it got warm? That's probably one or more injectors failing.
- are the oil tems and the coolant temps within 15 degrees? If not, then there is probably a bad EGR cooler and or a bad OIl cooler. That will lead to a head gasket failure.
- is there white smoke on start up? If so, the EGR cooler is probably toast, at the least. At the most the head gaskets are done
-do the heads have bolts or studs? If studs the The motor has at least had the head gaskets done and head studs installed. This can be a good sign that the EGR cooler and the Oil cooler have also been replaced.
- check the coolant, is it still gold coolant? Does it have green coolant (bad)? Can you see a coolant filter (this will be very obvious).
-get the records that the coolant, fuel, and oil has been changed per spec. Also look for the typical stuff like axle fluid changes and transmission fluid changes.
- no records? The. Get a competent diesel mechanic to take a look.

While most of the above applies to the 6.0 I would not buy any used diesel without researching the issues with that particular platform until I'm red eyed and confident about what I am looking for.

IMHO... While the 6.0 has it's issues, the rest of the truck is fantastic with arguably one of the stoutest transmissions of the era. Plus there is hardly a smoother driving diesel than a 6.0 running properly.

Thanks and good luck!

Jeremiah