6.6L Duramax Deisel

Overall I think they are great motors. They are quiet, start easily in the cold, are low maintenance, are durable, and come with a great transmission. A Duramax Tiger would be awesome in my book.

Then again, so would a 6.0 gas one. :)

I purchased a 2008 2500 HD Duramax ECSB 4x2 LT with 91,000 on it Dec 2012. Did the major 100,000 mile major maint and current mileage is apx 111,000 and have not looked back.
Mileage around town and suburbs is apx 17 on interstates 21/22. Towing 10+/-.

This series can be made into a real horse with some tuning.

My '05 LLY has 138K miles and doing fine. About 50K was towing 10,500# TT, but we've entered the MH era, so no heavy towing lately. Replaced the water pump at 90K and alternator last week. It's always had synthetic fluids in the engine and tranny. Couldn't guess what the life will be.

The Cummins have injector problems just as all diesel do. I have two friends that have the 6.7 Cummins and both have had to replace all of the injectors at about 110k miles so it was out of warranty. One of them also had a turbo blow and take out the inter cooler. So the mighty Cummins does have some problems.

Most of the injector problems with the early Duramax were fixed under warranty by GM. I believe GM even had a special 200k warranty for injectors.

Bottom line the Duramax is as good if not better than any of them. The Allison is by far the best.

2003 bought new 109,000 miles no problems till last year had to put injectors in. It should of been a recall IMO since they extended the warranty to 200,000 or 7 years we were out on years. But I will never buy another GM after the experience we had with them.

Because I've had two diesel coaches in the past I have had two propane generators. In my experience, they operate cleaner and more trouble free than do gasoline generators.

Of course, there may be one more consideration, assuming you're going to have an Onan-equipped Tiger... with the Duramax, you get the 2500LP Onan.

Jim, "Consider the Malevolent Universe Theory: It really is out to get you."

i bought a 2003 LB7 new. I had a lot of trouble with it. Severe coolant loss out the tailpipe.
Drove it about 92,000K (57,000 miles) and after it took me 37 quarts of antifreeze to drive 800 miles I traded it for my current ride.

Current is a 2007 Classic LBZ.

This one has been really good to me. Zero issues with the engine itself. Lots more power than the LB7 but a full 2MPG less under the exact same driving conditions.

I would seek out and buy an LBZ. There are awesome and a real workhorse.

Love my '08 LMM only issue so far was the transmission line at cooler was leaking but I had dealer replace it when I purchased the truck this past December. My Ford POS 6.0 spent more time being repaired than I was able to drive it. Night and day difference in performance also,

What Duramax are we talking about? The '01 thru "04.5 LB7 had injector problems. Otherwise, a decent engine. The '04.5 thru '05 LLY is said to have overheating problems. I have owned one since new and it does not overheat even towing big loads up mountains in the summer. In fact, with 178,000 miles on it, all working, towing, hauling something it has been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.
The '06 thru '07.5 LBZ is widely regarded as the best Duramax. This model gained HP and torque but did not gain emissions equipment like the following models. The Allison automatic with these engines went from a 5 speed to a 6 speed.
The '07.5 thru 2010 LMM was also a good engine. These had the regen for the DPF which caused poorer fuel mileage. Many trucks with this engine had trans. cooler lines that leaked but this has nothing to do with the Duramax engine.
I had a truck with this engine and except for the trans. cooler lines repaired under warranty it gave me zero problems the entire time I owned it.
The '11 LML engine gained lots of HP and torque. It also began the use of DEF which is probably a better emissions system than the previous one. There are no known widespread problems with this engine.
So, mostly, the Duramx has been a consistent smooth, reliable performer.