Looking at buying 2500 diesel used , never had a disel , use it for towing travel trailer . What are the good engines and what are the bad ones with trouble
Thanks

 

Bad engines:
Ford 6.0, 6.4, 6.7
GM 5.7

I'd stay away from anything with EGR, so 6.7 Cummins, not sure what year GM 6.6.

The GM 6.2 and 6.5 don't make much power, but I think they're ok for reliability. PMD issues due to mounting location that can be remedied by relocating with a new part being the most common issue we see with them.


Early 6.6 Duramax motors I understand had some head gasket issues. 53 block casting 5.9 Cummins have a history of cracking, but I don't know how common it is anymore. I think most of the ones that are going to crack, will have already cracked due to the fact that they've been on the road for over a decade already.


7.3 motors are good, reliable, but don't make all that much power without a lot of $.

 

GM 6.5L had some severe injection pump issues..if they have fixed that since then, I dunno, but our old 94 went through like 3 injection pumps in 30k miles...

all cummins motors are good motors, some have little issues that are easy to fix, but all are reliable.

EGR stuff you might want to avoid (07.5 and newer)

 

Most of the 6.5 issues we've seen have been the pump mounted driver itself. A lot of people throw whole injection pumps at them, sometimes it's needed and sometimes it's overkill.

 

that 6.5 left us stranded more than once... needless to say we got rid of it before warranty ran out. It was replaced by a freightliner sports chassis with an 8.1L cummins and 6spd allison in it. That thing hauled that heavy 5th wheel we had like nobodies business. wouldn't bog down for hills or anything.

Old man got rid of that truck too because it wasn't 4x4 and liked to get stuck in wet grass lol... he did something very rare though...We had custom ordered that thing brand new from the factory and paid something like $120k for it...used it for a couple years, then turned around and sold it for $140k! needless to say those custom ordered haulers held their value and then some...