So, I have an 05 Silverado 1500 right now. I want a bigger better truck, so I'm turned on by diesel as most of you are. I'm going against my uncle, which is a mechanic and looking for diesel trucks because it's what I want. He's smart but I just want a diesel. Well, I've been looking and right now at one place they have an 02 Silverado 2500HD Diesel with under 98k miles, and in good condition. They also have an 06 Sierra HD Diesel but it has under 136k miles. Both are $20k, but I'm trying to decide which might be the better choice. I saw the link of the dude with the Diesel that went 750k miles and didn't really need anything till he hit 711k. Not really worried about the miles as I drive 10k a year if that. Just wondering which would be a better investment. The newer with more miles or the older with less miles.

Any insight we be appreciated as this is my first diesel scout. I have been looking for this forum and learning a bit for the day. Things here and there. I'm no pro but I am still looking around for more ideas on nowing more about Diesels.

Both are good trucks. The 02 has the LB7 that is prone to injector failures that will set you back probably $3-5K. The 06 has either the LLY or LBZ which most think is the best Duramax motor yet. Both have their pro's and con's. I don't think there is a clear cut answer as to which is better. The LB7's tend to get the best fuel mileage of all Duramax trucks, but again are very prone to the injector failure which strays some people away from them.

Good to know. I did just check out what the other guy said in another thread in "Buying a new truck" for the guy that just bought a new 06 Dmax. He says if the 8th character is a 2 its an LLY if it's a D it's an LBZ. Like I said I just checked and this is the more powerful engine because it has a D as the 8th. So that's something to look foreward to moving on anyway.

To me its a no brainer if the trucks are the same price...the 06 with the LBZ for sure. GM had an extended warranty of the LB7 engines of 7 years or 200K miles so for that one if the injectors went after you drove it off the lot then their replacement is on you. You don't have to worry about that with the LBZ. The LBZ also comes with 65HP more right off the lot in stock form. That Duramax you saw with 750K miles was an 04 or an 05 IIRC. The 04s and 05s had LLY engines which is a different design that the LB7. I highly doubt that if his truck was an LB7 that he would have got 750K miles out of a set of injectors. Probably 150K at the most and then he would have had to start changing them out.

That's what I would choose too. Now comes the hard part; financing :(

So now I'm looking at another diesel crew I found. It's an 05 LLY with 99k miles almost. What do y'all think about that compared to the other two. It's price is at 25,900. But I'm thinking I could get at least 10k for my truck and drop them down to 25 even. Thoughts? Concerns?

I was in the almost the same boat as you, i upgraded from a 1500 to my 06 LBZ and love it, i didnt want LB7 those injector things scared me away, LLY's had the over heating rep, but i think that was only when towing. But if the LBZ is only 20,000 i'd say than go with that. Would 37k miles and a year older be worth almost 6,000 more to you?

True. 6k is a lot more, plus it's a weaker engine in the 05 then the 06, so I was just throwing in another one I saw, to see what people think. As I'm still learning new things everyday, I hope other things will pop up about certain engines in here that I may have overlooked or don't have to search for haha.

So if you fix the injectors on an LB7 engine, or they have been fixed by someone before you bought it, does that necessarily mean they are fixed for good and the trucks ok now? Or is this always going to happen with these engines.

I believe the newer injectors are updated and will last but dont quote me. The LLY does have a bad rep for overheating but these trucks are put to pretty extreme tests. I have never even come close to overheating with my 25' travel trailer and the terrain around here is pretty rugged.

You cant really go wrong with any of them. I got the LLY over an LB7 because I wanted the Variable Vain turbo.

buy the LBZ. hands down.

I heard you can tell from the VIN number that it is a LLY or an LBZ.Is this right and what number should i look for.

I heard you can tell from the VIN number that it is a LLY or an LBZ.Is this right and what number should i look for.


I agree that the LBZ is the most desirable model. The LBZ was 06-07 old body style, there were LLYs produced in 06 but they are technically the same as an LBZ but with a little different tuning. Another great thing about the 06+ trucks is that they come with the 6 speed ally which is a bit tougher than the 5 speed.

I heard you can tell from the VIN number that it is a LLY or an LBZ.Is this right and what number should i look for.
It's the 8th digit. 1 is for LB7, 2 is for LLY, D is for LBZ.

I have an LLY and it doesn't overheat. The truck weighs 10,000 with the utility bed an tools. I sometimes tow up to 14,000. I live in the mountains and it never overheats. I also have an '07 with the LMM and the 6 speed Allison. I actually prefer the 5 speed in the '05.