Diesel vs 5.3

[drucker]

Has anyone went from a K2 5.3 to the 2.8 diesel? Whats the towing difference? I have a 6.2 now but thinking about the 2.8 diesel. The only thing I tow is a John Deere Gator (XUV) and a 20ft center console aluminum boat. I drive about 60 miles a day to work and back.

[mjcmichigan]

You might end up pretty happy. I’ve had a couple Silverado 5.3l 1500 that I I used for commuting and boat trailering.

 

I now have a 2017 Canyon with the 2.8l Duramax. My boat is 3000# fiberglass, 9’ tall, 8’ 9” wide on a 1200 # trailer.

 

Canyon pulls it no problem. Can run 70+ mph easily.

 

My commuting experience has been great. I drive 20 miles each way. 70 mph. Mostly highway or rural roads (55). It loves the heat and speed. Gas mileage overall with 21,000 is 26.3mpg.

Best 50 mile ave was 38.5 mpg on the road between white river ontario and Hornepayne. Has done it repeatedly. Love 55mph no stopping, it is hilly, and 100km between the towns. Does that mileage in both directions. City driving, it will drop to 18/19 in the winter with warm ups and 4wd.

 

The big negative is cargo box capacity.

My 1500 was 1000#. Canyon is 700 or 750.

 

Mine does have the extended box (a little short of 6.5’)

 

I hear the 2019 Silverado 1500 will have a 3.0l duramax available

 

 

Pictures were taken Saturday evening driving home from Detroit at a rest stop along I-75.

 

 

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[Black02Silverado]

25 minutes ago, mjcmichigan said:

You might end up pretty happy. I’ve had a couple Silverado 5.3l 1500 that I I used for commuting and boat trailering.

 

I now have a 2017 Canyon with the 2.8l Duramax. My boat is 3000# fiberglass, 9’ tall, 8’ 9” wide on a 1200 # trailer.

 

Canyon pulls it no problem. Can run 70+ mph easily.

 

My commuting experience has been great. I drive 20 miles each way. 70 mph. Mostly highway or rural roads (55). It loves the heat and speed. Gas mileage overall with 21,000 is 26.3mpg.

Best 50 mile ave was 38.5 mpg on the road between white river ontario and Hornepayne. Has done it repeatedly. Love 55mph no stopping, it is hilly, and 100km between the towns. Does that mileage in both directions. City driving, it will drop to 18/19 in the winter with warm ups and 4wd.

 

The big negative is cargo box capacity.

My 1500 was 1000#. Canyon is 700 or 750.

 

Mine does have the extended box (a little short of 6.5’)

 

I hear the 2019 Silverado 1500 will have a 3.0l duramax available

 

 

Pictures were taken Saturday evening driving home from Detroit at a rest stop along I-75.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Nice!

 

How often do you need to add DEF?  I think the 1500 Dmax will be a good vehicle.  For the light towing and economy it will be an all around great ride. 

 

DEF is one thing that most will not like to deal with but at least GM put the fill port in a better location.  On my Cruze diesel I have to lift the cover in the trunk to fill the DEF, but then I only have to do that once every 15k miles or so. 

[mjcmichigan]

No problems with Def yet. I get close to an oil change between needing to add DEF.

My dealer will throw in DEF with the oil change,so asked about when I got a new service writer. He made an interesting comment.

If you keep DEF full, eventually the computer will think the sensor is broke and it will throw Codes about DEF not working. He wasn’t specific, so this time I’m running it Dow to 20%. I’m currently at 27% and it will take a couple weeks of driving to get there.

Anyone know how that DEF sensor really works? Sounded like BS to me as I’m in analytics and IOT. Never heard of a program that would assume a sensor is broke if it doesn’t get low on some period. If it gave the same value all the time... yes.

Been loving the Canyon. Looking forward to the lease running out and considering the DM 3.0

I did forget to mention. Father in law has a 1500 from 95, and the 5.7l turbo diesel put out marginally more power that the 2.8DM
188HP vs 195HP
396ft# vs 400 ft #.

He’s considering getting a 2.8l DM now.

Told him to wait til he can see the 3l /1500.


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[Black02Silverado]

I don't add DEF until it tells me it is low.  My understanding is DEF has a shelf life so I run out what is in the tank and then top up with fresh from a truck stop.  It is cheaper than store bought jugs and my understanding again it is fresh since they go through a ton of it with all the trucks filling up.

[mjcmichigan]

I don't add DEF until it tells me it is low.  My understanding is DEF has a shelf life so I run out what is in the tank and then top up with fresh from a truck stop.  It is cheaper than store bought jugs and my understanding again it is fresh since they go through a ton of it with all the trucks filling up.

Sounds like great advice!


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[mjcmichigan]

My dealer’s service rep tells me, you can get a light on if you don’t let the DEF get below 20%....evidently it does like being topped off every oil change.

I have for had trouble with my DEF fluid.

Great Truck!


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[newdude]

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 1:57 PM, drucker said:

Has anyone went from a K2 5.3 to the 2.8 diesel? Whats the towing difference? I have a 6.2 now but thinking about the 2.8 diesel. The only thing I tow is a John Deere Gator (XUV) and a 20ft center console aluminum boat. I drive about 60 miles a day to work and back.

 

You'd love it for the commute alone.  You'd score high 20's-low 30's in the MPGs.  Torquey little fella.  Vs. Silverado, the biggest difference is really cabin space.  If you feel comfortable with essentially a narrower and shorter ceiling height Double cab Silverado, then I'd go for it.  But, if you need the full size crew back seat, wait for the 3.0 Duramax. 

 

I put just over 30,000 miles on my 2016 before turning in the lease.  I loved it.  Towed wonderfully.  It won't win any races with a trailer, but it can get to and hold highway speeds quite well. 

[mjcmichigan]

I’d agree. I Went from a 5.3l to 2.8l Dura-max. I pull a 20ft fiberglass IO that sleeps 2, between trailer and boat it’s 4500#. Pulls no problem. Milage is great.

I did want to add that the Specs on the 2017 Dura-Max that HP and Torque compare to the heavy duty full size trucks that ran the 5.7l turbo diesel (1995 vintage) very comparable.


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[oak 1971]

I just traded my 2015 5.3 Sierra for a 2016 Colorado Trail Boss Duramax. Have yet to tow, but it doesn't seem to be lacking in power whatever the numbers are.

[Daniel Fontaine]

Ok I've owned a number of GMC Sierra's. 4.8 V8 (01) , 5.3 V8 (2012 & 2014) I tow a 22' Rockwood Minilite travel trailer...fully loaded for a vacation it is around 5800 lbs. It is a high trailer so it pushes a LOT of wind. The 5.3 V8 returned no better than 10.5 MPG and that was never pushing beyond 62-65 MPH.

 

Fast forward to my 2017 Canyon 2.8 Duramax...pulling the same EXACT trailer...18.5 MPG ... That is the good news...now I am experiencing some bad sensors the last sensor upon replacement only lasted 8500 miles. My total mileage is 32,100 so jury is out we'll see if GM honors the powertrain. So far so good...

 

The truck is a dream when it is running without issues...

Edited March 12, 2021 by Daniel Fontaine
poor sentence structure!