05 Chevy Duramax

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elkwc

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I've found one that has around 103,000 miles on it with a nice bale bed. It runs good but has a head gasket leak. Waiting for an estimate from my mechanic for cost to fix it. I haven't talked to him yet about his impression of this engine. Diesels is all he works on. Would appreciate any input anyone has who has had experience with this engine. It is a 3500 and overall a nice truck. Is the head gasket a normal issue? Anything else I need to check for?
 
elkwc":m2oixl8v said:
I've found one that has around 103,000 miles on it with a nice bale bed. It runs good but has a head gasket leak. Waiting for an estimate from my mechanic for cost to fix it. I haven't talked to him yet about his impression of this engine. Diesels is all he works on. Would appreciate any input anyone has who has had experience with this engine. It is a 3500 and overall a nice truck. Is the head gasket a normal issue? Anything else I need to check for?

It's a known issue of those ... I know this will get frowned upon but I've had blown head gaskets and used blue devil and the trucks ran until it was retired and sold in good working order. That stuff is great in my experience
 
skyhightree1":3gtzp9vz said:
elkwc":3gtzp9vz said:
I've found one that has around 103,000 miles on it with a nice bale bed. It runs good but has a head gasket leak. Waiting for an estimate from my mechanic for cost to fix it. I haven't talked to him yet about his impression of this engine. Diesels is all he works on. Would appreciate any input anyone has who has had experience with this engine. It is a 3500 and overall a nice truck. Is the head gasket a normal issue? Anything else I need to check for?

What is Blue Devil? Is it a stop leak? I did a search and found out about it. St least there is an option.

It's a known issue of those ... I know this will get frowned upon but I've had blown head gaskets and used blue devil and the trucks ran until it was retired and sold in good working order. That stuff is great in my experience
 
elkwc":3nof53co said:
skyhightree1":3nof53co said:
elkwc":3nof53co said:
I've found one that has around 103,000 miles on it with a nice bale bed. It runs good but has a head gasket leak. Waiting for an estimate from my mechanic for cost to fix it. I haven't talked to him yet about his impression of this engine. Diesels is all he works on. Would appreciate any input anyone has who has had experience with this engine. It is a 3500 and overall a nice truck. Is the head gasket a normal issue? Anything else I need to check for?

What is Blue Devil? Is it a stop leak? I did a search and found out about it. St least there is an option.

Yes it's a stop leak bottles around 70 bucks and guaranteed to fix or your $$ back win win situation for me I would try it
 
It was around that year (maybe a little earlier?) they also had problems with the injector tips coming off and doing major damage.. there was a recall for it.. just something to check into
 
Neighbor has a ¾ ton with an Allison of about that year. Has had zero problems with both. Has a 24ft. stock trailer he pulls with it. Seems to like it as I have asked him about it. He liked the spin on transmission filter rather than having to drop the pan to change the filter.
 
Nesikep":2p3yf2vh said:
It was around that year (maybe a little earlier?) they also had problems with the injector tips coming off and doing major damage.. there was a recall for it.. just something to check into
+1 I think Chevy extended the warranty to 7 yrs./200000 miles on the injectors because they were having lots of trouble which will not help now. The block is cast iron and the head is aluminum on those so head gaskets can give trouble, different heat temps between the metals. People have had good luck with those as a neighbor has 300k on a 2002 with nothing but new injectors.
 
elkwc":1qxdi6sd said:
I've found one that has around 103,000 miles on it with a nice bale bed. It runs good but has a head gasket leak. Waiting for an estimate from my mechanic for cost to fix it. I haven't talked to him yet about his impression of this engine. Diesels is all he works on. Would appreciate any input anyone has who has had experience with this engine. It is a 3500 and overall a nice truck. Is the head gasket a normal issue? Anything else I need to check for?

100k and a blown head gasket, must have been worked hard or had a hot tune.

Gotta watch a lot of these farm trucks too, many are ran several hours 7 days a week, and only 50 miles get put on them. Could have 100k and be worn out.

Make sure the price is fair. The sum of purchase price and repair needs to be lower than market value of the truck in good running condition, or you're just going through the hassle for free.
 
As others have said, you better be comfortable with the idea of replacing injectors if you buy it. We had the exact truck you mention and it was a very pretty piece of metal, but we put 3 sets of injectors in that one (par for the number of sets in various other Duramax's we have also had). And, it always happens 500+ miles from home. Hard lesson learned....
 
I have a 06 with 235000 hard miles on it very little problems nothing major. The 05 is a different motor lly with head gasket issues. Nieghbor had one of those with 360k when he traded head gasket at 200. I think most of the injector issues were on original lmm engine. I would do some searching on dmax forums. If the price is right with the fix alot of happy people with those trucks.
 
I always found it curious that Ford got the bad rap for their 6L's, but it seems like every mechanics shop I've walked into over the years has a duramax in it with the heads off of it. The mechanic I got to know far too well when I was driving a '10 Dodge diesel was always doing Duramax heads, he claimed it was a 24 hr job at book rate, but he had it down to 12 hrs as he'd done so many of them.
 
jltrent":wuxqw33j said:
Nesikep":wuxqw33j said:
It was around that year (maybe a little earlier?) they also had problems with the injector tips coming off and doing major damage.. there was a recall for it.. just something to check into
+1 I think Chevy extended the warranty to 7 yrs./200000 miles on the injectors because they were having lots of trouble which will not help now. The block is cast iron and the head is aluminum on those so head gaskets can give trouble, different heat temps between the metals. People have had good luck with those as a neighbor has 300k on a 2002 with nothing but new injectors.

Back when GM first tried alum on cast iron they had problems....I was there. Today they don't. I don't know what they use for a head gasket now......since I haven't had any problems. I know on the intake manifold where they have alum against cast iron they use a silicon oring type seal in an aluminum frame which really does the job....had that on a '98 350. Compared to the GM V8 engines of the 60's-70's era, todays are super fine engines. (opinion). Course I had some Mopar up thru 2011 and nothing wrong with them either, 318, 360, 4.7, Hemi. Fords '88 5.0 and '91 460, no problems with them either. Only dog I remember was the 401 CU big block in a '71 GM station wagon. That was a dog, the engine and the tub.
 
They aren't as bad some make out. I have the 06 ton and a 16 cc. They really are good hard working trucks. I also had a dodge diesel once for six weeks. I would honestly rather walk.
 
I got the quote from my mechanic. Talked to him about the engine. I had exchanged pm's with the owner of the truck earlier. Will talk to him on the phone this evening. He said his Dad could see a small vapors that smelled like anti freeze as the truck warmed up after starting. My mechanic has done many and between him and his parents they own several 05's and 06's and have owned others they have sold. He said he had never seen an external head gasket leak. Said it could be an o-ring that many times is thought to be a head leak. The owner is asking $13,000 with the bale bed. My mechanic said that was on the cheap side with the low miles and the bed. I had decided at my age I wanted a Cannonball bed. So have to decide if I will be satisfied with the Dew Eze 482 model bed. The only other option is too try to sell it and buy a cannonball bed.
 
cfpinz":gk9aux6a said:
Why are you stuck on the Cannonball bed?

"https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=cannonball+truck+bed&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8"

Scroll down half a page to the images.
 
Texasmark":16hwwid1 said:
cfpinz":16hwwid1 said:
Why are you stuck on the Cannonball bed?

"https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=cannonball+truck+bed&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8"

Scroll down half a page to the images.

I know what Cannonball (now called Chisolm Trail) beds look like, just curious why the poster is set on that mfg?
 
cfpinz":2ebjpt1j said:
Why are you stuck on the Cannonball bed?

For a few reasons. First we have two hydrabeds. IMO the Dew Eze isn't that much different than them and don't offer anymore useage options. The Cannoball offers some options I feel will be beneficial to us. I will be 66 in Jan and she will be 76 in March. So we try to work smarter not harder. The dump bed is very handy. We have some old bales that need to be fed. I can load them with the tractor and dump them when I get to the pasture and don't have to use a fork to get them off. The dump bed is handy for many uses. Whether you are hauling dirt to put around a tank or shingles off that have been removed from a building. Then the individual controls on the arms are nice. And in the opinion of many I've talked too they are as well built as any bed on the market. To me it would be like asking a farmer why he has 3 size of tractors. Each are used for a different task or can do a certain task better than the others. I just feel I'm going to invest in one I would like to deverify some. And Cannonball is cheaper than a Dew Eze.
 
Texasmark":3c2kmj1h said:
Neighbor has a ¾ ton with an Allison of about that year. Has had zero problems with both. Has a 24ft. stock trailer he pulls with it. Seems to like it as I have asked him about it. He liked the spin on transmission filter rather than having to drop the pan to change the filter.
need to drop the pan and change the internal filter at that mileage...we never had head gasket trouble with the duramax did have injectors and some pumps taking a dump at around that mileage. this is from working at a Chevy dealership...if the eng was as tuff as the Allison trans, they would never wear out.
 
cfpinz":3rgexf5o said:
Texasmark":3rgexf5o said:
cfpinz":3rgexf5o said:
Why are you stuck on the Cannonball bed?

"https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=cannonball+truck+bed&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8"

Scroll down half a page to the images.

I know what Cannonball (now called Chisolm Trail) beds look like, just curious why the poster is set on that mfg?

Maybe the same reason I have. I didn't know such existed till this post topic came up. Looks like a great idea, especially for a guy whose only "hand" is his aging self.
 

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