The 3.0 duramax has a belt that's actually in the oil that is supposed to be changed every 150 000. They have to drop the transmission to get to it. It's about an 8 hour job like changing the timing chain on Hondas.

An engineer at GM said the belt was a compromise because the inline 6 is already almost too long to fit in the trucks. That belt configuration was a way to keep it shorter. I've wondered why they didn't go with a compacted graphite iron block instead of aluminum as well.

I've really been looking at a new suburban and I'm considering this diesel in one. 26 mpg in a suburban sounds pretty good. I drove a 1/2 truck with the diesel and had good torque and decent power. The 10 speed auto is very nice. My cousin said he's sold over 100 trucks with the 3.0 in the last 2 years and only 1 had a problem. It uses oil and had the head replaced under warranty.

I really want the z71 suburban but you can get the diesel in it because of the shape of the front end makes it barely too short. I still wonder if they could have made the motor shorter with compacted graphite iron.

I guess the new version of the ram 3.0 diesel is a pretty decent motor compared to their earlier one. It does have a CGI block but it's a v6 and I like the idea of the straight 6.

The dealer said they can't even order me a suburban with the diesel now anyways. I guess they are offering the 6.2 gas in the z71 for 2022 so maybe I'll go that way.

Bb