Diesel Question for truck campers
I believe a diesel engine is the best for hauling a truck camper. With the price of diesel going up more each week is it still worth it? Just looking for opinions. Today in Canada a gallon ...
Forum Discussion
I can't believe that someone would post that the fuel consumption goes up with a load only for gas engines. My diesel pickup on the open road gets 18 mpg but with a camper in the bed it gets more like 13 MPG and in the mountains it is 11 MPG and with a head wind it can be as low as 9.5 MPG.
A very big cost to owning a diesel that is seldom mentioned is the difficulty in getting problems diagnosed and repairs done in a timely manner. It took multiple trips to 3 different dealers to get a faulty NOx sensor diagnosed and replaced. Had it happened out of warranty the cost would have been over $700 for this simple repair.
I know that if I had a problem with the truck while out camping the trip would be over as the odds are between very slim and none that I could find a Chevy diesel mechanic out in the rural west. I would need to limp into the biggest town I could find and then check in at a hotel within walking distance and spend a few days trying to get the truck fixed.
I have had breakdowns with my gas engine pickups while traveling over the years but getting the problem diagnosed and the repair done never cost me more than a day. The gas engine mechanic was easy to find and the parts for the engine were always available locally. Good luck trying to get that with any diesel engine in a pickup truck.
It is even more difficult with all the different model years. GM/Chevy for example has different diesel engines in its pre-2004, 2004-2006.5, 2006-2007, 2008-2010,2011-2014 model trucks. No local NAPA store is going to stock parts for a diesel engine. You may be able to find a belt or hose but that will be it.
If you plan to tow more than 12,000 lbs. then a diesel engine is the best choice and you deal with the higher purchase price, higher fuel cost, higher maintenance costs, higher repair costs, and greater difficulty in getting problems diagnosed and repaired. But this is a truck camper forum and no one needs a diesel to haul around a 5,000 lb. camper load unless they are also towing a 8,000 lb. trailer with its load.
There is an emotional appeal to having a big bad diesel truck that will out accelerate and out pull anyone's gas engine equipped truck and I have no problem with their boyish enthusiasm. I do have a problem when they try to rationalize their decision to buy a diesel. I have multiple friends who bought tractors for their 5-acre "ranches" and they can give me many reasons for why they needed a tractor and I try to listen with a straight face, which is not easy to do.
A very big cost to owning a diesel that is seldom mentioned is the difficulty in getting problems diagnosed and repairs done in a timely manner. It took multiple trips to 3 different dealers to get a faulty NOx sensor diagnosed and replaced. Had it happened out of warranty the cost would have been over $700 for this simple repair.
I know that if I had a problem with the truck while out camping the trip would be over as the odds are between very slim and none that I could find a Chevy diesel mechanic out in the rural west. I would need to limp into the biggest town I could find and then check in at a hotel within walking distance and spend a few days trying to get the truck fixed.
I have had breakdowns with my gas engine pickups while traveling over the years but getting the problem diagnosed and the repair done never cost me more than a day. The gas engine mechanic was easy to find and the parts for the engine were always available locally. Good luck trying to get that with any diesel engine in a pickup truck.
It is even more difficult with all the different model years. GM/Chevy for example has different diesel engines in its pre-2004, 2004-2006.5, 2006-2007, 2008-2010,2011-2014 model trucks. No local NAPA store is going to stock parts for a diesel engine. You may be able to find a belt or hose but that will be it.
If you plan to tow more than 12,000 lbs. then a diesel engine is the best choice and you deal with the higher purchase price, higher fuel cost, higher maintenance costs, higher repair costs, and greater difficulty in getting problems diagnosed and repaired. But this is a truck camper forum and no one needs a diesel to haul around a 5,000 lb. camper load unless they are also towing a 8,000 lb. trailer with its load.
There is an emotional appeal to having a big bad diesel truck that will out accelerate and out pull anyone's gas engine equipped truck and I have no problem with their boyish enthusiasm. I do have a problem when they try to rationalize their decision to buy a diesel. I have multiple friends who bought tractors for their 5-acre "ranches" and they can give me many reasons for why they needed a tractor and I try to listen with a straight face, which is not easy to do.
