New Guy!

[lddrew]

Hi all, just wanted to say hey and that you guys have an awesome site!

I currently DD a 2007 Chevy Duramax. and while 20+ mpg highway is great, if fuel prices keep climbing I am going to be in the market for a 1999-2003 b
lack jetta 5spd for sure. Hopefully never replace the truck, but have the jetta as my fuel saver

here is my build thread for the dmax if anyone is interested
http://www.duramaxforum.com/forum/0...ssion/121904-lddrews-pseudo-build-thread.html

and if Kevin (theunderlord) is on this forum I want to see your new rig!! DF misses you lol

 

[velociT]

Welcome!

Has your Duramax flooded it's crankcase yet or are you one of the lucky ones?

 

[lddrew]

no that was only the 01-04 LB7's that had injector failure issues. apart from a set of injectors every 80-150k they are fantastic trucks. I went with an LBZ because I didn't want to deal with that business lol. and 6spd is better than 5spd ally

 

[whitedog]

Welcome. We have two 2007 LMMs with +/- 400,000. I don't know the history prior to about 300,000 miles, but so far they have been great. One CP3 and a water pump in close to 200,000 combined miles. I just need to approach the boss with doing a proactive engine build then swapping at our convenience.

 

[lddrew]

thanks for the welcome whitedog!

and yeah the LMM's are great trucks for sure! see if you can get the boss to let you delete the DPF's and get them tuned. if you have lots of emissions testing that probably wouldn't fly. that's why I recommend pre-dpf trucks for most commercial stuff. but even the LMM and the new LML's do awesome as service vehicles!

LBZ's have a special place in my heart, but each and every model is great in their own way

if the cp3 failed it was most likely due to clogged fuel filters. adding a lift pump and doing regular filter changes can greatly prolong their life.
I know nicktane does the same for the TDI's, adding a 2 micron cat filter makes services much cheaper as well! just added one to my rig

 

[whitedog]

The CP3 was before I started there, so I'm off the hook there. I'll look into the cat update.

Did you know that there is a comparable 2 micron FF update for the TDI?

 

[lddrew]

yes i did, i believe it is made by the same company. Nicktane I believe.
I run a donaldson filter, 6.50 a pop compared to the very expensive stock filters that filter poorly and have leaky WIF sensors.

glad to hear some high mileage dmax successes! I know of one guy with 700k on his LBZ, only one set of injectors and one injection pump at 500k. A few have broken a million.

 

[tdi90hp]

Welcome!

Has your Duramax flooded it's crankcase yet or are you one of the lucky ones?

looking a "little" silly arent we? criticizing this guys truck before reading up on their general record and before reading his incredible thread on the GM truck forum. This guy is a SERIOUS duramax guy and knows a tonne more than most of us will ever know and the first thing we do is ask him if he has had a PROBLEM.....I say a BIG welcome to the the Duramax guy(Idrew) and we hope your stay....it's tough crowd though.....I love my TDI Golf and my 07 Chevy Z71 xtended 4X4, 5.3L gas.

 

[lddrew]

looking a "little" silly arent we? criticizing this guys truck before reading up on their general record and before reading his incredible thread on the GM truck forum. This guy is a SERIOUS duramax guy and knows a tonne more than most of us will ever know and the first thing we do is ask him if he has had a PROBLEM.....I say a BIG welcome to the the Duramax guy(Idrew) and we hope your stay....it's tough crowd though.....I love my TDI Golf and my 07 Chevy Z71 xtended 4X4, 5.3L gas.

don't worry about it man. I'm not here to cause trouble or anything like that.

It is a shame that whenever people hear the word duramax they immediately have a negative reaction and think they all have terrible injector problems. Most LB7 guys love their trucks with or without injection problems.

There are fatal flaws with most motors. The TDI is not exempt from some things I've found. You've just got to do your research and try to avoid the issues that others have faced.

thanks for the compliments on my thread, i'm really proud of the truck and am about to get her looking the way i want it to! If anyone has ANY duramax related questions I can answer most of them I'm really enjoying reading about these cars too.

thanks for the welcome. I'll be sticking around and hopefully finding the right car!

Is your 5.3 a new body or old body style?? I love them both. Really enjoy the motor compared to the ford 5.4 3 valve (have owned both)

 

[velociT]

looking a "little" silly arent we? criticizing this guys truck before reading up on their general record and before reading his incredible thread on the GM truck forum. This guy is a SERIOUS duramax guy and knows a tonne more than most of us will ever know and the first thing we do is ask him if he has had a PROBLEM.....I say a BIG welcome to the the Duramax guy(Idrew) and we hope your stay....it's tough crowd though.....I love my TDI Golf and my 07 Chevy Z71 xtended 4X4, 5.3L gas.

Don't flatter yourself, I used to work for GM. I was genuinely hoping he got lucky because I had to deal with hundreds of those cases personally.

Besides, noob hazing is standard on all message boards. Duh.

 

[lddrew]

yeah you did. they're a pain in the ass. no getting around that. but can be done in a weekend no problem. the updated design from bosch is lasting a lot longer.

GM rightfully extended the warranty on the sticks to 7yrs and 200k miles. if you kept it longer you knew what you were up against. now they are used as workhorses and used to make enormous power. anyone who buys one accepts the fact they might have to do injectors in exchange for a cheaper buying price. if you buy an lb7 without knowing about the issue nowadays you are simply ignorant and deserve it IMO

i blame the issues on
1. unsatisfactory factory filtration
2. oil temps getting to hot and coking the injectors
3. running 2 stroke oil and other unapproved additives

If the owner can minimize these 3 issues IMO, they are seeing prolonged life

if you worked for GM, you should have known the difference between a LB7 and a LBZ... just sayin'
if you were going to flame me, at least know what you're talking about.. so don't flatter yourself. lol

 

[whitedog]

Drew, do you know how Fuel filter life is determined? IOW, how does it determine when to turn the light on? Is it based on rail pressure? If so, why can't I turn off the filter light with the engine off using our Snap-on Solus scanner?

 

[lddrew]

Does your truck have steering wheel controls??? if not let me know and I can get it figured out for you. I believe there is a pedal code for clearing it.

fuel filter life is usually on a 15000 miles countdown. depends on the truck. I don't use it really, just go at every 10k since filters are 7 bucks

 

[lddrew]

here is the process I have found. let me know if it works for you. this was verified on an 05 LLY, and for simplicities sake I don't imagine they would have changed it. Let me know

This is the explanation i got from a buddy but i cant try it as my truck dose not have fuel filter life on it!!!!

FUEL FILTER LIFE RESET
This message will appear when a reset is performed either by using the steering wheel controls or the following manual procedure.

For vehicles with steering wheel controls, press and hold the select button for five seconds while the FUEL FILTER LIFE message is displayed. This message will appear on the DIC for ten seconds.

For vehicles without steering wheel controls, do the following:

Without pressing the pedals, turn the ignition key to the on position without starting the engine.
Wait five seconds.
Completely press the brake and the accelerator pedals simultaneously and hold for ten seconds. The system is now reset.
Turn the ignition key off.
The next time the engine is started, the message will no longer be displayed.

Let me know if it works?

Later
Caleb

 

[whitedog]

They don't have steering wheel controls. Here is what happens:

I hook up the scanner and get to where I can reset the FF life. I hit "reset" and life goes from 0% to 100% then immediately back to 0%. On one truck - #2, I can reset it by doing this, but (right now) on the other one - #1, I am having no good luck. I am going to look at #2 right now and look at static FRP and whatever else I can see that may provide a clue.

 

[lddrew]

did you try to reset it using the method I posted??

 

[whitedog]

Yes. Many times. The problem isn't with how to reset it, the problem is that it won't reset.

 

[lddrew]

Okay I see. I thought you were not having luck using the scanner to reset it, but hadn't tried it with the pedals. Let me ask a few people about it for you.

 

[lddrew]

well man the consensus is that if it doesn't work by clearing it using the pedals, scanner, or holding down the little check button (1 of the 4 buttons behind the shifter on the dash) that it is most likely some sort of ghost in the electrical system. I know that if you got EFI you could probably make it disappear. but that wouldn't be practical.

a GM tech with a TechII might be able to determine what is up. try inspecting the wires on the WIF sensor.

 

[whitedog]

Thanks for checking. I have info on truck #2 of what is happening with Rail pressures and such so I'll check it next time it comes in and compare stuff.

 

[lddrew]

yeah post it up. are you having issues with it not holding rail pressure??

 

[whitedog]

If it isn't holding rail pressure, there hasn't been an issue so far and I don't believe it is related since the filter life will go straight back to zero with the engine shut off, so rail pressure isn't a factor at that point. Rail pressure SENSOR still could be which is why I want to compare the two cold, not running.

Are you of Duramax Forum? I am on Diesel Place, but I have been going in circles there.

 

[lddrew]

yeah i'm on dmax forum a lot. dieselplace is okay. mainly the old detroit guys

i'd recommend duramaxdiesels.com for pure tech stuff. they should be able to help you out. there's a guy on there named ben tyler, screen name duratothemax who knows these things electrical systems inside and out. see if you can get a hold of him

 

[whitedog]

Thanks. I have seen the name duratothemax before.

So how goes the TDI search?

 

[lddrew]

It's a little slow. Not looking to buy right off. Just wanted to learn the ins and outs First.

 

[whitedog]

That's no fun. You should buy the cheapest one you can find, then fix things as you figure out they are broken. This helps the economy run. Are you a communist, or what? LOL!

 

[tdi90hp]

don't worry about it man. I'm not here to cause trouble or anything like that.

It is a shame that whenever people hear the word duramax they immediately have a negative reaction and think they all have terrible injector problems. Most LB7 guys love their trucks with or without injection problems.

There are fatal flaws with most motors. The TDI is not exempt from some things I've found. You've just got to do your research and try to avoid the issues that others have faced.

thanks for the compliments on my thread, i'm really proud of the truck and am about to get her looking the way i want it to! If anyone has ANY duramax related questions I can answer most of them I'm really enjoying reading about these cars too.

thanks for the welcome. I'll be sticking around and hopefully finding the right car!

Is your 5.3 a new body or old body style?? I love them both. Really enjoy the motor compared to the ford 5.4 3 valve (have owned both)

Mine is the same body as yours. extended cab. 5.3 Z71 4x4 black. 07 w/super low kms....62,000 kms....love it....bit of gas hog as they all are....no mods...just a clean chevy truck. Looking forward to the next Gen truck (silverado) and see what they do with the body/interior. I assume powertrains wont change that much.

 

[tdi90hp]

yeah you did. they're a pain in the ass. no getting around that. but can be done in a weekend no problem. the updated design from bosch is lasting a lot longer.

GM rightfully extended the warranty on the sticks to 7yrs and 200k miles. if you kept it longer you knew what you were up against. now they are used as workhorses and used to make enormous power. anyone who buys one accepts the fact they might have to do injectors in exchange for a cheaper buying price. if you buy an lb7 without knowing about the issue nowadays you are simply ignorant and deserve it IMO

i blame the issues on
1. unsatisfactory factory filtration
2. oil temps getting to hot and coking the injectors
3. running 2 stroke oil and other unapproved additives

If the owner can minimize these 3 issues IMO, they are seeing prolonged life

if you worked for GM, you should have known the difference between a LB7 and a LBZ... just sayin'
if you were going to flame me, at least know what you're talking about.. so don't flatter yourself. lol

read his replies idrew....the guy(Velocity or whatever) is a Troll and a big expert on GMs....so he says........"noob hazing".. ??? ***....is that ? and do we need it on a thread where a guy is proud of his truck....

 

[lddrew]

That's no fun. You should buy the cheapest one you can find, then fix things as you figure out they are broken. This helps the economy run. Are you a communist, or what? LOL!

hahaha. true that. I just like to know what I am getting into. I'm liking what I'm seeing to say the least

Mine is the same body as yours. extended cab. 5.3 Z71 4x4 black. 07 w/super low kms....62,000 kms....love it....bit of gas hog as they all are....no mods...just a clean chevy truck. Looking forward to the next Gen truck (silverado) and see what they do with the body/interior. I assume powertrains wont change that much.

oh man, I love the looks of the OBS z-71's in black. sounds like a really clean truck. and i hear you on the gas mileage. they are solid though

read his replies idrew....the guy(Velocity or whatever) is a Troll and a big expert on GMs....so he says........"noob hazing".. ??? ***....is that ? and do we need it on a thread where a guy is proud of his truck....

yeah it doesn't get to me much at all lol. just thought i'd call the guy out on his bluff. clearly has no idea what he is talking about.

are you on gmfullsize??

 

[lddrew]

and why no post count here??? makes it hard to separate the trolls from reliable posters. just curious