Operational problems with new diesel pickups

ognend wrote:
The new diesel engines are laden with issues. IMHO, unless you really need it (working truck hauling heavy equipment daily) or you tow heavy (>15-16K lbs) and you do it often - a new 6.6L chevy or 7.3L Ford gasser will happily do the job with 1/4 of the drama. No "you used bad fuel, what did you expect" guilt trips, no EGR/emissions issues, no CP4 $12K repair failures, no turbo failures, no mystery coolant leaks. The new diesels are beasts for sure but do the math between a 8mpg new gasser towing and the 14mpg new diesel towing with current prices and $10K engine premium on diesel (plus oil/fuel filter/additive costs over the time of ownership) - the $10K premium turns into a $12-14K premium with the cost of diesel maintenance - takes years to make up the mileage difference - and I am not even talking expensive repairs on the diesel OR you have to keep buying extended warranties. The only thing that diesels have going is that people still think of them as reliable and they keep their resale value better.

To say they are laden with issues is a blatant exaggeration. And not everything is about cost... you don't buy a Corvette over a Spark for economy, yet they sell plenty of them and don't kick up the same amount of dust the diesel vs gas debate does.

I had a CP4 failure covered under warranty on my 335D, after that converted my GM LML to a CP3, and will do the same for my Ram when the warranty is up. Other than that, I have absolutely no concerns about my diesel, but a savings account should an issue ever come up. I prefer diesel to gasoline, as so many other people do, and will continue to use diesel until viable hydrogen or electric alternatives come along. I've owned multiple modern diesels and never had any other major problems out of them. To be clear, I also own a Jeep with a 2.0T that's turning heavy 37s with 5.13 gears and would keep money in savings for it all the same, and I'm not only sold on diesels.

I've had plenty of problems out of gasoline engines I've bought, because they didn't stand up well to the abuse I dished out. I can't go blaming those issues on the fact that they were gasoline, or say that my Duramax was better because it didn't bat an eye being ramped up to over 600RWHP with a heavy right foot or (using a different tune) 440RWHP with a 15K trailer. Reliability is highly dependent on use, maintenance, etc, and a whole lot more nuanced than "gasoline is more reliable". I doubt you'll have any more issues out of a modern diesel than you will a modern gasoline engine, as the days of marked simplicity are long gone. And if you're asking a gas engine to work near its limits, the same load would likely be comfortably moving along behind a diesel, and I bet that diesel would last a whole lot longer.

Vehicles, with few possible exceptions, are pay to play, and people buy what they want. Very few buy just what they need, or else there would be a lot more people hauling with basic work trucks and commuting in econoboxes.

Two final points:

• The value of exhaust braking in modern diesels should not be overlooked if you are traveling in the mountains
  
• Diesel variants usually come with stronger transmissions, transfer cases, axles, etc, and that is part of the premium