Just found the forum tonight while doing research, and hope you can help me with a quandry. Local dealer has a very nice '04 GMC 2500HD shortbed all dressed up the way I like, but with the LB7 Duramax. It was built in 11/03, but is an '04 that's been sitting around for a while. They're offering me a good deal, and I can't find another like it - colorwise - nearby for them to dealer trade for. I don't like buying "older" technology if the LLY duramax is better. So I'm a little stumped as to what to do. Should I shop around more, or be happy with the LB7? I don't mean to start an LB7 vs. LLY war. I would just appreciate your opinions.


Thanks in advance.


JoshEdited by: Boiler74

How long do you plan on keeping your truck?





You might have a hard time finding an 04 LLY around. You might have to wait for an 05 to get what you want. The 05's have a power sunroof which would be a reason I would wait for the 05.


You can't really go wrong with either the LLY or LB7.Edited by: Max Power

If it's what you are looking for and the deal is good, buy it..........


The LB7 is one heck of a motor..........http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clown.gif


Thttp://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gifNY





BTW------>>>> Glad you found us here at "THE PLACE"......WelcomeEdited by: GMC-2002-Dmax

I INTENTIONALLY bought the LB7 over the LLY.





I came from a 6.0L Ford buy-back and Did NOT want a new motor or even a revision. I wanted a motor that has been around awhile and has all the bugs worked out.


A buddy of mine bought a LLYshortly after me and I drove it. ~~Not to talk bad about it at all, but the changes are negligable (sp?) as far as feel.


So far, my LB7 is flawless! (knock on wood)

To me, the main advantage of the LLY over the LB7 is that the injectors can be changed more easily, so in the event of major injector problems, particularly out of warranty, the pocket book dent would be much smaller.


The LLY has marginally (to me) more torque in intermediate gears.


The LLY has EGR which, to me, is a disadvantage.


I tend to keep vehicles forever, or at least try to. If I were buying today, I suspect I would look for an LLY.

All else being equal I would take the LB7. I like the new turbos but we really don't have any real info about how well they will hold up over time. The LB7 turbos have been close to bullet proof for those of us who aren't too abusive. Also the LLYs have EGR and a catalytic converter. The cat isn't that big of a deal except for raising exhaust gas temps a bit, but the EGR could contribute to major problems sometime down the road.


It's cheap and easy to make much more power than stock with an LB7, and soon it will be with the LLY also. --SS

Considering that LLY has CAT and EGR and the first 5yrs &100k are warranted on either LB7 or LLY, I believe I'd rather have a LB7. I can't help but wonder how long it's going to take to clog up that CAT with diesel soot and the same goes for the passages in the EGR system.


I believe what we have here is more of letting the general public do the testing on an unproven product.

Tough question. I like my LB7, and I like the fact that the turbo has the water cooling that the LLY doesn't have. That may not be a big deal, but I like it. The LLY injectors are easier to get to, but it's not as though you will be removing them in your lifetime....at least not more than once if you use a good secondary fuel filter. Tried and proven goes a long way when it comes to spending this much money. As I see it, the ONLY reason they changed was for EPA.

Reguarding injector removal: I was paging through the maintenance manual on one of our Cat 3208 stationary engines, used on an emergency gen set. The manual said to change the fuel filters every 3 months (!). Ours use the 1R0750, plus a water seperator. We change them yearly. The manual also stated that at 3000 hours the injectors should be removed and serviced. Assuming 38 MPH average speed that would equate to 114,000 miles on a Duramax. That might be how they came up with the 100K warranty.

My philosophy when buying is, get what you want. Don't "settle" for anything. If the truck has all the stuff you want, color, amenities, price, etc., buy it. You can analyze this and that all you want, but it all comes down to choosing what you want. If I were in a buying mood again, I would have no reservations on buying the LB7. Any of the problems you've heard are a SMALL percentage of the total trouble free LB7's out there.


Just my little rant,http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif


Larry

<DIV>If you like the truck buy it, both engines are equal in my book.</DIV>
<DIV>The only reason GM made the change was to meet emission standards for the future.</DIV>

Thanks all. I'm still sitting on the fence, but I'll have to decide pretty soon. I just keep going back to a computer analogy. If you could buy a pentium 4 for the price of a 3, shouldn't you do it?


I'll let you all know the final decision.


Thanks,


Josh

Not a good analogy IMO, but if you said XP over a previous version I would say Heck No! ....Why, so you can deal with all the NEW problems http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif