59,880 miles. Banks Six-Gun on for about 20K miles. On a 2000 mile turn-around trip from Mississippi to Richmond, Va to pick up new 40' fifth wheel for the wife and I. 500 miles into the trip, noticed a small amount of oil on PS wheelwell, oil level seemed to be normal, this was about 11pm on Friday night. Had to make it to Richmond by 1pm on Saturday, stopped for a few hours to sleep and on the way into Richmond noticed more and more oil on underside of truck. It looked like it was coming from the vent tube, oil level still ok. Picked up trailer which added about 15.5K lbs, started heading back towards Mississippi. Power was fine, even in the hills, noticed some smoke from exhaust on downshifts and steep grades at high RPM's, not much but more than I've ever seen from my Dmax. Noticed oil pressure dropping thruout trip. Started at 60psi, then 50..40..30. I made up my mind If it got below 30psi I would stop. Well after about 900 miles on Saturday, 400 pulling the 5er and at 12am oil pressure dropped to 20psi on the interstate 10 miles from Knoxville, Tn. Pulled over into the truck stop and at the end of the exit ramp it felt like I was ideling on 2 cylinders. Checked the oil while at the truck stop, nothing on the dipstick...damn, added 1 gallon of Rotella. Still no oil on dipstick, added another gallon.....I was going to make it to Lenoir City (about 10 miles south of Knoxville) no matter what so I could park my new 5er in a campground and not at some truckstop off the interstate, I also had friends in Lenoir City. Oil was on the dipstick again and off we went. Parked the 5er and slept for a few hours, there was a trail of oil/diesel wherever I went, truck and new 5er coated with oil. Checked oil the next morning and was real high on dipstick... WTF? Drained 3 gallons from crankcase and oil was still high. I knew then it was injectors for sure, removed Six-Gun and gauges. Truck went to shop on Monday, Service manager looked at oil and smelled it said immediatley, Injectors. Gave me a brand new Chevy ex cab v8 for a loaner. I amost had a chubby when I saw this little shop in BFE, Tn....they had over 50 Duramaxs no the lot. Injectors shipped in from California, installed Thrusday and Friday AM. Picked up Friday AM looked under hood and underneath to make sure all looks ok. Told service writer that there looked to be a coolant leak. He said can't be, told him to go get the mechanic because after waiting a week with my dog in the kennel I didn't want to get 100 miles and be down with a F'in coolant leak. Mechanic came over, said no way could it be a coolant leak, he's done lots of injector replacements and never had a return. Told me coolant was coming off skid pan where it had collected while he was working on it. I almost had to force him down to look, there was coolant on the front U-joint at the transfer case, above the skid plate. Again he assured me it was ok, and I headed towards Hattiesburg. Got 90 miles before low coolant light came on. Needless to say I was mad as hell. Pulled off at the next exit checked everthing out I was about 1 gallon low in the resivoir, coolant on top of the intake and dripping down the back of the block. Called the shop, raised hell for not taking me seriously, told them to find me a shop close to me that will look at my truck on Good Friday at noon so I didn't have to wait until Monday to get this thing fixed. Found a shop 6 miles from me, dropped trailer in the back. Service manager said he didn't have a diesel mechanic, I told him he didn't need on, if he'd get me the parts I'd fix the SOB. You could now see where the leak was, on top of the intake at the thermostat housing, he said no problem, he'd put someone right on it. Got parts from another dealership and 3 hours later I was on my way with new o-rings on the thermostat housing as the other mechanic had the thermostat cocked in the housing. Made it home with no further problems. Truck has never ran so smooth, quiet, or with as much stock power. I was not upset when I realized the injectors were bad or it would take 5 days to fix, I knew it would happen sooner or later, and I still feel I was taken good care of by GM.

So the question now how long are the new ones going to last???

I have 30,000 on my 2003 and I hope that I will not need to change them when I am 1,000 miles from home.

This truck does not inspire confidence at all. The funny thing is no truck made after 2002 inspires confidence in reliability. Just check Fords and Dodge injection problems. Every manufacturer seems to have the same problems.

When I take my family on our yearly "across the country trip" I better make sure I stay close to the Chevy diesel repair network hihi and allow an extra week for the repairs.... Or better yet make some good friends at this forum maybe they will tow my trailer back to California haha

By the way how do you like your 5th wheel???

Glad to hear everything worked out for you although it seems these things tend to fail in the most inopportune times/places. I agree, getting the injectors replaced wouldn't be so bad as long as they get done right the first time. Sounds like you lucked out with a simple thermostant leak. Could have been worse, a lot worse.

I haven't had to have mine replaced "yet" but when the day does come I'll be more paranoid when I get the truck back not knowing if all the i's were dotted and t's crossed on reassembly. I guess it all boils down to the tech and experience ...granted little things always happen but it's the good tech's that minimize those "little" things :)

MP
I love the new fifth wheel, it has amazing fit and finish inside and out. Everything is square, level and plumb, quite a step up from the '02 35' Keystone Challenger I just sold. I like the fact it has all real wood (maple) inside, it is quite heavy though. It also has 17.5" rims with Goodyear regroveable "H" load range tires (4.8K lbs per tire) I never heard of 17.5" rims before, I'd hate to have to replace the tires $$$. It pulls excellent.

I just got back from a trip to the gulf shores in alabama from Michigan and I have to admit I worried the whole way down and back the last vacation it left me broke down 15 miles from home and had to cancel trip it takes the fun out of it if you have to worry if you will make there or back

compressor
I'm still not going to worry about it. Everything breaks sooner or later. I knew injectors were in my future and chose to keep the truck with 200k mile warranty and deal with injectors when they go bad. The other brands are having the same problems, if not worse. I will rethink my logic if at 120k miles I have to get a new set of injectors...I think I'll just be pissed then.

What kind of $$$ are we talking about when the injectors need replacing? I have 55K on mine all stock. With my warranty going out at 100K I'm a little nervous on the cost of replacing it myself. Also, how bad would it be for a shade tree mechanic to install these himself? Oh and what wold be the cost of just the injectors? I originally bought this truck to be my "last new truck I buy for a long time" truck. Now I'm thinking a 1970'ish International Harvester crew cab is sounding better and better. At least a guy can still work on it himself.:o:

Brian

What year Dmax do you have? The warranty for '01 and '02's is 7 years or 200K miles on the engine thanks to GM. Rumor is the '03s are next for the free extended warranty. The service manager told me it would have cost me $2200 for the work if I was out of warranty...not too bad really.

Where did the engine oil go initially? Severe leak, burned? You say you had to add 2 gallons to get a reading and then the crankcase filled with fuel. Did the oil level stay constant for the rest of the trip after the injector replacement?

What year Dmax do you have? The warranty for '01 and '02's is 7 years or 200K miles on the engine thanks to GM. Rumor is the '03s are next for the free extended warranty. The service manager told me it would have cost me $2200 for the work if I was out of warranty...not too bad really.
Mine is an '02. I was never made aware of the extended warr. on the motor. By chance does that also cover the ZF tranny? I guess the extended warranty makes me feel a little better.

Brian

No it does not cover the ZF tranny.