Becoming diesel gunshy

[brnzbk]

I have been searching for a diesel truck to pull a to be purchased fifth wheel.
After reading all of the nightmares and maintenance problems I'm concerned about future costs and down time. Do most diesel owners experience a multitude of problems or am I just seeing a small percentage that are venting? Seems to be mostly injector and fuel pump problems however, shelling out 60K for a truck that is going to need constant repairs is concerning, I hope this is the exception and not the rule.
Any experiences will be appreciated.

[RedJeep]

diazr2 wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
People post to complain about problems, rarely to praise their trucks. I think most all of us who have diesels say that serious problems are actually rare.

Ford 2001 7.3 never had a serious problem still own the truck and she is still just as strong as the day I bought her. Wouldn't own a different truck if you gave it to me. I don't understand the maintenance issues I do everything I am suppose to do to my diesel and it's still cost me hardly anything to maintain. Maybe it's because its a 2001? Don't know I just know it's a very inexpensive truck to own.

X2 on the '01 7.3. Rock solid even for an old truck.

[charlie_good_ti]

Trucking companies would be running gas engines if Diesel maitance was higher for Diesel.Lot of Diesel truck engines with million miles on them an still running before overhaul needed.Buy the Diesel!

[Hannibal]

Thirty five years ago, a car that just quits running every now and then was a real challenge to troubleshoot. It could have been any number of things related to fuel or ignition. Now, plug in a diagnostic tool and the car will tell you what's wrong even if it's very intermittent. I think the days of the shade tree mechanic are better than ever. That's not to say there aren't engineering flaws with both mechanical and software but, for the most part, I wouldn't want to go back to points and carburetors.

[carl2591]

and it will be getting worse as the years go by with EPA reg stuff. the "mechanics" of the future will be the computer geeks with the grease monkeys around to change out bad parts..

GM has ad of tv talking about having your vehicle emailing you with issues.. Heck i get enough email with out have to worry about getting one from my truck.. :E

Its a know fact there have been issues with the new Fords and GM diesels for the most part. heck go to any mechanics shop and you will see all manner of cars, honda, toyota, fords there..

NO one makes a perfect vehicle short of Tesla.. now if they made a pickup truck..DAMMMM

The Mad Norsky wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
Check out the repair bays at any large dealer to verify that a lot of diesel pickups spend time there. A mechanic friend won't recommend one for that reason.

These modern trucks are so complex, that for anything other than a do-it-yourself oil change, a visit to the dealership is mandatory.

Gas or diesel. No difference.

[The_Mad_Norsky]

Do remember that the $12,000 water damage bills for diesels seem to come with the Bosch CP 4.2 pumps in the Powerstroke and Duramax.

Mind you, haven't heard too much about the Bosch CP 3 in the Cummins, other than it is a completely different design and apparently not quite as delicate as the CP 4.2 pump.

Hey, and before I get jumped on for saying "delicate" for the Ford/GM pump, gotta give credit to the person who first said it. The CEO of Porsche, talking about the Bosch CP 4.1 pump in their diesels. Almost the same pump as Ford/GM run, except a single cylinder compared to the twin cylinder CP 4.2

[tomman58]

Under the hood of my 2015 GMC LTZ Dmax with all the bells and whistles is a sign that basically says .... close the hood you'll only get yourself in trouble 8under here! The day of the shade tree mechanic is over. I think that is a plus for folks like me that have no intention of changing oil or fuel filters and such. Rotate tires , not in my playbook that's why I have a charge card, LOL.

[Hannibal]

The Mad Norsky wrote:

TomG2 wrote:
Check out the repair bays at any large dealer to verify that a lot of diesel pickups spend time there. A mechanic friend won't recommend one for that reason.

These modern trucks are so complex, that for anything other than a do-it-yourself oil change, a visit to the dealership is mandatory.

Gas or diesel. No difference.

For the most part yes but, most sensors can be changed by the DIY'ers. I bought a code reader for my F250 and changed out a bad O2 sensor that set a trouble code. I diagnosed a bad crankshaft speed sensor on our previous '01 Durango and swapped it out. There are still a lot of things we can do ourselves gas or diesel. Most of the time it's something simple and the ECM will tell us what it is. It's that drop of water that can do $12,000 worth of damage to a new diesel while a gas engine will simply hiccup and keep on going.

[mr61impala]

Lets see now, in the last decade or so the diesels have had to contend with tighter and tighter emissions standards such as NOX and particulate matter, much lower levels of sulphur lubricant, diesel particulate filters, diesel oxidation catalysts and now corrosive diesel exhaust fluid systems while the rules for the gas burners are virtually unchanged.

The complexity of the diesel is much greater than a decade ago, while in the same time frame we been finding interesting ways to extract more and more power from the gas burners with no hit on reliability.

Both have gained significantly in output over the years but I would have to predict that the newer diesels have lost a bit of their long term reliability in the process.

[The_Mad_Norsky]

TomG2 wrote:
Check out the repair bays at any large dealer to verify that a lot of diesel pickups spend time there. A mechanic friend won't recommend one for that reason.

These modern trucks are so complex, that for anything other than a do-it-yourself oil change, a visit to the dealership is mandatory.

Gas or diesel. No difference.

[Me_Again]

TomG2 wrote:


Check out the repair bays at any large dealer to verify that a lot of diesel pickups spend time there. A mechanic friend won't recommend one for that reason.

So he works at a Ford Dealership? Chris

[shepstone]

Cudo's to all you guys I think this has been the most honest and civil Gas vs diesel vs brands that I have yet seen on rv.net. Proud of you all!!

[stevewise]

brnzbk wrote:
I have been searching for a diesel truck to pull a to be purchased fifth wheel.
After reading all of the nightmares and maintenance problems I'm concerned about future costs and down time. Do most diesel owners experience a multitude of problems or am I just seeing a small percentage that are venting? Seems to be mostly injector and fuel pump problems however, shelling out 60K for a truck that is going to need constant repairs is concerning, I hope this is the exception and not the rule.
Any experiences will be appreciated.

I have a 2014 F350 4X4 pulling 15,000lb 5th before that a 10,000lb TT have done 27,000 miles last year with no problem.

[carl2591]

I read a lot of forums to figure out I did not want a 6.0L or 6.4L ford diesel at the time (last year) due to the issues they had encountered. Even now with all the upgrades the 6.0 and 6.4 are not all that favored vs the 7.3 and the third year 6.7L motors from ford.

I am sure there are thousands of happy 6.0 and 6.4 owners out there. If you ask 100 owners I would bet at least half would admit to having at least 1 high dollar (over 1K) issue with the truck since buying it.

The older 7.3s, especially the 2003 yr was probably the most reliable engine made thus far by ford/navistar. THe new 6.7L is a ford engineered and built engine and have had issue with the 2011, 2012 turbo bearings from what I have seen on powerstrokehelp.com

With all things you have to weigh the good with the bad. More bad comments means to me not a good thing.

I currently have a 2003 7.3 with 170k miles that will be doing mods like replacing high pressure oil lines, known to bust with age; doing a fuel crossover line mod, to help with injector noise on #8 and provide more fuel pressure; installing larger trans fluid cooler (from 6.0L) to prevent fluid failure; replacing trans with higher quality tougher components; going with 2 or three disk torque convertor, better for towing; better brake rotors and pads etc..

Not having to live with the knowing there might/will be major issue with injectors or EGT or Oil cooler like in the 6.0 motors.. priceless...

knowledge is power.

diazr2 wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
People post to complain about problems, rarely to praise their trucks. I think most all of us who have diesels say that serious problems are actually rare.

Ford 2001 7.3 never had a serious problem still own the truck and she is still just as strong as the day I bought her. Wouldn't own a different truck if you gave it to me. I don't understand the maintenance issues I do everything I am suppose to do to my diesel and it's still cost me hardly anything to maintain. Maybe it's because its a 2001? Don't know I just know it's a very inexpensive truck to own.

[The_Mad_Norsky]

brnzbk wrote:
OK, I'm the original OP and after listening to many responses I did purchase a 2015 F350 cc lb dually 4X4 diesel. So I am convinced that there are no gremlins or adversaries that are going to sabatoge my diesel truck.
I am looking forward to pleasant and long lasting relationship with my new F350 diesel.
Thanks for all of the responses.

Good for you.

Should be a great truck for you.

One word of advice. DON'T go cheap on oil filters! The Motorcraft factory filter is a good one, and is easy to find.

Another great choice for that engine would be the FleetGuard Stratapore oil filter LF17494. Mind you, that part number is good for up to the 2014 model year Ford 6.7L diesel, so perhaps the number for the model year 15 will be different. But very, VERY good filters.