3.0L Duramax Turbo Diesel

[Wirehair]

Thinking about trading trucks. Currently have a 2015 GMC Sierra with the 5.3 L & Max Towing package. Have been happy with the set-up and leaning towards purchasing a similar truck. Test drove a 2023 Silverado with the 3.0L Duramax Turbo Diesel engine and was impressed. Any thoughts out there on the 3.0L diesel. Driving is a combo of city driving, towing a 19' glass boat, and the balance is highway miles including annual drive to Fl each winter. Any thoughts / suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[NG3067]

On my second one, both have been awesome. It won’t replace a 3/4 T diesel, but is a very quiet smooth running truck. If you put your foot on the gas towing it uses both fuel and DEF.

 

[sweeney]

Know 2 people with them 2021 and newer both love them, love the mileage, and towing ability. Both of them run 3/4-1 ton diesels already so the extra cost in maintaining and added hassle of DEF and DPF etc. wasn't a big deal to them.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

I know 4 people that run them. They all love them for the above reasons already stated.

 

[Wall-eyes]

Couple friends went from gas to diesel and as stated above extra maintenance price to own one was the negative and damn cold weather at times crazy miles per gallon they get though.

 

[wslayer]

Just got rid of my 04 duramax before cold weather sets in. Wasn't appreciative of the $5.50/gal for #1 fuel, and mileage goes to hell then also. Took long time to warm up before would blow warm air also.
Don't think these new ones would be "quite" as bad.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Just got rid of my 04 duramax before cold weather sets in. Wasn't appreciative of the $5.50/gal for #1 fuel, and mileage goes to hell then also. Took long time to warm up before would blow warm air also.
Don't think these new ones would be "quite" as bad.

You can’t compare 2004 diesel anything to todays diesels

 

[Petras]

My dad has one of those 3.0l duramax 1/2tons. He likes it. Pulled my 18' stratos glass boat with zero issues... hell ya couldn't even tell it was back there most of the time. He gets crazy good fuel mileage... far better than my '14 6.7l deleted cummins.

 

[snow]

Great engine paired with lite duty allison tranny....

Just gotta deal with extra maintenance and def fluid.

Almost talked meself into one...decided i didn't need a full size truck and landed on a colorado,thought about the 2.8 duramx until i drove one...gutless,3lit would be a great option,40+ mpgs but now the feds talk about phasing out diesel fuel... like the did with our light bulbs 8/01/2023,and talking about phasing out gas stoves and gas water heaters....

PS,unlike the 100k warranty on the 6.6 HD duramax this lite duty 3lit 5 yr,60k miles dealers seldom talk about

 

[SLE]

Great engine paired with lite duty allison tranny....

It actually uses a GM Produced Hydra-Matic 10L80 10-Speed. There is no Allison in any part of it. If anything, it's more Ford transmission than anything, LMAO. Literally, that transmission was 100% designed by Ford. GM just uses there own programing and tuning.

 

[Wirehair]

I asked salesman if an Allison was an option and his response was that all 1/2 T trucks with 3.0L Duramax were paired with the Hydra-Matic 10L80 10 speed as SLE notes above.

 

[wslayer]

You can’t compare 2004 diesel anything to todays diesels

Price of #1 fuel you can

 

[Big Iron]

I want one. Maybe next year.

 

[PrairieGhost]

I have one and the only problem with mine was it took the dealer nearly a year to find I had a faulty fuel management module. That after they needlessly replaced the fuel injectors and fuel injector pump.
Towing an 8600 lb 30 ft camper at 65 to 75 out to Washington state this summer I averaged 10.7 mpg. Running empty at 75mph I get 27 mph. At 65 mph and no wind I get 30 to 34 mpg.

 

[FlatTopPete]

I’ve heard good reviews on the smaller diesel pickups. If you’ve never owned a diesel before though, Just remember that you’ll need to run some sort of winter fuel in the coldest months.

You absolutely don’t want to plan on pulling that thing out of a cold garage or off the street and drive it down the interstate with straight #2 on a sub zero day. You will have issues

 

[lunkerslayer]

What's everyone's opinion on the toyota tundra 3.3 twin turbo diesel that is supposedly coming out

 

[NG3067]

The only complaint I have with the new diesel is in the winter adding the fuel additives into the no fuel cap openings, you need a funnel. I run #2 year round and dump howes in when it’s cold.

 

[snow]

It actually uses a GM Produced Hydra-Matic 10L80 10-Speed. There is no Allison in any part of it. If anything, it's more Ford transmission than anything, LMAO. Literally, that transmission was 100% designed by Ford. GM just uses there own programing and tuning.

Im not here to argue,i was trained by GM engineers,when this powertrain was released,believe what you want,however you are correct in transmission 10L,GM refers to this tranny as lite duty allison,further the Hydra-Matic is GM's trade name....from the 60's to 1990.

 

[SDMF]

Broken record here but, short trips and low engine/EGT’s (Exhaust Gas Temps) are a killer to anything diesel since ‘07 when DPF’s (Diesel Particulate Filter) were mandated. For someone who lives 20Mi+ out of town and can get the engine up to full operating temp they’re likely to have no issues. Someone who drives in town for weeks at a time without a 20-30Min uninterrupted highway speed drive, the thing will eventually plug from the DPF forward. DPF’s catch all the black soot you used to see from a diesel exhaust pipe. As they catch enough soot the exhaust pressure builds and they tell the computer to increase the EGT’s in order to incinerate the soot. They can’t do the increases EGT’s until your engine is @ full operating temp and that takes 20-30Min of uninterrupted driving @ 50MPH+ IME. The smaller motors might get there more quickly, my experience regarding time to full temp is with 6.0 and 6.7L Fords.

Let your DPF fill up without proper and frequent regenerations (incineration cycles) and you start to have problems w/egr valves and variable vanes on the turbo gumming up.

I consider DEF to be a non-issue. It’s readily available, you just add it when you need it if for some reason you need it prior to an oil change. I only ever fill mine myself when Im going on a long trip, other than that, fill it up with an oil change and you’re good. They’ve got the tank heaters and def exhaust injection algorithms matched up pretty well for cold driving.

 

[SLE]

Im not here to argue,i was trained by GM engineers,when this powertrain was released,believe what you want,however you are correct in transmission 10L,GM refers to this tranny as lite duty allison,further the Hydra-Matic is GM's trade name....from the 60's to 1990.

The Allison moniker goes with the 10L100 heavy duty's or also known as the Allison 1000 and was introduced in 2020.

You can call it what ever you want if it helps you sell more, but GM brought back the hydra-matic moniker for the 10LXX series of transmissions starting I believe back in 2017. The new hydra-matic series includes the 10L80, 10L90.

Here's an article right from GMs web site talking about it in the 2017 Camaro.
https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2016/may/0511-10speed-gm.html

Might want to brush up on your transmission knowledge..............

Funny thing is the development of the 10 speed transmission was a joint venture with Ford Motor Co. Ford was charged with the design of the longitudinal mounted 10-speed found in rear drive vehicles and GM was in charge of the design of a transverse mounted 9 speed for FWD based vehicles. GM and Ford both use the 10 speed that Ford designed however GM is the only one using the 9 speed and Ford elected not to use that and instead developed there own 8 speed transverse mounted transmission as they didn't find sufficient efficiency gains with the 9 cog box to offset the added complexity and weight.

sorry, way off in left field derailing from the baby Duramax discussion.........Carry on