How many miles for a used diesel truck?
Hello all. Wife and I will be starting from scratch in about one more year. My question is this: Since we will be buying a used tow vehicle, what is a sensible amount of mileage on a diesel truck t...
Forum Discussion
donn0128 wrote:
6.0L ford? Nope
Cummins? Cummins is a 500K motor so anything less is fine.
That ignores little items like fuel pumps and water pumps and turbos, and injectors and cooling system and air conditioner and electrical and the emissions controls and transmission and front suspension and steering components. Who wants to spend $20,000 on a truck and then within a year have to spend $5,000 on injectors or $8,000 on a blown head gasket or $3,000 on a new transmission or $1200 on the AC?
For any used diesel truck there are problems specific to certain model years. I would not touch a pre 2010 Ford diesel for example. Certain model years and engines (Duramax engines have changed with 5 different models used in past 11 years) had different design flaws, hence the redesign and new engines released.
If I found a GM Duramax 2006 to early 2007 with the LBZ engine I would want to know what work had been done on it. If it had a new set of injectors installed ($5,000 repair) in the past 10,000 miles I would be a lot more comfortable buying the truck than a similar one with its original injectors.
The diesel engines weigh a lot more than gas engines and this usually leads to faster wear of the front end components, especially if the owner did not keep everything maintained properly (which is rare by the way). I would take a used truck to a shop that specializes in front end work to get it inspected and a quote for any recommended repairs.
I would only buy from the original owner and who has all the maintenance and repair records for the truck. I would never buy from a dealer unless I included in the price tag an extended warranty for the truck. Either way I would have the truck thoroughly inspected by shops specializing in diesel repairs and suspension and brake repairs and have the truck inspected while on a lift.
Unless you plan to tow more than 10,000 lbs. there is very little to be gained with a diesel engine and no reason to pay the premium price for the truck, for maintenance and repairs, and higher fuel prices as well.
