Diesel Chevy truck with new Duramax engine

[janegowest]

We found a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado and other C/K3500 4x4 Crew Cab that has a brand new Duramax 6.6 or 6.5 engine in it. Dealer was not sure...we will have to go look at it.

How are these engines? And is this truck good for hauling a 15K fifth wheel camper?

Carfax report stated, "axles checked." And 8 months later, all tires were replaced. Can this mean that there might have been problems with the axles?

Thanks for your help in advance!

[Grit_dog]

In general, they are great trucks and will tug 15klbs.
But with the info you've provided no one could know if THIS truck is the deal of the month or a complete mess.
Seeing as you dont appear very mechanically inclined, I'd shy away from a truck that has had untimely repairs. Much greater chance of the truck having issues, just statistically speaking.
Used Dmaxes are dime a dozen, find one that hasn't been tore apart.
OR give enough info to have people help you make an informed decision.
New tires = bad axles?? Not likely. Prolly new tires = wore out old tires!

[christopherglen]

All duramax's in 3/4 and 1 ton pickups are 6.6...
It is likely a brand new rebuild. If it was tuned, the Allison will have ALOT more wear and tear then the odometer shows, and may be in need of a rebuild as well.
If it a 04.5, the "overheating" fix is fairly cheap, you put the air filter and plumbing off a LBZ (06.5-08). The 04's (LB7) were gutless by todays standards.

[ACZL]

A brand new engine in a '04 truck? Perhaps I've been in left field for some time, but is it even possible to get a brand new engine and not a new truck? Plus being an '04, I'd be worried about other issues w/ the vehicle, trans, axles, body, frame etc. Sure you could be getting a new motor which in itself runs several thousand bucks , cost of truck and if something else lets loose..... IMO, better off looking at something newer.

[mudmaker]

Does anyone know if the air filter housing out of a new one would fit in an 03? My fathers 03 dmax has the flat rectangular filter with very little capacity for dust collection. Couple that with the fact that it draws right out of the fender well and we change then constantly due to rural roads and dirty conditions.
Changing out the mouth piece and upgrading the filter would certainly help us with a little over heating and short life of the filters.

[topjimmy]

The 2004 LB7 was the worst Duramax???? Oh I don't think so the Only problem they had was the injectors which were Expensive to replace but GM had a 10 year warranty on them and alot were fixed, my 2004 never did have the injector problems after 180K and I loved the NO EMISSIONS and great gas mileage,the only reason I sold it is because I got a bigger 5th and needed more power Now I have the most sought after Duramax a 07 LBZ and LOVE IT that year they really bumped up the Torque/HP and came with the 6 speed Allison and other improvements ,if you can find one in good shape buy it but they are not Cheap,it took me awhile to find one for a decent price,Least desirable Duramax for most of us Duramax guys is the 2004-2005 LLY that's when they started the emission stuff and did not up the HP/Torque compared to the LB7 and some did overheat but like was said before it was just the Turbo mouthpiece easy fix

[ol_Bombero-JC]

janegowest wrote:
Thank you! I did not know how to remove the original thread after being directed to post on THIS forum.

You simply re-word the question - now it's a new thread, rather than a double post.

If you really want to move the original "as exactly posted" to a different forum, just ask the mods.

~

[lpxguy]

The LLY overheat issue was due to an undersized turbo mouth piece. There was a GM issued TSB about it. Upgrade it to an LBZ mouth piece & the problem is solved. I did it soon after I got mine (89K mi.) and has never gotten close to overheating.

[KD4UPL]

donn0128 wrote:
2004 was probably the worst of the Duramax motors. You need to find out what motor it is. Hopefully they installed a later version.

Since '04 could be had with either an LB7 or an LLY this statement is too general. The LB7 would have a 1 as the 8th digit in the VIN. These were the worst Duramax engines but really the only problem is the injectors. If the '04 is a latter version it will have an LLY Duramax. This would be indicated by a 2 as the 8th VIN digit. Many people claim the LLY overheats but this was apparently only some of them. My own LLY that I purchased new now has over 207,000 miles on it. It does not overheat and has been about the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.

[travelnutz]

DUH, only a few had overheating issues and the fix was so cheap and easy to do. Regardless, the truck has a new engine anyway so what does it matter then?

We tow constantly and heavy too and never had any overheating even up high mountains in the hot summer. Such an over blown subject!

[travelnutz]

Jane,

The 2004 had the original LB7 Duramax engine (from 2001 thru the first half of 2004 model year) when the LLY version of the Duramax engine was ready for production. The LLY was until the LBZ version was ready for production in the early 2006 models. The Duramax engine has always been 6.6L and still is. The LLY had more HP and a lot more torque. The LLY engine vehicle are called the 2004.5 model and the 2005 model. Donn is very wrong as all Duramax engines are very good and there has to be a reason you'll want to know as to why the truck you cited had a new engine put in and for the tires, that's very hard to know as it may have been in the flood or just changed from off road style tires back to road tires. So many possibilities. Lots of these LB7 and LLY original engines now have over a million miles on them and are the OEM engines and still going strong.

Tens of thousands of vehicles/trucks in the south were in floods and you don't want one of them ever. Most were bought up as salvage and made to look great and are sold to unsuspecting purchasers. The title and VIN history along with the date on the title for the truck might be a big help. All states do not use the same designation for junked or salvage vehicles when issuing a new title so do your research with the DMV in your state. You can't tell by checking for rust on a GM as they have all exterior sheet metal made with 2 sided G-60 galvanized except for the roof. Even up here where they salt the roads in winter, you seldom see undamaged rusty GM pickups because of the galvanized coating.

BTW, our 2004.5 Chevy 2500HD Duramax CC LB 4X4 ordered new and has close to 200,000 on it now does not have even a hint of rust anywhere on it and has never needed or had any repairs done other than new front brake pads at 126,000 and 3 lights bulbs replaced. Rear brakes are original and still have a lot left. The truck is and has only been used for RV'ing since new. If we wanted a new truck, we'd simply buy one but why as ours is and has been superb and still looks new inside and out!

[Nunyadamn]

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/63-gm-diesel-engines/140-duramax-third-generation-2006-2007-5-lbz-lly/462496-how-tell-if-lbz-lly.html

[janegowest]

Thank you! I did not know how to remove the original thread after being directed to post on THIS forum.

[janegowest]

Oh...yes! That is why the original owner traded it in! Overheating issues!! and that is why they replaced the motor!!

Thanks for the info! We will look for LLY or LBZ. Where might this info be found?

[Nunyadamn]

I had a 2005 I just sold. It was a good truck with the LLY motor (2004.5 - 2005). There are a lot of issues that can be found with the LLY motor on DieselPlace.com. I would not suggest you buy with the LLY, but if they put the LBZ (2006 - ?) then you will probably be ok. The LLY has over heating issues. I did not have that issue with my truck, but plenty of others have.