GMC/Chevy 6.0 engines

[shfd739]

Ive been around these engines for 8 years now where I work. In my experience they have been great motors. We had 5 '02 Chevy 3500 ambulances with generator boxes and the 6.0 motor. 2 chassis burned up due to faulty under dash wiring. The other 3 went 220k to 250k miles with no major motor repairs-just routine maintanence and small things like a couple coil packs, starter etc. 2 had to have transmissions around 220k miles. 1 lost reverse, the other was slipping between 2nd and 3rd gears. Keep in mind these were 10-11k lb rolling bricks and we drove the crap out of them.

We currently have a spare supervisor truck that is an '04 2500 4door 6.0 it and did 275k miles before it spun a bearing. Shop put a new GM crate motor in it. Our main supervisor truck is an '09 2500 Chevy 4 door short bed 2wd. In 21 months we've put 158k miles on it with no real issues. It also gets used to tow a very heavy 25ft enclosed trailer with John Deere gator in it and it does quite well. I love the way it tows and have never found it lacking power.

[lpatkins]

Ok I'll be the one that doesn't agree, had an 05 with a 6L, worst truck ever! It was a pig on gas, constantly had the check engine light on and to top it off, had major issues with the transfer case, the only other truck that I have ever owned that spent that much time in the shop was my 2000 ford! Went back to the 5.3L, great gas mileage, no problems, yes it works harder when pulling the trailer, but haven't found a hill yet that I couldn't climb! The 5.3L is rated at 305hp, the 6L is 325hp, you really think that 20hp going to make a difference? Then there is gas mileage I get 25mpg without towing and 18mpg towing, hell my 76 ford with the 460 gets better gas mileage then the 6L, 13mpg doesn't matter what I am pulling including the 6 horse goose neck fully loaded.

[ROBERT CROSS]

pog=cel

[nm1oqrz]

I have a 2005 2500 Chevy PU and it is great. The only thing that pleagues the engine is that the exhaust manifolds and mounting bolts rot away. Mine are being replaced as I write this. On mine several of the bolts had rotted away and part of the left side manifold was rotted. My mech said this was typical for that engine. The rotted bolts will have to be drilled out. Other than that it is a reliable engine.
Happy Camping nm1oqrz

[shfd739]

Originally Posted by nm1oqrz

I have a 2005 2500 Chevy PU and it is great. The only thing that pleagues the engine is that the exhaust manifolds and mounting bolts rot away. Mine are being replaced as I write this. On mine several of the bolts had rotted away and part of the left side manifold was rotted. My mech said this was typical for that engine. The rotted bolts will have to be drilled out. Other than that it is a reliable engine.
Happy Camping nm1oqrz

All of our 02-05 trucks had exhaust manifold issues issue. We went through 2-3 exhaust manifold gaskets a year due to them leaking. I think the manifolds were replaced once on each truck. The gaskets were always an easy repair and our mechanic could almost do it while we waited.

Ill add that compared to our Duramax trucks the 6.0 gassers were much more reliable and considerably less downtime during their service life.