2020 Chevy Duramax 3.0 Diesel

bobsallyh wrote:
I sure hope they went back to Isuzu for help in designing this piece like they did for the development of the original Duramax. If they didn't they will PO light truck diesel owners off again.

No they did not it is from their design studios in Turin Italy

Ductape wrote:
150k design life. Italian design? That's for shoes and sports cars.

Should have stuck with Isuzu. They know diesels.

Not high output ones. Europeans are good at that

ib516 wrote:
I like how they praise the inline 6 design as being superior to a "V" design. I wonder what the HD division guys at GM think of that marketing strategy?

A lot of companies are going to inline sixes, smoother engine

If this is actually the case then I’m guessing that the service interval would be much longer or GM is shooting themselves in the foot.
They have the most desirable configuration, I6, hopefully it’s well though out.

ksss wrote:

ib516 wrote:
They don't have the manual up on their website yet for the 3.0L Duramax I6, but for the 2.8L I4, the timing belt needs to be changed at 150k miles. I wonder if that is extended for the I6 3.0L because it is in the back?

On Edit - In doing some web searching, it looks like the "timing" is chain driven (on the back of the engine), but the OIL PUMP is belt driven (also on the back of the engine). Maybe there's a way to change it without engine removal?

That is some of the questions I want to look into. If the belt can be accessed without pulling the guts out of the pickup, I would feel better. I am not sure how that can be possible since you look at any new diesel pickup and you cant even touch the engine block with your hand much less a wrench. Granted have not looked at the 3.0 maybe it is accessible somehow. A belt driven oil pump would on the surface seem to be a bad idea, I am no one's engineer but belts when they go, they go in a catastrophic way. There is no way to check this belt like you can with belts on the front of your engine. So your just hoping all is well until your oil psi light comes on, and you got seconds to get it shut down.

I would say at a minimum to replace the oil pump belt is remove the following:
Transmission
Flex Plate
Rear engine cover/rear main seal
Pulley off of crank

After this work is done then one will have to hope there's no unintentional consequences like oil leaks.

Yeah GM went cheap before on the prior two Diesels before the Duramax. Hope this is not a case of penny wise pound foolish. Only time will tell.

150k design life. Italian design? That's for shoes and sports cars.

Should have stuck with Isuzu. They know diesels.

ib516 wrote:
They don't have the manual up on their website yet for the 3.0L Duramax I6, but for the 2.8L I4, the timing belt needs to be changed at 150k miles. I wonder if that is extended for the I6 3.0L because it is in the back?

On Edit - In doing some web searching, it looks like the "timing" is chain driven (on the back of the engine), but the OIL PUMP is belt driven (also on the back of the engine). Maybe there's a way to change it without engine removal?

That is some of the questions I want to look into. If the belt can be accessed without pulling the guts out of the pickup, I would feel better. I am not sure how that can be possible since you look at any new diesel pickup and you cant even touch the engine block with your hand much less a wrench. Granted have not looked at the 3.0 maybe it is accessible somehow. A belt driven oil pump would on the surface seem to be a bad idea, I am no one's engineer but belts when they go, they go in a catastrophic way. There is no way to check this belt like you can with belts on the front of your engine. So your just hoping all is well until your oil psi light comes on, and you got seconds to get it shut down.

They don't have the manual up on their website yet for the 3.0L Duramax I6, but for the 2.8L I4, the timing belt needs to be changed at 150k miles. I wonder if that is extended for the I6 3.0L because it is in the back?

On Edit - In doing some web searching, it looks like the "timing" is chain driven (on the back of the engine), but the OIL PUMP is belt driven (also on the back of the engine). Maybe there's a way to change it without engine removal?

ksss wrote:
Although I am a GM guy, I also admit from what I see (which is limited to what I have read here) that the 150k life expectancy and the rubber belt are concerning. I find the life expectancy really hard to believe. I have not looked into this on my own, and until I do I am taking this with a grain of salt. Maybe the belt has a 150K life expectancy which still is problematic, but I find it hard to believe that they would spend this much on bringing this diesel to market for it to be disposable at 150K.

150k miles is pretty much industry standard design life for vehicle under 8500 GVWR. And that's why some light duty motors aren't used in heavier applications (Chevy 6.2L for one example) or when they do, they reduce the power levels (Ford 3.5L EcoBoost). By design life, that means intended service life before expecting major service, under extreme operating conditions. It's not some countdown timer causing the engine to explode.

So the 150k stated life is not at all concerning to me. What does concern me, is that they have made major service items much more difficult to access, to the point that those major service items might be too much $$$ to bother with. The back-of-engine timing chain and oil pump belt strikes of Audi levels of stupidity.