Diesel life span
I am thinking of purchasing a one ton deisel dually. Currently I have a 250 gasser. Can any of you senior members that have been towing for years with a deisel tell me how many miles I can expect ou...
Forum Discussion
The diesel lifespan is a myth left over from 40-50yrs ago when people got excited if a gas engine hit 100k miles before dying. A big overbuilt slow turning diesel was simple and didn't have a lot that could go wrong.
Fast forward to today: Unless you are putting 40-50k miles per year on, lifespan is pretty much irrelevant. At a typical 10-15k miles per year, 250k miles takes around 20yrs.
We sold our 1992 7.3 diesel with around a quarter million miles on it. The engine still ran strong but the rest of the truck was falling apart. We replaced it with a gas V10 at 110k miles and expect to get into the 250k mile range before replacement.
Of course, we did the same thing with a gas powered jeep Cherokee at around a quarter million miles. Engine strong but the rest of the vehicle worn out and not worth upgrading.
Modern engines (gas or diesel) will typically outlive the vehicle.
The reason to go up to the diesel is you need to tow something that exceeds the tow ratings of the biggest gas engines. I might also make an exception if you do a lot of high altitude towing as the turbo means you lose almost no power at altitude (ford's ecoboost turbo engines provide a similar benefit if they provide a big enough tow rating). The only reason we had a diesel is we got it for $2500 and got 8yrs and 150k miles out of it. Buying new, you are looking at $8-10k just for the diesel upgrade.
Fast forward to today: Unless you are putting 40-50k miles per year on, lifespan is pretty much irrelevant. At a typical 10-15k miles per year, 250k miles takes around 20yrs.
We sold our 1992 7.3 diesel with around a quarter million miles on it. The engine still ran strong but the rest of the truck was falling apart. We replaced it with a gas V10 at 110k miles and expect to get into the 250k mile range before replacement.
Of course, we did the same thing with a gas powered jeep Cherokee at around a quarter million miles. Engine strong but the rest of the vehicle worn out and not worth upgrading.
Modern engines (gas or diesel) will typically outlive the vehicle.
The reason to go up to the diesel is you need to tow something that exceeds the tow ratings of the biggest gas engines. I might also make an exception if you do a lot of high altitude towing as the turbo means you lose almost no power at altitude (ford's ecoboost turbo engines provide a similar benefit if they provide a big enough tow rating). The only reason we had a diesel is we got it for $2500 and got 8yrs and 150k miles out of it. Buying new, you are looking at $8-10k just for the diesel upgrade.
