Mileage for gas trucks vs diesel trucks?

[slowmover]

The longer it remains set (after re-set) the more accurate it tends to be. Some trucks (by report) are off by 3-4 mpg, some by .5 mpg. Percentages are a better understanding, and ALL of this depends on stock tires, no performance tuning, etc.

For running down the road I simply deduct 2.5 mpg for an "accurate" reading (on my stock tires and untouched truck).

[mrmossyone]

Why do so many people believe you can only get 100,000-150,000 miles out of a gasoline vehicle. There are many, many gasoline vehicles that are fully capable of lasting 250,000-300,000 miles and more. Having said that I do believe a diesel motor can last even longer if well maintained. I have had vehicles with well over 200,000 miles. The transmission is often what you have to look at to fail long before the engine. There is a man I work with some, who goes to my church who has 496,000 miles on his gasoline powered vehicle. His work truck has 320,000 miles on it, he is fanatical about routine maintenance. My Dad purchased a Dodge pickup in 1978 and when my brother traded it in 1994 it had right at 300,000 miles and was still running fine. I just sold a Dodge Dakota with 318 that had almost 200,000 miles and it still ran like a scalded dog, the only problem it had was that the torque converter was starting to act up when under full acceleration shifting from 1st to 2nd and just had to let off a little and it would shift in. My Dad still has his 96 Dodge Ram and it runs great, he did have the tranny rebuilt at about 150,000 miles but that isn't unexpected. My neighbor has a gas pickup that has almost 300,000 miles on it and he says it's gonna outlast his son's diesel, which currently is sitting with a cracked block at 195,000 miles but soon to be repaired. A good friend of mine traded his Ford Ranger with 260,000 miles on it but I'll admit that truck was pretty much shot by that point.

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance and more maintenance. If I ever have the need for a diesel I'll find out how long that sucker will last, hopefully at least a half million miles. They say the old 12 valve Cummins would last a million miles if properly maintained. We ought to start a poll or thread and see who has had or currently has the most miles on a vehicle.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by mrmossyone

...Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance and more maintenance. ..

I used to work with a guy who lived in Germany and usually after a couple of beers he would tear into a rant about how crappy the American autos were. My favorite thing he ever said was

'Your cars are crap, they fall apart on the side of the road. Now my BMW has never had a problem, if you don't believe me you can call my mechanic. He checks it out once a month and has done so since it was new'



At that point I was driving a Surburban with 130k+ miles that had never been to a shop but did need a new radiator at 100k

[fastrob]

Originally Posted by mrmossyone

Best of luck to you, hope it works out. Although this is an entirely different animal than a 3/4 or 1 ton diesel pickup. I didn't even know this vehicle existed. Was there a price premium over the gasoline version and what kind of mpg can you expect. Also what are the design weaknesses you spoke of? This vehicle sounds interesting.

My brother called it an odd duck. Vito Motori 4 cyl has more torque than my 8 cyl 4.8l GMC, has the 5speed auto from the Hemi p-u. The torque converter is made of plastic, the air box leaks water, the oil pan is aluminum and strips out drain plugs, the recalled replacement ball joints need to be replaced and so on.
It seems worth it to me but it is a gamble. There was a bit of a premium over the gassers, but not too bad.
Will have to run the Tradewind a little light but should be ok.
R

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by mrmossyone

Why do so many people believe you can only get 100,000-150,000 miles out of a gasoline vehicle. There are many, many gasoline vehicles that are fully capable of lasting 250,000-300,000 miles and more. Having said that I do believe a diesel motor can last even longer if well maintained. I have had vehicles with well over 200,000 miles.

Gasoline motors tend to lose compression at some point. I, too, have had several vehicles that were in excess of 200,000 but compression was iffy on one or two cylinders (rings). At that point towing heavy (5 or 6,000 lbs) became iffy. The cooling system started to overload, etc. These were 1970's cars with electronic ignition, but with carburetors. Todays port injection motors may well be better . . but I'd like to see numbers from a compression test and blowby test first.

The fact of the matter is that a gas motor is meant to be "cheap" in initial purchase and during the life of the motor. A diesel (well, at least a Cummins) is built to an entirely different standard, meant for commercial or industrial use.

Fuel mileage for gas versus diesel as a question ought to be prefaced by:

1] "I will be keeping my truck for X miles over Y time . . . . "

2] "I will be A] fulltiming, or B] only occasional trips; and,
C] have/have not any business use for the truck."

3] "I have no concern about fuel availability" versus "I am concerned about ease of fuel availability".

4] "I am mechanically-minded and like to learn new procedures" versus "I do not intend to even change a clogged fuel filter".

Etc.

[Glenn G]

I have a gas TV but in my commercial experience hauling bees (aged at this point) cumins was great and the DT 466 International (wet sleeved) were half million mile eng. or better. But my experience was limited to straight trucks not PU. trucks. Maybe after a few more years PU trucks will have a greater record that can be more authoritatively relied on.

[BillTex]

A couple of weeks ago I noticed sludge was exactly $1.00/gal more than 87 petro. On my bike ride in to the office today, I saw 2 stations where the difference has closed to $.65 and $.67/gal respectively. Looks like gas will be catching up just in time for summer (Unfortunately it is NOT due to diesel coming down in price)…prices are up $.40/gal for gas just over the last week.
Can’t win…

Remember that pic of the AS being towed by a bicycle?
Starting to look like a good idea!

Bill