2009 Chevy Duramax diesel.

[caseyhoward]

I have a 2009 Chevy Duramax diesel. And I just replaced my first glow plug. Now I am useing a fuel treatment about every other tank. My mechanic said its not working. The glow plugs look pretty bad after only 140,000 miles. My question to you is do you use fuel additives and if so what Brand on your duramax. I was using diesel kleen.

[caseyhoward]

Well I received an education from this post thanks to everybody that responded.

[DustyR]

My 2008 Duramax has apx 156,000 miles on it and had one glow-plug replaced at 125,000 miles. I run an additive usually Opti-lube or Stanadyne every tank as it has been deleted and tuned.

[morley]

I had 3 glow plugs replaced on my 2009 Silverado Duramx in the first 6 months after I purchased it (on warranty of course). I was concerned of course but the dealership did not seemed concerned at all. Fortunately no more plugs have gone since then although I only have 65,000 kilometres on the vehicle. (Truck used exclusively to haul 5er) Never used additives, possibly this particular model year had some sort of glow plug issue at assembly.

[ktmrfs]

my 04.5 that my son now has just turned 160K miles. much of it was stop and go short trips when I used it to go to work (5 miles) Never had to replace a glow plug. Good friend sold his 05 recently with 275K miles, never had to replace a glow plug.

Neither truck ever used additives

[ng2951]

Go figure why GMC puts a lift pump on the 1 ton, while they do not on the 3/4 ton.

Glow plugs are not suppose to be essential unless it is cold.

My mechanic has been indifferent about diesel additives. He sees nothing wrong with them, but they have tested several.

My GMC has 6.7 LBZ so it does not use DEF.

[dave17352]

About 40k on my 2012 and i have used stanadyne on every tank. Only reason for that is Duramax forum did freak me out about lubricity and the CP4 pump. Glad to hear all of the above posters have not had a fuel pump failure!:)

[Miles_Away]

I had one go bad about three years ago on the left side and I replaced all four on that side. About a year later I lost one on the right side, so I replaced all four on that side. As someone stated above, fuel additives have nothing to do with glow plugs. Be careful with fuel additives and don't over dose the mixture, as most of them contain sulfur, which will eventually lead to DPF issues.

[S_Davis]

I just replaced all the glow plugs on our 09 at 95,000, one went bad and I replaced it and then another one went so I just replaced the rest. Have never used additives. Drivers side is the worst.

[NMDriver]

I have an 08 Silverado HD Duramax w/120K+ miles. I do not use additives but I have had a lift pump installed due to the "reduced power warning" caused by reduced injector rail pressure when pulling heavy loads in high summer temperature.

I did replace #3 glow plug at 105,000 mi. You will get a code if you need to replace a glow plug. It was a 15 min and $15 job. The left side glow plugs are harder to get to but the right side plugs are very easy. You Tube has videos to show you how and Amazon will sell you the part.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

ScottG wrote:
There's no connection between using a fuel additive and the life of a glow plug.
Also, I'm not sure what he meant by the glow plugs "looked bad". The ends are always going to look bad after being in an environment like that. Most the time you cant tell a dead GP from a good one just by looking at it unless it's blistered.
Glow plugs are only used then the eng is cold. Generally speaking, after that they are shut down and do nothing.

^^^ This.

Glow plugs are a wear item much like spark plugs or brake pads. After so many cycles they will burn out. On my 06 Dmax one burnt out at around 50K and the CEL came on a few months ago. Code? #4 glow plug burnt out. Guess what I will be doing tomorrow. :B

PS: I use no additive in my truck. There is no need in my case.

[ScottG]

There's no connection between using a fuel additive and the life of a glow plug.
Also, I'm not sure what he meant by the glow plugs "looked bad". The ends are always going to look bad after being in an environment like that. Most the time you cant tell a dead GP from a good one just by looking at it unless it's blistered.
Glow plugs are only used when the eng is cold. Generally speaking, after that they are shut down and do nothing. They dont act as spark plugs like many people think.

[KD4UPL]

I grew up on a farm with diesel equipment. I was an over the road truck driver for a while. I've owned and driven diesel pick-ups since 2005. I've never used any additive ever.
My current '05 Duramax has 217,000 miles on it. The engine has had a water pump replaced and two injectors tightened up to stop leaks. That's all that's ever been done to the engine.

[Lantley]

2007 Duramax LBZ. 250K miles no additives,no issues.

[2001400ex]

I have 140k on mine, I bought it at 37k. I used additives (white diesel kleen) in the winter when it is going to get super cold. And maybe one trip in the summer towing I'll go through a bottle of diesel kleen. I've had no issues.

I owned a Ford 6.0 for 35k miles and used one every tank, maybe the forums freaked me out more then anything in that case.