Anyone have the new 3.0 Duramax in a 1500 truck ?

[cowboywildbill]

I have a neighbor that has a GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 crewcab shortbed with the 3.0 Duramax.
He had a Silverado 1500 crew cab short bed with the gas 5.3.
He says that the 3.0 beats his 5.3 in all categories.
It's quicker pulls way stronger and gets insane fuel mileage, just about as good as I got with my Colorado Duramax.
He said he gets about about 26 around town not towing or hauling anything and upwards of 32 on the highway with no problem.
I believe him. I was going to buy one but at the time it was actually rated to tow 500 lbs less than our Colorado was.
Didn't make sense to me but that's what the original rating was.
Now the 3.0 is rated to tow the same weight as our 2019 GMC Sierra crew cab standard bed which has a 6.2 and 10 speed auto.
If it had been rated that way when they first came out I would have gone with the 3.0.
But I'm happy with the 6.2 it's quicker than some of the muscle cars that I owned and worked on back in the day.
And gets around 22 mpg on the highway empty running at 65 mph. And I can get 18 around town in light traffic.
I think that the auto stop fuel management system helps it achieve the city mpg.
If I'm running the AC cold, it drops to around 16 mpg because the auto stop doesn't engage and shut the engine off at lights.
Amazing how a little extra idling drops mpg.
Anyway if anyone has any experience with the 3.0 I would love to hear about it.

[DieselDavy]

Cowboy,
I'm with you. I'd like to hear other's experience.
I'm planning a getting a new truck int a couple of years. From what I've read, it is a great engine. I'm guessing GM will dump the engine soon so it can concentrate on it's going out of business plan (increased EV production).
d

[cabletech]

I had a 21 High Country 3.0l diesel until a month ago. The reason the tow rating was lower until the 22s came out was due to the engine cooling and the fact the DPF is under the hood and not under the truck like the 2500/3500s. The drive train was great but the truck was a POS. All the modern electronics was the issue. The BCM did a meltdown and caused the truck to be completely useless (no dash lights/no start/emergency brakes locked). That may have been the last GM I will ever own. Took almost a month to fix. The dealer had the new BCM the next day but couldn't get anything in the truck to work. A GM engineer had to come to the dealer and do a computer restart like is done in the factory to get it to work again.
We moved from Colorado to Casper Wyoming last Jan/Feb. Towing a 20ft enclosed trailer (about 5000lbs loaded) with the truck I got between 20 and 23mpg depending on the wind. Empty on the freeway I could get 30+mpg.

Jay

[DieselDavy]

Thanks Jay,
I appreciate your review. I have read of another fella that had issues also. Of course there are good reviews out there too.
I can believe the modern electronics problems. If I only had my 82 back. A frame off restoration and an engine rebuild and it could be my last truck...... Who needs all those creature comforts?...... Well, they are kind of nice.....
d

[cabletech]

GM engineer told me that the early T1 trucks (19 to 22 classic) were actually a modified K2 platform truck and that the electronic issues are gone on the 22 and up T1 trucks. These are the trucks that have super cruise on some high end models. He also told me to except to see displacement on demand on the 3.0l diesel in the next year or two (along with higher torque/horse power numbers).

Jay