The terrible cost of diesel maintenance

[sandyd31]

My 03 Ram 2500 averages 16-17 city, over 22 empty on the interstate, and 12 to 13 on average trip from central Indiana to the Smokies and back. Same trip/camper with the Ram gas, best average was about 7-8mpg. Only engine work was replace a bad injector and fuel cross over tube. About $300.00 in parts and did it myself in about two hours. Truck is pre def so 50 bucks to change oil every 5,000 miles ain't bad. And this morning gas was 2.399 and diesel was 2.099

[B and B]

I agree. Buy Ford. Local city fleet bought Dodge last time, lowest tender deal. Highest maintenance and in 3 years selling them off replacing with Ford again. They have a fleet of 2002 with the bad engines and no problems. The 2013 Rams are problematic with engine problems, springs etc.

[spock123]

I might buy a Ford next time, I don't like long beds


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[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by checkmate99

Jeeeeezz! Semi trucks are towing 40 - 80,000 pounds! Of course they have Diesel engines! Gassers can easily tow 10,000 pounds, properly equipped of course. Just because one can buy a diesel pick-up, doesn't mean everyone needs one. I'm done now....

OK, most of my posts (on any subject) have a bit of tongue-in-cheek flavor. Hey, if you can't have fun and laugh when you're chit-chatting, why bother?

I have two trucks, one is gas. OK? I actually have 3, once I get the old 1984 restored. Then I'll have two gassers. Gassers have their place.

But really, you sort of made my point, backhandedly. You admit that it takes a diesel to pull a really heavy load, but then say that gas trucks can do ok if you just keep it down to 'their level'. So.....my conclusion on that is that a diesel truck would pull better than a gasser if that is the SOLE difference in the two trucks. Not only does it have more torque, but those trucks just seem to always come with bigger brakes, bigger everything. They pull better, which you seem to agree with.

I get it........the guys that want to pull with a gasser have bought/will buy, a travel trailer and they can't afford to go out and buy a new truck. Been there! I get it!!! So they try and justify the truck that they have, that it will pull the trailer that they now have. I get it, truly. I'm not made of money either.

But if the discussion is truly which truck is BETTER, and not just which one is MINIMALLY OK, the diesels are gonna win..........and that's been my sole purpose in this discussion.

And now I'll stop with this one........

[Paulie1138]

Recently bought a fifth wheel. About two years ago. 2001 f250 diesel'withn74,000 miles on the clock. The only mod to the truck is an aftermarket exhaust brake, which I really like. Done by previous owner. I regularly go from Mesa Az to Payson. Payson is about 5,500 ft elevation, 81 mile each way trip. Mesa, 1100 ft elevation. Empty, always gets 21 mpg round trip. Loaded with my fifth, scaled wt at 9500. Round trip 12.5 mpg. This truck running around town, 5.5 miles to and from work, regularly turns in 16.5 mpg. Just back from a trip from Mesa, to Portland, Or. On my 4,000 mi trip towing, avg was 11.8. Truck is about to turn 95 k mi.

Before I bought my truck, I borrowed a friends 2004 f250 5.4 gasser to try out my new fifth wheel trailer. While it towed ok on the flat land, it struggled badly going up the hills to Payson. Round trip Mpg was 5.6mpg.

That said, my work truck, is a 2002 f250 gasser, 5.4 liter. Some basic electronic hand tools in the nearly empty truck box, strictly city driving with 10% fwy, always turns in 9.5 to 10 mpg.

All figures are hand calculated to verify the "Lie-o-meter". On my truck, usually is just a few percent off. Close enough to get the idea of my driving habits.

[MacDR]

I agree with all of you..just pick what you want and need, and then maintain and enjoy..

[polishdon]

Well I'm glad I only started a 7 page "diesel vs gas" debate when I was simply trying to share some information.

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by polishdon

Well I'm glad I only started a 7 page "diesel vs gas" debate when I was simply trying to share some information.

Lol. Bout the only worse things are 1/2 vs 3/4 vs 1T debate....or maybe putting something on back.


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[silverback 35ts]

All of your points really do not mean much, recalls are the thing of the times, and it dose not matter the brand or how much you spend, and as for shotty work done by a tire shop should have had them fix it, they broke it.

[DocGTO]

At my local shop, I pay 69 for a full oil change with Rotella and I pay 75 for a fuel filter every other oil change. Every 15k I do a spin off filter change on the ALLISON when I'm in for an oil change and they don't even charge me for that, literally takes 2 minutes. Lol. The ALLISON filter cost me 14/each off of amazon.

Even though diesel has gone up in the last 3 months, I just filled up for 2.23/gal.

I've never complained about diesel maintenance. I did complain about how gasser tow though.... Lol.

[Admiral_Roo2]

I have no problem with diesels, I just haven't needed one yet. If I get a trailer later that's big enough to justify the typical extra cost associated with them then I would be in the market. So far my 5.7 Hemi does an excellent job towing or not with all the people, food and gear. Would the mileage be better on a diesel when I'm towing, sure it would and it wouldn't work as hard on hills but even putting 30 nights a year in the camper I simply don't tow enough to care that my mileage goes to 8 when I tow. Haven't found a hill yet that the Hemi couldn't maintain 60-65 mph over even if the RPMs push between 3-5k and fully loaded we are usually in the low 13k lbs range. My trailer is around 6k of that so I can see not going beyond about 7k on the trailer or it would really get cumbersome and I don't even look at 5th wheels cause the numbers tell me that I can not safely haul a 10k 5er even with it being a 2500 and anything below that weight is too small for what we would want.

[SaskCampers]

Originally Posted by DocGTO

At my local shop, I pay 69 for a full oil change with Rotella and I pay 75 for a fuel filter every other oil change. Every 15k I do a spin off filter change on the ALLISON when I'm in for an oil change and they don't even charge me for that, literally takes 2 minutes. Lol. The ALLISON filter cost me 14/each off of amazon.

Even though diesel has gone up in the last 3 months, I just filled up for 2.23/gal.

I've never complained about diesel maintenance. I did complain about how gasser tow though.... Lol.

At the Ford dealer here, it is $145.00 for an oil change and $275.00 to have the fuel filters changed. I do not understand the fuel filters as I watched a video and I am sure I can do it myself in under 1/2 hour and the filters are $75.00 for the pair of them. I had a F350 King Ranch 6.7 for a few days to test drive and took it back as I was not blown away by it. Someday if I ever get a big enough trailer to justify one maybe but until then I will enjoy what I have and happy trails to everyone with what you choose to drive. I will say I do believe some people post about their most holy diesels just to see what kind of Sh#@ storm they can start while others just want to ask questions and or offer info that is actually valuable.

[Butch & Lena]

Amen to that!!!!

[shorthorn]

Originally Posted by SaskCampers

At the Ford dealer here, it is $145.00 for an oil change and $275.00 to have the fuel filters changed. I do not understand the fuel filters as I watched a video and I am sure I can do it myself in under 1/2 hour and the filters are $75.00 for the pair of them. I had a F350 King Ranch 6.7 for a few days to test drive and took it back as I was not blown away by it. Someday if I ever get a big enough trailer to justify one maybe but until then I will enjoy what I have and happy trails to everyone with what you choose to drive. I will say I do believe some people post about their most holy diesels just to see what kind of Sh#@ storm they can start while others just want to ask questions and or offer info that is actually valuable.

I hear ya... the local dealer quoted me $400 to do the fuel filters on my '14 RAM Cummins and that was using the pair of filters I already had (the pair of them cost me about $125). I had the local diesel shop change the filters when they did the oil... didn't even charge me for it, as they said it was a 5 or 10 minute job anyways! Its highway robbery alot of times what these dealers do to folks.

[DocGTO]

Originally Posted by SaskCampers

At the Ford dealer here, it is $145.00 for an oil change and $275.00 to have the fuel filters changed. I do not understand the fuel filters as I watched a video and I am sure I can do it myself in under 1/2 hour and the filters are $75.00 for the pair of them. I had a F350 King Ranch 6.7 for a few days to test drive and took it back as I was not blown away by it. Someday if I ever get a big enough trailer to justify one maybe but until then I will enjoy what I have and happy trails to everyone with what you choose to drive. I will say I do believe some people post about their most holy diesels just to see what kind of Sh#@ storm they can start while others just want to ask questions and or offer info that is actually valuable.

Originally Posted by shorthorn

I hear ya... the local dealer quoted me $400 to do the fuel filters on my '14 RAM Cummins and that was using the pair of filters I already had (the pair of them cost me about $125). I had the local diesel shop change the filters when they did the oil... didn't even charge me for it, as they said it was a 5 or 10 minute job anyways! Its highway robbery alot of times what these dealers do to folks.

That's retarded pricing. Get a Duramax then. The dodge fuel filter is a joke to change. On my 2010 Dodge 6.7 It took 1 minute..... Not sure about the new Fords but they have multiple filters. The Duramax has one filter that is 3mc and works very well and it s pita to change and I still pay 75-80. 40 of it is the filter.

[Mars]

Diesels cost more to operate, no bull, no hype just info from diesel mechanic since the 80s and a fleet manager for about 10 years. Cost of (new) ownership does not really hit until about the forth year or 100,000 miles, things start to add up then. I spend $5 mil on fuel alone annually so I crunch numbers often for overall cost of ownership.
They have there place in the commercial sector but each owner or potential owner needs to look at how they are going to use it.

[Todouble]

Fords have two fuel filters. I buy the oem ones online for 50 bucks and they take about 15 mins start to finish. Maybe less for some. Easy as pie.

[bbcutright]

I'm looking at a 2003 Dodge Ram crew cab with the inline 6 Cummings diesel with 59,000 miles to pull a 312qbud wildwood that's weighs about 8,000 +. My 1500 suburban doesn't like it! Does anyone have an opinion about this truck for pulling. Owner is Asking about$17,000 for it.

[davel1971]

Originally Posted by bbcutright

I'm looking at a 2003 Dodge Ram crew cab with the inline 6 Cummings diesel with 59,000 miles to pull a 312qbud wildwood that's weighs about 8,000 +. My 1500 suburban doesn't like it! Does anyone have an opinion about this truck for pulling. Owner is Asking about$17,000 for it.

buy it. Great truck. But it should have a Cummins, not Cummings. Hard to find that version of the 5.9 with miles that low. We have one at work with almost 600k on it. They run forever.

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by bbcutright

I'm looking at a 2003 Dodge Ram crew cab with the inline 6 Cummings diesel with 59,000 miles to pull a 312qbud wildwood that's weighs about 8,000 +. My 1500 suburban doesn't like it! Does anyone have an opinion about this truck for pulling. Owner is Asking about$17,000 for it.

As davel said....buy it. I have an '03 just like that. Just passed 350,000 and going strong. Only work...ONLY work, ever done to the engine is change the oil/filters regularly and one water pump. An 8,000 pound trailer is a featherweight behind that truck.