I am considering an updated vehicle to tow my 8500 pound Travel trailer. I would like a 2018 GMC Duramax because I tow up to 11,000 feet elevation in the Colorado Rockies. The Duramax would not only provide great towing up the steep inclines and high altitudes, but would also be greatly appreciated due to the exhaust brake on the steep declines. I only tow about 4 times a year presently, but when I retire, it may be more often or farther. I know I could tow it with a gas however, I would prefer the diesel. How often do these engines actually experience costly emission problems. Are there things I could do to reduce the risk of emission related issues such as replacing the DEF annually? Any opinions are appreciated. I test drove a Duramax for about 5 miles and it went into limp mode before I got it back to the dealership>
How bad is the emission risk for a 2018-2019 Duramax 6.6L
- Thread starter Steve F
- Start date
Moved to L5P section.
Your probably going to find opinions all over the place on this. There are some that have constant issues and others that are trouble free. Double check on whatever vehicle you're looking at that all the recalls and updates have been applied.
From what I gather, the biggest issue is NOX sensor failure that keeps it from regenerating. Sometimes temperature or oxygens too.
Keeping.the exhaust fluid fresh is good practice. Especially if you don't drive it much. These trucks do best when worked hard. Using them as grocery getters like I do ? is an easy recipe for clogged DPFs
I would advise you invest in a good bidirectional scanner that can command regenerations, reductant test and other important functions you may need to do. Important if you're away from home or a good shop
Unless you're really tight on money, and I'm guessing you're not, as your looking at a 2018 Duramax, I'd say go for it.
8500 lbs is not much for these trucks. An older LBZ could do that without much struggle. 11K feet will hurt any vehicles performance. But people regularly tow more up that high with older vehicles.
From what I gather, the biggest issue is NOX sensor failure that keeps it from regenerating. Sometimes temperature or oxygens too.
Keeping.the exhaust fluid fresh is good practice. Especially if you don't drive it much. These trucks do best when worked hard. Using them as grocery getters like I do ? is an easy recipe for clogged DPFs
I would advise you invest in a good bidirectional scanner that can command regenerations, reductant test and other important functions you may need to do. Important if you're away from home or a good shop
Unless you're really tight on money, and I'm guessing you're not, as your looking at a 2018 Duramax, I'd say go for it.
8500 lbs is not much for these trucks. An older LBZ could do that without much struggle. 11K feet will hurt any vehicles performance. But people regularly tow more up that high with older vehicles.
Just buy some extra parts and a decent scanner to keep with you. Both nox sensors, def injector, def pressure sensor, map sensor, couple injector connectors, and maybe a few of the exhaust temp sensors. As noted nox are probably the most common followed by the def injector flow issues. Injector connector issues are still an issue. 17-19s are still far less problematic than the newer trucks.
My suggestion from working on these things on the west coast…
17-19 have the highest connector failure rate. The gold plating cant stand up and archs out. Fish tuning has upgraded ones that dont fail
Glow plugs fail more than the 01-16
Run the s&b map sensor relocator
The exhaust aftertreatment does ok in city driving, its the egr that can give you issues in short spurt driving
Nox 1 likes to fail OR people dont run the latest os in the ecm. Gm had issues with some codes that would come up and the fix was a software update not actually changing a hard part. We have yet to change an exhaust gas temperature sensor, def injector, particulate Matter sensor, nor NOX2.
We still see reductant pump issues or reductant heater issues. Though these are not nearly as common as the LML.
Most of the time the issues we run into are people messing with the intake side and creating air leaks. This will set all kinds of codes like EGR flow codes and can even put the truck into a Derate.
One thing to think about is you can carry all these different parts but unless you know how to properly diagnose it, you’re just making your wallet lighter. The amount of trucks we see come in improperly diagnosed would make your head spin. Shit I have a guy in Prescott right now Who’s getting the run around with the dealer About his 10 speed valve body and the flash for the TCM. It’s about to be towed down to us so it can be properly flashed.
17-19 have the highest connector failure rate. The gold plating cant stand up and archs out. Fish tuning has upgraded ones that dont fail
Glow plugs fail more than the 01-16
Run the s&b map sensor relocator
The exhaust aftertreatment does ok in city driving, its the egr that can give you issues in short spurt driving
Nox 1 likes to fail OR people dont run the latest os in the ecm. Gm had issues with some codes that would come up and the fix was a software update not actually changing a hard part. We have yet to change an exhaust gas temperature sensor, def injector, particulate Matter sensor, nor NOX2.
We still see reductant pump issues or reductant heater issues. Though these are not nearly as common as the LML.
Most of the time the issues we run into are people messing with the intake side and creating air leaks. This will set all kinds of codes like EGR flow codes and can even put the truck into a Derate.
One thing to think about is you can carry all these different parts but unless you know how to properly diagnose it, you’re just making your wallet lighter. The amount of trucks we see come in improperly diagnosed would make your head spin. Shit I have a guy in Prescott right now Who’s getting the run around with the dealer About his 10 speed valve body and the flash for the TCM. It’s about to be towed down to us so it can be properly flashed.
If a diesel is used properly and maintained as it should be they are leaps and bounds better at towing than an NA gasser.
In my opinion any Duramax will easily meet your goals. Any 6.7L Cummins or 6.7L Power Stroke would as well. The difference is they all have their quirks.