Are diesel engines overrated?

[Sccritterkiller]

Not being a smart ass, but 6.7s come in 250s and 350s don't they? Those are light trucks. I have never and will never pay a dealer to change oil, I have the time and ability to do it myself but I understand that isn't the case for everybody. For whatever it's worth I DD a Tacoma but the diesel is unbeatable when I need it.

OK 3/4 tons are light trucks...I like my factory warranty so I pay the dealer to change my oil and all service, it's all on record and if there are any issues they own it and fix it. I worry more about computer problems than mechanical...Different strokes for different folks..you do you brother! I change my own oil on stuff that doesn't have a active factory warranty so I see both sides.

 

[Customweld]

Not being a smart ass, but 6.7s come in 250s and 350s don't they? Those are light trucks. I have never and will never pay a dealer to change oil, I have the time and ability to do it myself but I understand that isn't the case for everybody. For whatever it's worth I DD a Tacoma but the diesel is unbeatable when I need it.

I think you've been reading my mail! Taco as a DD and the diesel as my chore truck.

 

[WeiserBucks]

I think you've been reading my mail! Taco as a DD and the diesel as my chore truck.

You'd have to have an address to receive mail!

 

[william schmaltz]

I bought my 2005 Duramax 12 years and 130,000 miles ago. At 250K miles, it still books just $3,000 less than what I purchased it for. I've put very little into it other than routine stuff that would've happened no matter if it were gas or diesel. I bought it because I was a roughneck and had access to rig fuel; I basically never use it for diesel things. If I had bought a used 1/2 ton at the same time at a comparable price, it would virtually be worth nothing today and I likely would've had to buy something to replace it in that time. Just did the front end last week and we should be good to go for another 50K miles without anything major. I would drive that thing to Miami tomorrow and not worry one bit. So even with fuel being a bit more and higher expenses for oil changes and fuel filters, I'd say I'm way ahead on $$$$ compared to if I choose to buy a gas 1/2 ton that day.

 

[bow puller]

All gas and all diesel get lumped together which is a disservice to both.

As far as new trucks a stock Cummins is not the same as Fords 6.7 power wise, I've towed heavy with both. Sorry if I offend anyone. Same with ram 6.4 hemi/gm 6.6 vs Ford 7.3- theres a big difference. Gm's 10 speed will help now somewhat.

Anyone that's driven Fords 2v 5.4 triton (or similar) knows the pain of towing with a bad gas setup. 4 speed didn't help. My 98 150 never failed me though. Went to ford 7.3 diesel after that and was much happier. And to think they put the 5.4 in superduty's yikes.

Watch tfl truck pull the Ike there's little difference between the Ford 7.3 GAS, ram diesel and gm diesel pulling 16k lbs (at high altitude which kills na engines). 20 seconds for an 8 mile climb and that was a Cummins HO which couldn't hold the speed limit (nor duramax)

An old diesel will turn less rpm of course and be more efficient than a new 7.3 gas. But if you think a stock mid 2000's diesel will pull a trailer up a grade faster or better than Fords new gasser think again. On top of that the old trucks don't drive as nice or quiet as the new ones. My new 7.3 gas is better than my 7.3 diesel or 5.9 diesel were towing and especially daily driving.

They both have they're place. My last 6.7 Ford was a beast, really liked it. Currently a 2022 7.3/4.30 Ford fits my needs of daily driving, quiet, fast to warm up, can idle without needing regens, fun to drive and tow my toy hauler 15x a year.

Besides normal truck stuff there are other things to consider like cost of repair, down time for repair, fuel fussiness etc. Everyone has a different use case and should choose accordingly.

Not every diesel is a fuel system $10k nightmare dpf clogging someone sneezed while I was refueling problem nor is every gasser a gutless wonder that gets 10mpg cruising.

In 5yrs when I part time rv and go to a 15k trailer then I'll probably be back into a diesel. Might even be a Ram as they have the best exhaust brake, efficient and aren't dead set on making ugly trucks (yet) like 2023 Fords that copied gm's bedsteps and grill. Fords now one refresh away from square wheel wells and ifs.

Older turbo diesels- not overrated vs older gas.

New emission diesels vs some new gas- kind of.

 

[2five7]

All gas and all diesel get lumped together which is a disservice to both.

As far as new trucks a stock Cummins is not the same as Fords 6.7 power wise, I've towed heavy with both. Sorry if I offend anyone. Same with ram 6.4 hemi/gm 6.6 vs Ford 7.3- theres a big difference. Gm's 10 speed will help now somewhat.

Anyone that's driven Fords 2v 5.4 triton (or similar) knows the pain of towing with a bad gas setup. 4 speed didn't help. My 98 150 never failed me though. Went to ford 7.3 diesel after that and was much happier. And to think they put the 5.4 in superduty's yikes.

Watch tfl truck pull the Ike there's little difference between the Ford 7.3 GAS, ram diesel and gm diesel pulling 16k lbs (at high altitude which kills na engines). 20 seconds for an 8 mile climb and that was a Cummins HO which couldn't hold the speed limit (nor duramax)

An old diesel will turn less rpm of course and be more efficient than a new 7.3 gas. But if you think a stock mid 2000's diesel will pull a trailer up a grade faster or better than Fords new gasser think again. On top of that the old trucks don't drive as nice or quiet as the new ones. My new 7.3 gas is better than my 7.3 diesel or 5.9 diesel were towing and especially daily driving.

They both have they're place. My last 6.7 Ford was a beast, really liked it. Currently a 2022 7.3/4.30 Ford fits my needs of daily driving, quiet, fast to warm up, can idle without needing regens, fun to drive and tow my toy hauler 15x a year.

Besides normal truck stuff there are other things to consider like cost of repair, down time for repair, fuel fussiness etc. Everyone has a different use case and should choose accordingly.

Not every diesel is a fuel system $10k nightmare dpf clogging someone sneezed while I was refueling problem nor is every gasser a gutless wonder that gets 10mpg cruising.

In 5yrs when I part time rv and go to a 15k trailer then I'll probably be back into a diesel. Might even be a Ram as they have the best exhaust brake, efficient and aren't dead set on making ugly trucks (yet) like 2023 Fords that copied gm's bedsteps and grill. Fords now one refresh away from square wheel wells and ifs.

Older turbo diesels- not overrated vs older gas.

New emission diesels vs some new gas- kind of.

Well said. There are lots of nuances in these types of discussions, they almost always get overlooked.

 

[MarlinMark]

When I bought my current diesel I paid $500 for lifetime oil service. the truck doesn't have 40K miles on it and that money is already coming back to me.

 

[dirtytough]

50gal tank in a diesel is easy, good luck getting a big gasoline tank.

end of the day their is no substitute for diesel in the high torque low RPM range. No turbo gas will ever last as long as a diesel under load.

down side is regular maintenance cost, emission issues, fuel cost and weight when not pulling

My 2019 Ford F250 gasser from work came stock with a 48 gallon tank.


I’ve had lots of work trucks. I’ll take a gasser every time since I don’t tow a heavy trailer daily. The diesels I have owned or got from work all had issues. The F250 gasser work trucks have went 240K, 205K, and this one is at 156K. Hours wise they have 3x-4x the hours they should have since they are idled a decent amount.

The boss asked me what I wanted the other day. Diesel or gasser. Of course I chose the gasser.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

There are pros and cons to both engine types. It's up to user to decide which is best for their needs. While it's true the diesel engine will give you up to 500k miles, the rest of the truck starts to fall apart well before that.

 

[Swampcruiser]

I haven’t deleted anything yet but my tuned 3.0L Eco diesel has 480ft/lb torque. That’s more than the 5.9 Cummins from early 2000’s. I’d say the modern tech has come a ways. It pulls my trailer like a dream at about 15 mpg. My last F150 with the bigger eco boost would be 8 mpg with that trailer if I was lucky. The turbos we’re going non stop. The eco is no hemi but for towing and highway it’s killer.

 

[SamsonMan22]

If it wasn’t for the emissions equipment I would have a diesel more than likely. The only other issue is here a work truck is spent at 100-120k miles from rust. Hard to justify the diesel because of that. I have a 2015 Chevy 6.0 that has had a trailer hooked to it since day 1. I tow 13-16k every day with it, it’s no power house but it gets the job done.

 

[NoCoElk]

There isn’t much value to anything these days, Diesel have a purpose and serve it pretty darn well. Like anything there are trade offs, nothing dominates. They make them
to tear up so you’ll buy more.

 

[cuerro viejo]

My 2019 Ford F250 gasser from work came stock with a 48 gallon tank.


I’ve had lots of work trucks. I’ll take a gasser every time since I don’t tow a heavy trailer daily. The diesels I have owned or got from work all had issues. The F250 gasser work trucks have went 240K, 205K, and this one is at 156K. Hours wise they have 3x-4x the hours they should have since they are idled a decent amount.

The boss asked me what I wanted the other day. Diesel or gasser. Of course I chose the gasser.

<2016 CC regular bed they they had 24 or 26gal tanks. also essentially no body made aftermarket for gassers, up until recently. My 2015 is 215k 6.7 w/56 gal S&B tank. My truck been a good one. One water pump at 180k and thats it.

I’m curious to see the numbers on the new Ford 6.8

 

[TomJoad]

I don’t daily drive anything in the WFH post Covid world. I do have a ridiculously expensive jeep gladiator rubi diesel for our over landing, hunting and dispersed camping fun. I’ve owned a fair number of diesels but never one dedicated to off-road. I absolutely love this thing for crawling. 4WD low at idle and let it eat. No need for throttle, it just steams up the technical trails like the little engine that could. Mpg is great too, get mid 20s at high elevation in Colorado but as mentioned the math doesn’t really work. It’s all about the capability.

 

[Txswift]

I had a 2015 duramax that has 442,XXX miles on it now and still going. Only thing I did was delete at 200k and replaced the alternator twice and brakes. I drive a 2018 now hopefully I’ll get the same luck out of this one

 

[Dust Rider]

No. Old Rudolf was on top of his game.
..but my daily driver is a gasser and not a truck

 

[Brendan]

Diesel is still almost $1.50 more per gallon here. Add that to the $10K-$12K option price depending on the engine and I don't think I'd ever see the payback, even if I have to pay for a new tank.

Another thing that worries me is if I'm doing a lot of low speed stuff (i.e. hunting trip, off road) I don't want to be dealing with a situation where it can't regen right and go into limp mode miles from nowhere. Not sure how much of a worry that actually is, but I did have 8-10 days a couple years ago where I didn't get over 10mph for 8-10 days.

Delete and tune isn't an option in my state - sucks out here.

 

[Choupique]

The thing about a modern diesel is a bad NOx sensor, DEF quality sensor, or a plethora of other sensors will put that bastard in 5mph max limp mode when there really isn't even a problem.

I've had mine do weird things at sub zero temps REALLY far from the blacktop, and that is not comforting. Your odds of getting stranded with a modern gasser are less than a diesel. It's just a much more complicated system and therefor more prone to failure. We are a long ways away from your pawpaws old 12 valve cummins which would run on anything flammable forever as long as you could start it. Open the hood on a 2023 powestroke diesel and try to find the fuel pump. It ain't easy.

If you don't NEED a diesel, don't buy one.

 

[displacedtexan]

Open the hood on a 2023 powestroke diesel and try to find the fuel pump. It ain't easy.

If you don't NEED a diesel, don't buy one.

It's hard to see anything mounted inside a frame rail by opening the hood. It also doesn't let you see the axles well.

 

[Choupique]

The point is that it's difficult to even identify that there is a V8 engine in there because of how complex the engines have gotten. It's a mess of pipes and wires. Many major repair jobs require pulling the cab off the truck.

Conversely, open the hood on a gas F250 and it doesn't look all that much different than it did 20 years ago in there.