Duramax VR Cummins

[34 M]

I used to own a 95 dodge 12 valve put almost 300000 km on it never replaced an injector, never replaced anthing on the motor. I wanted to know if any one knows if the newer cummins goes threw injetors. It is desapointing to read about all the durmax owner out there having injetor problems. May be I should sale my 03 GMC get another dodge. I bought a diesel for long term uses not to replace injetors every 150000 km. They should have just made a 300 hp 6.5, the 93 I own is still running strong. Only done glow plugs on it. One more thing does any one know of long lasting aftermarket injectors for the duramax.

[markrinker]

I am not aware of what the percentage of Dmax injectors replaced < 100,000 miles is - but certainly it appears higher among people that come here looking for repair information.

My thought is that the DMax comes with a good warranty to cover them, and if they fail inside that warranty - so be it. If its outside the warranty, enough miles have been delivered that they should be replaced anyway.

Also, the DMax is pretty 'forgiving' when it does shuck an injector. Haven't heard of broken internals due to injector failures - yet. I do wish they were easier to access and more 'user serviceable'. The labor bill is the worst part.

[ 11-20-2005, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Mark Rinker ]

[redrider#1]

I had my 97 Dodge Cummins for seven years and put 145,000 miles on it---replaced serpentine belt once, rear bearing seal once, one set of shocks and a few sets of tires---that is it! I hope my Chevy Duramax can be just as good, but that is a pretty tall order. One thing you have to consider is that the Duramax is putting out almost twice the horsepower your Dodge was, so more chances of parts being stressed, broken, etc, in my opinion. Also, as Mark mentioned, many owners come here already having a problem of some kind so it is hard to tell what percentage of ALL owners are having these problems, but I am sure it is much lower than it seems here. I may be wrong, but I have found very few websites devoted mainly to the Cummins engine with the sheer number of members as we have here, so the number of Cummins problems may be more than we can so easily access. Just a thought.

[cowboywildbill]

We had a 97 Dodge 12 valve automatic also, it was one of the last 12 valves produced, they started delivering the 24 valve cummins in the same model year. Our truck had 93,000 miles when we traded it for our Duramax/Allison. No problems with the cummins engine, but five rebuilds on the Chrysler Automatic and finally at 91,000 miles one totaly new transmision with a new overdrive unit. And I had to put a new set of front brake pads on the Dodge when I changed the oil at every "5,000 miles". Cost me $126.00 for the pads every time. The one time I didn't change the pads at 5,000 miles It ate a pair of rotors too. So I made sure I changed the pads every 5,000 miles after that costly little mistake. We also had two fuel sending units replaced. The rear brake shoes never had any wear, only glazing. I guess that is why all of the front pads wore so quickly. The dealer worked on the front brakes 11 times during the first year,They changed calipers and and ABS system box several times and then Chrysler said no more brake work under warranty. Thank goodness for the extended warranty, at least the transmissions and sending units were covered after that. I talked to someone with a new Dodge Cummins and he has had an injector issue in the first six months, the dealer replaced it under warranty and told him that they see very very few injector failures so far, but it does happen with the newer common fuel rail system. They said they hardly ever saw an injector failure on the older systems,but did see their share of the electronic fuel injector pump failures on the older 24 valve pre common rail systems than anything else. The dealer said he thought the newer trucks were seeing a few more injector issues due to the the increased pressures that run on the common rail systems. I think the Cummins is a great engine and it has definitley proven itself in many types of applications. I was getting fuel a couple of months ago and next to me was a guy with a new Dodge cummins/automatic C/C dually and he told me that at 21,000 miles his transmission went and it was replaced under warranty. He said that the mechanic told him that the newer transmissions were much better than the earlier (727 types RLE? model) but that he still didn't think the new trans was the answer. He said that he wished Chrysler corp. would put the Mercades or allison transmissions in their trucks. I like our D/Max much much better than I did our Dodge.I didn't mean to ramble on here but there are more than just injector issues to worry about on our trucks and no one makes a perfect vehicle. From what I gather the higher the fuel system pressure the more likelyhood of injector issues. It sounds like all of the auto makers are seeing this more and more. Hope that sheds some light on the subject. I don't think anyone is immune to the possibility of an injector issue, I just hope if we ever have one, that it happens within the 200,000 mile 7 year injector warranty letter I received on our truck from GM.And that it happens near our home and not out of the area. Thank goodness for warranties and the good dealers out there that don't try to wiggle out of warranty repairs and really do take care of their customers. They can make it a lot nicer when we do have an issue. The bad dealers can make it a pure nightmare. I know I could have paid for a set of injectors for our GMC in just what I had paid for in brake pads on our Dodge during the 93,000 miles. Of course it would be nice if the injectors on our GMC could be changed out as easy as a set of pads were. At least on your 2004 truck the injectors are easier to do than on our 2002 model. I think you will be very pleased in the long run with your Chevy. I know I love our GMC.

[ 11-21-2005, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: Cowboy Wild Bill ]

[William Lee Gingerich]

Just a few thots on injectors going bad. We have had 1 replaced at around 90k and it never left us sit. It started out as a little bit of graish smoke at idle and then progressed to a lot more. We drove it this way for around 3 to 5 thousand miles.I think if a person pays reasonably close attention to his truck you will notice something is wrong long before it leaves you beside the road. They are definatly more forgiving then I realized. Just my 2cents.

[redrider#1]

CowboyWildBill,
Your post reminded me of the brake problems I had on mine. Just as you described, I couldn't keep a set of front pads on the truck for more than 6 or 7k miles and had to have the rotors turned every time and replace the rotors twice. I was just beginning to have tranny problems when I got rid of it before it lost the tranny altogether. Also, I forgot that the rear end had a lot of slack in it and I was worried both the tranny and rear end would go, so I traded it on my Chevy which I love. ;)

[cowboywildbill]

You got that right. And they didn't stop like the Gm brakes at all. As a matter of fact the Dodge brakes scared me more than once. And I don't need anything else to scare me, because I scare myself more than enough. "Ha Ha'

[LucasEnglish]

Thay all have problems.

For me between the Dodge or GM it is a toss up. If you want a AT than GM is the way to go in my eyes. If you wnat a 6spd the Dodge is the way to go.

The Dodges have lift pump and injection pump problems. May have injectors but new bigger ones can be had for cheep and are very easy to install so sometiing I would not worry about.


I Don't think any of the new Diesel will ever go as far as the old mech inj trucks did.
From what I have seen 200k is the most people will get with out haveing injector,pump or some kind of electric problem with the new Diesels.

[Driveshaft]

It is possible to go many more miles on the electronic injection. At the trucking company I work for we have several of the '99 and 2000 models that have over 700,000 miles on them without any major problems.

[34 M]

Driveshaft

I just need to clarify that you are wrighting about the duramx. Puting 700.000 miles on it?

[Driveshaft]

NO, NOT THE DURAMAX. THIS IS ON MACK AND CUMMINS ENGINES IN CLASS 8 TRUCKS.

[LucasEnglish]

I know some can do it.

Its just like cars though any thing with over 200k sinsors and wireing just get old, brittle and start breaking. The old mechanical motors just have a much better chance of making the high millage with no major problems and not leaving you on the side of the road. On my turck I could zip tie the solanoid up and take batters and alt out of the truck and drive it just fine smile.gif