2004 GMC good truck

[bshije]

Hello

my brother is looking at getting a new to him truck
he found a nice 2004 gmc 3/4ton Duramax diesel

is there anything to be looking out for in this year of truck?
any know problems with this year?

thank you
bruce

[npauli]

The biggest variable I know to check is whether it's the LB7 (early 2004) or LLY (late 2004) engine. Opinions vary about which is "better" but the tradeoffs I've gathered are as follows:

LB7 = great fuel economy but injectors that tend to go south at ~ $250 each for parts and that much more for labor. GM warranty covers 7 years/200k miles on injectors. Overall simpler engine to work on, but injectors are buried under the valve cover should they need replacing.

LLY = worse fuel economy, better injector reliability, few overheating issues?, and has EGR (bad). Injectors are easier to get to, but some extra plumbing and electronics make other things trickier to work on.

[npauli]

... so you can have your choice of:

A) use up more injectors - you know how much they'll cost 5 years later, but it's anybody's guess if/when you'll need them
B) use up more fuel - you have a little gage in the dash that tells you when you need to fill up, but it's anybody's guess how much that fill up will cost in 5 years.

[NutNbutGMC]

Hello

my brother is looking at getting a new to him truck
he found a nice 2004 gmc 3/4ton Duramax diesel

is there anything to be looking out for in this year of truck?
any know problems with this year?

thank you
bruceLB7 - run away

LLY - a decent engine.

$0.02 from personal experience.


The engine code is part of the VIN. ==> http://www.kennedydiesel.com/categoryresults.cfm?Category=4


Additional reading
http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramax/lly2004.htm

[bshije]

I just looked up the vin code is a 2 so a LLY

its a nice looking truck, very clean, have to still see how it runs



thank you for your help

bruce