Need some purchasing advice on a '03 duramax

alcolee · November 23, 2012

I'm looking at purchasing an '03 2500hd diesel 2wd, extended cab with 76,000 miles. It has only had one owner and spent most of its life in Texas. It's never had a 5th wheel or gooseneck hitch. To the best of my knowledge it still has the original injectors. Is there any way to inspect the condition of the injectors? If there is no problems with the injectors, is there anything that can be done to avoid the typical problems with these injectors. I would hate to spend $14,000 on a really nice truck only to have to spend a bunch of money in a year to redo the injectors. Any advice? It seems like a decent deal on a really clean truck, I just want to do my homework first.

sillywillie07 · November 23, 2012

c/k out duramaxforum.com Run some sort of fuel treatment. I like power service.

8.1HD/ALLISON · November 24, 2012

If you are serious about the truck, I would take it to a trusted chevy dealer and have them look it over. Shouldn't take more than an hour. $100 or so? They could possibly check the injector balance with scan tool and see if there are any problems in the near future.

alcolee · November 24, 2012

Should I avoid this truck? It seemed like a good deal on a clean low mile truck and an opportunity to upgrade from what I have, but I don't have to buy it if its something I should avoid.

kstruckcountry · November 24, 2012

You're not gonna find lower miles than that. Buy it.

Chiefmorton · November 25, 2012

Sounds like a nice truck but as mentioned I'd have it plugged in and check the injector rates. I sold an 02 Duramax a few years ago and took it to a local diesel shop who plugged it in and checked everything there was to check and the guy was nice enough not to charge me anything. In the event I'd buy another diesel I would definitley have the injectors checked and fuel pressure. The injector replacement is around 3000.00-3800.00 at a dealer so the injectors alone aren't cheap. Good clean well taken care of truck with good injectors should run forever.

yukon25008.1 · November 25, 2012

03 is an lb7..the first d-max, And there only 'major' downfall was injector issues between 90-120,000 miles. And its not a cheap bill!

KMGZ400 · November 25, 2012

the most important think with that truck is to make sure its been stock its entire life. a lot of diesels ( at least in my area) have been heavily modded and beaten on and then converted back to stock to resell. if can find a clean, stock, durmax, i wouldnt be afraid of it. especially since that one has relatively low miles for its year.