Looking to get a diesel pick up
 

Hey guys I just turned 18 and I'm about to graduate high school. I've recently started to get into diesels and I've decided I don't wanna drive anything else. I'm looking for a truck to mess around with with my buddies, that i can upgrade and will be reliable on my commute to school next year. I won't be doing any towing or hauling, no off roading, just haveing run and blowing tons of black smoke. I want something thats loud and looks cool which is why I'm leaning toward to Powerstroke or Cummins. Any help you guys could give would be great. Like I said I'm new to diesels...

Thanks
DF92

welcome to db and cant go wrog with a cummins

dodge ford chevy they are all descent trucks all have their problems look for the one you want and research it find out everything about whatever you want and go from there and welcome to diesel bombers and stick around because you will find the help you want and need right here on this site because we are the #1 diesel site around :yeah:

I've done some research on powerstrokes and found that the 6.0L was a serious piece of junk but that the 7.3L was really good. Any big time problems I should know about concerning the 7.3L?

just the cam sensor really, and its not even that big of a deal, it may go out it may not, and most likely it already has been fixed and replaced so you really have nothing to worry about, i have a 2003 7.3 and its a work horse, i can pull anything i please, blows ALOT of smoke when i want it to, sometimes when i dont want it to too ha, but really man i love my 7.3, not the fastest but the damn thing wont break, i am knockin on the door of 200 thousand miles and its still runnin hard

A good-running modern diesel under stock conditions shouldn't be blowing ANY smoke. Besides, it's people who run around blowing smoke 24/7 that give us diesel owners a bad name. If you want mileage and easy of modding, go cummins. If you just LOVE Ford, get a Ford.

The 6.0 was a GREAT motor and very easy to make fast and get decent mileage. Some headstuds and egr and the 6.0 is just as good as the 7.3

7.3's cam sensors go out nonstop. Granted, they are like 30 bucks to replace. Most 7.3 guys keep a few spares in their glove box.

i have only had to replace one cam sensor in 200,000 miles

Heh. Im driving a 00 F350 dually at work right now, needs a sensor. 223k miles of non stop work, from a lineman's truck then to a farm truck. Still kickin! :w2:

How much is your budget? That would help give an idea of what truck to go for.

Only problem with the 7.3 is the lack of power (at least by my standards) and if your in a place that gets super cold a 5.9 cummins will start better.

^Eh 500lbs of torque isn't exactly weak on the stock 7.3's. Hell cummins "high output" motors deep into the 2000's were barely making more tq than my stock '99 7.3

cummins will pull around a 7.3all day long i have a 99 cummins and i've drove plenty of powerjokes cummins are way better! i have 250 thousand on mine and have only replaced the lift pump and that was at 220 thousand straight 6's are the way to go last longer and more torque

I loved both my psd and my 12v. Stock for stock the 12v's are dogs. Granted, they pull hard but they are dogs. My stock '99 psd would stomp any stock 12v and keep up with 24v's.

But you cant beat how terribly easy it is to mod a 12v.

i love my psd mine has 290,000 miles and still running strong the only prob ive had is the cam sensor and that should be covered by a recall my psd is basically stock except for the stack and my programer!!! you wont go wrong buying one!!!!!!!!!!

if you want torque you cant go wrong with either one, the 7.3 is a workhorse and so is the cummins, personally i love my 7.3, sure it isn't the fastest thing on the block but it will pull a house off of its damned foundation :tu: it all boils down to what YOU want, not what everyone on here wants you to get :c:

1st or 2nd gen dodge with a 12v would a great way to go. 2nd gen with a 12v is the best. So easy to cheaply modify, but like FarmDiesel asked whats your budget?

I'm looking for something under 13,000. I have a friend at school that has a 1995 F250 PSD with 120,000 miles on it. I'm considering it :humm:

Do it. How much he asking? What size cab/box and what trans?

He wants 7200. Its got the medium cab long bed with the stock auto tranny im pretty sure. Its got a chip, custom exhaust, and its got bigger tires. It wil need a little work but thats kind what im lookin for

get a 6.5. parts are cheap and they average guy can work on them. all you need is a relocated pmd, oil cooler lines and some new injectors and you will be running around with a reliable truck. :tu:

A 1980 honda civic is 'reliable'. That doesn't mean a whole lot

Its an extended cab, or as Ford calls them super cabs.
If he's got a tuner and wheels on a stock trans, it doesn't have much longer to go before it blows up. A new trans is in the 5-6k range

my trans lasted till 165k and it had a superchip max micro since the day i bought it

Thats surprising. Granted, a good tuner (not including superchip) like TW can tune the trans a bit, which does help, I've heard of too many transmissions going w/ tuners on powerstrokes.

yeah, most all the 165k were on the highway/interstate, and i'm sure i could have gotten a little more out of her if i wouldn't have had my gas pedal glued to the floor while towing the snowmobiles up the mountain :w2:

lol that will happen. :closed: snowmobiles!! Gotta love em though

yes sir, gotta love beating the buddies duramax up to the riding spot too, while i had a full enclosed trailer with 4 sleds and he had a flat bed with 2 sleds :choochoo:

duracrap. Never like chevy diesels (even when they used the detroits)

i am a ford guy but i couldnt pass up the deal i got for my dmax. never drove one bfroe that day. i love it. little more expensive to build up, but great engines.
i paind 10000 for my 02 gmc extcab shortbed 4x4 with 130000 on it. bone stock. only thing i put in it was a waterpump and a wheelbearing at 165000.

Isuzu? Good engines? Wut?

It's very rare you hear of a dmax getting over 200k miles. You hear of the 7.3 and 12v guys bragging day in and day out of their trucks getting 500k before their sold.

we have alot of them up here over 250000. just gota take care of em, just like every other engine.

and isuzu does make GREAT engines. we have them in alot of my equipment i work on. hitachi excavators run them. 2 of our machines have over 12000 hrs and engine never opened up.

i was born and raised a ford guy, never had anything else, wouldn't mind one of the new 6.7 cummins though

Isuzu is bottom-barrell junk (no offense). You buy a matsushita or hitachi when you cant afford a Case or Cat or JD

Same here I've owned 6 Fords and loved every single last one of them. Though my time with my c ummins was funn

funny. since hitachis are the same damn thing as a JD. i get all my parts from the jd dealer.

case is the cheap one.

case- cant afford something else.

I think I have to agree with Crawler here. Isuzu does make a great diesel. To say its bottom of the barrel junk is a pretty step claim. 200k is pretty well a breeze with them heck there some of them that have already reached the 500k mark and one that I know of that has made the 750k mark. I think what gets a lot of guys is that when it came out it set the mark of the current day diesel. The only thing that keeps me from buying one isn't the reliability it's the cost of repairs when they break and the fact that I don't have a use for a 660 lb-ft diesel. Now don't get me wrong I still think the 7.3 psd and Cummins are great engines but the Duramax is at worst a equal engine.

Dmax owners brag about 200k? Shit, I ran my 12v 300k mile motor OUT OF OIL 3 times before it died.

And it didn't die from the oil... it died from having stock injectors that stuck open and burned a nice hole in the last piston.

500k on a cummins is VERY normal

I don't think anyone on here would disagree that the Cummins is a very good engine. The only real problems I have heard of with the Duramax is some of the early ones had injector problem's but so did some of the CR Cummins along with cracking blocks. That doesn't make ether of them a bad engine they just had some issues to resolve.

this is what it all comes down to. this is the best advide u can take from this thread imo.

each and every person on this forum has there preferences. one likes dodge, and the rest is crap, the next guy is die hard ford till the end, and there some that think the bow-tie is the only real truck made. all in all, every brand is a great truck/motor combo if taken care of. if they werent, no one would like them.

now here is my opion, if ur wanting a truck to play with, street race buddies and blow smoke all over town like u said, even though i dont think either one of those a a good reason to own a diesel, is to get a 12v 5 speed 2nd gen dodge. they are the easiest to make cheap power out of.

every truck has its problem. good luck with ur future purchase, and dont be a stranger. hang around, and we can help u mod any truck u decide u want to get.

thanks biged i will definitely do that. I appreciate everyones help with this... Oh and as for racing and blowing smoke.. maybe not so much... i just love diesels. Ive almost gotten into several accidents because i pass diesels and stare and dont pay attention while driving I cant wait to get one and i look forward to talking about it and working with everyone here on my diesel.