high milage problems

[crazyredneck]

im looking at buying a 2002 2500 HD with the 6.0 do you guys know if these engines have any problems when they get up in milage like 100,000 and above

[truckdude239]

not really just serviced one the other day with 250k on it

[Mister laugh]

like any vehicle it depends on how well it was maintained. If oil changes get skipped all the time it isn't going to last long. That being said as far as i can tell with a properly maintained motor they last a LONG LONG time.

[DirtyLarry]

Aside from the under performing and over complicated front suspension with way too many moving parts that tend not to get greased properly (or at all) and quickly wear out they are pretty decent trucks but if it has electric shift 4x4 that is usually the first thing to quit. Control head failures, encoder motors and TCCM failures are very common. Better off with a truck with a manual shifter if you can find one.

The water pump gaskets tend to leak on all the 4.8L, 5.3L and 6.0L at around 80K miles on up especially on the pre-2004 engines. This is often misdiagnosed as a water pump failure. Save the $200 on a water pump and just get the $10 gaskets.

Engine mount failures are also common on the HD trucks with 6.0L engines due to heat build up from the exhaust manifold over heating the engine mount isolator to the point it caves in and eventually the rubber isolator falls out completely. When this happens the engines falls down and the fan eats the shroud. EOC lines get damaged, exhaust hangers break, the A/C compressor rubs on the frame and can be damaged, etc. GM came up with a fix for this issue with a new engine mount that has a heat shield around it. I had heard about this condition many times but never actually saw it first hand until I picked up a dirt cheap 2005 2500HD WT 4x4 standard cab long bed last week with a 103,000 miles from a construction company that is about to go under. When I got it home I noticed the air intake pipe was sitting right on the fan shroud and the lower shroud was chewed up. Sure nuf….the RH engine mount was toasted. I pulled the warranty history on it and the LH had been changed at 18,000 miles back in 2005. Once I swapped in the new mount I also found the air intake pipe had a hole in it from rubbing the fan shroud for so long. Luckily the engine hadn’t ingested any dirt that I can tell!

Here is a picture of a dead mount and the new design.


Also take a look at the spacing between the shroud and air intake before you buy! You should be able to stick your fingers in between the shroud and air intake. It could be a tell tale sign of an engine mount issue and potentially larger issues if not.

[Joe67]

I agree, with basic maintenance you should be fine. My 2000 LM7 5.3l GMC has almost 200K on the clock

[crazyredneck]

another quick question whats the difference between a regular 2500 and a 2500 HD i was looking at a regular 2500 the other day and it looked like it had all the same options that the HD had except the front end was different

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by crazyredneck

another quick question whats the difference between a regular 2500 and a 2500 HD i was looking at a regular 2500 the other day and it looked like it had all the same options that the HD had except the front end was different

The frames are different, suspension is different, axles, brakes, etc. The 2500 isn’t much more than a half ton truck with the cheesiest light duty 8 lug axles GM has available while the 2500HD is more along the lines of a one ton. If it were me I would not buy a light duty 2500 mainly because of the 9.5 semi-floating rear axle, which is pretty much a terd. Plus most light duty 2500’s have the Autotrac electric shift transfercase…..not very durable. Even if you get stuck with electric shift in a HD it is not the Autotrac transfercase. Electric shift across the board sucks but Autotrac is worse.

The HD’s are also about 2” taller as the frame channel is much taller than the half ton frames.

Pass on the light duty 2500 and get a 2500HD.