3.0 Duramax City/daily driver

Truckin310 · November 11, 2020

Hey all,

Live in a big city but seriously considering duramax as a daily, short commute lots of stop and go traffic. Diesel same price as premium or less at times. Anybody else do this? Should I go with gas instead? MPG savings seem significant with diesel but not sure that matters with my 15 mile commute. Appreciate any thoughts.

redwngr · November 11, 2020

I'm a duramax fan, and often try to show the other side of info sometimes posted by some that 'have heard' bad about them.

However, if it's primary job is a 15 mile stop-and-go commute I'd suggest a gasser.

Edited November 11, 2020 by redwngr

steve841 · November 12, 2020

Its fine.... You have a warranty if anything goes wrong.

There's nothing that says don't drive less than this or longer than that ..

End of story.

pewterliftedz · November 13, 2020

I've got the 3.0 Dmax Jr, and I wouldn't recommend it if you are not getting on a highway for a good drive at least once a week. These trucks really need time to get up to temp for the emissions equipment to work properly, but that's just my opinion.

yousaveone · November 15, 2020

Ya sounds like your not gonna put a lot of miles on it and remain in warranty so sure. Although you might find that the small added expense of owning a diesel offsets fuel prices. Also diesel fuel will cost more the gas soon.

jaslon · November 15, 2020

10 hours ago, yousaveone said:

Ya sounds like your not gonna put a lot of miles on it and remain in warranty so sure. Although you might find that the small added expense of owning a diesel offsets fuel prices. Also diesel fuel will cost more the gas soon.

How much do you think diesel will go up?

yousaveone · November 15, 2020

Fuel is low now because a decrease in OTR trucks. Eventually the supply chain will recover and diesel will be .50 - 1.00 more then gas. All fuels are priced at least 1.00 too low currently. Enjoy it while its cheap.

AlexB · November 15, 2020

Buy it and drive it. I've been working from home, lots of small in town trips, no issues.

yousaveone · November 16, 2020

The people above don't understand diesel regeneration. While these trucks can be driven 15 miles everyday it will eventually cause issues. The basic question remains; why would you buy this truck for short commutes? Diesels are horrible when it comes to maintenance; fuel filters, DPF, injectors, turbos, etc. Don't do it unless your going to run it. Go to any diesel shop and ask them.

redwngr · November 16, 2020

Many short trips at speed is a different issue than only doing 2 short stop-and-go trips for work commute each day.

kpromero · December 27, 2020

I may have made a BIG mistake then. Just purchased a 3.0L and pretty much drive 15 miles round trip to work and home on weekdays doing city driving. 15 minutes a drive it will mostly be running. I asked the mechanic there this question and he told me it was made for this and pretty much your diesel cars mostly run in city driving environments and non-issues.

AlexB · December 30, 2020

On 12/27/2020 at 3:44 PM, kpromero said:

I may have made a BIG mistake then. Just purchased a 3.0L and pretty much drive 15 miles round trip to work and home on weekdays doing city driving. 15 minutes a drive it will mostly be running. I asked the mechanic there this question and he told me it was made for this and pretty much your diesel cars mostly run in city driving environments and non-issues.

Take her out on a longer trip. I do that..head down 45 minutes, then back. About 120 mile round trip. Enough for a regen. I have about 15k-16k miles on her. Went to the coast, towed my travel trailer etc. You have to make some time for that regen process.

kpromero · December 30, 2020

8 hours ago, AlexB said:

Take her out on a longer trip. I do that..head down 45 minutes, then back. About 120 mile round trip. Enough for a regen. I have about 15k-16k miles on her. Went to the coast, towed my travel trailer etc. You have to make some time for that regen process.

Thanks. I work 6 days a week so come Sunday I am pretty much just wanting to chill. Guess thats what I get for listening to someone that I trusted to give me the correct answer regarding this concern. What would be the least amount of run time you would suggest and still be good for regen and not have problems down the road with it?

redwngr · December 30, 2020

On 12/27/2020 at 4:44 PM, kpromero said:

I may have made a BIG mistake then. Just purchased a 3.0L and pretty much drive 15 miles round trip to work and home on weekdays doing city driving. 15 minutes a drive it will mostly be running. I asked the mechanic there this question and he told me it was made for this and pretty much your diesel cars mostly run in city driving environments and non-issues.

Didn't mean to scare you.

It'll probably be fine. If it has an issue, it'll tell you.

Regen is about a 20-30 minute thing once everything is up to temp.

If regen is interrupted it will continue next trip. (for 5 years, most regens on my LML were split over more than one of it's many daily short trips)

Certainly there is no need for 120 mile trips for regen. (even on the LML 6.6's that took about 30 miles to do a complete regen)

If after multiple attempts it cannot not reduce the soot load enough, it will give a message.

The 3.0L exhaust filter system is different from the 6.6L ones. Exhaust filter is close coupled with engine in engine bay.

I'm guessing one of the reasons for the exhaust system differences is to keep exhaust filter warm more easily.