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Of the big 3 which do you consider most trouble free,i'm talking of the new models. I know it subjective

Engine or the rest of the truck?

Engine and trans

My rankings (purely subjective based off of some first hand experience with one combo and whatever internet rumors I have read).

Trans:
Allison
Aisin
Whatever Ford uses
Non-Aisin ram

Engine:
Cummins
Duramax
Whatever Ford uses

Been driving an '06 Dodge Cummins for the past 15 years, and just bought a '16 Chevy Duramax. Been having too many non-engine related issues with the Dodge the last couple of years to trust it's reliability. So far so good with the Chevy but too soon to tell how reliability will be. The last Ford I had was a '99 F250 Powerstroke so can't comment on newer ones.

I have more confidence in the Cummins as far as engines go, but am really liking the newer Chevy so far...

There are no flies on the Duramax. The Achilles heel of all these diesels is a combination of emissions and low sulfur diesel paired with fuel pumps not rated for such low sulfur fuel. All the new diesels have the DPF, DEF/SCR, and EGR systems that are so problematic. Most of them use the faulty Bosch CP4 pump that isn’t rated for the ULSD diesel with the lower lubricant and poor scar fuel rating we run in the US (not sure if the newest ones have fixed that problem yet).

That's consistent with what I've been reading on these newer diesels. My understanding is the '11 - '16 Duramax used the CP4 pump which was upgraded to the CP4.2 after '16. I understand Dodge also used the CP4 but not sure what years. I just converted my Chevy from the CP4 to the older CP3 pump and also added a FASS lift pump for piece of mind. I'm also running a fuel additive to help lubricity with the ULSD fuel.

Latest Duramax L5P uses Denso high pressure pump and common rail system. I wouldn't touch these new diesels with a 10 ft pole...too many emission problems. But that's just me.

I had a Ford gasser, 460, 4 sp.Piece of crap. Then a Dodge ram diesel.It blew the head gasekt with stretched head bolts and that was about $6 K repairs, plus three injector pumps at about $1800, and full clutch job at $2000. I put more in it with repairs than I paid for the truck. I now have a 2019 Chevy Duramax with about 13,000 mile son it.Keeping my fingers crossed . I am beginning to belive there is no best, It's the luck of the draw. None of them has the reliability of many Tacomas

Drag racing while towing a trailer load of mules will do that.

I bought anew 2018 ram with the 6.7 and the aisin transmission. Engine and transmission have been flawless and with this setup it's a towing machine. I wasn't going to buy a ram diesel without the aisin though.

I'll throw my hat in for the 6.7 Powerstroke. Friends have 2 ea 2015 and 2 ea 2017. Haven't had any issues.

They all do their thing IF you don't idle them a bunch, AND you get them up to full operating temp on virtually every start-up. Short-trip/stop-and-go is problematic for all of them. I'd not have a diesel from anyone unless I had a 20-30Min highway speed w/cruise set commute every day, or had a trailer hooked up daily with a 15-20Min highway speed commute.

@ 0F ambient, my '11 6.7L Ford takes 20-25min of 70+mph highway driving to come up to full temp in the engine and transmission. I do almost 0 "around town" driving with mine, but, when I have in the cold weather, I could drive around town stop and go, 45MPH and less for 90min and not get the engine up to full temp, which also means I'm not going to get a re-gen in the DPF even if it needs one. A plugged DPF due to long run times @ low engine temps means that the "plugging" continues forward from the DPF, next probably plugging the EGR or the SCR injector, or both.

Full-temp operation with full-length DPF regen cycles and using fresh-fuel from a trusted source will mostly keep you trouble free. Oct-Apr I use FPPF Total Power additive at every fill-up. May-Sept I rarely run any additive.

I have ~185K on my F250. Ford replaced my EGR valve under warrantee between 95 and 100K Mi when the CEL came on. I had to replaced the DEF tank heater in Oct of '20. The 1st in line water separator/fuel filter sits below the frame rail and I've replaced that housing 3X and the water in fuel sensor 2x more when they've been damaged off-road.

I'm not advocating for or against any of the big-3, merely trying to give a picture of what's allowed me to run a diesel pickup with all the modern emissions features mostly trouble-free.

In today's "diesel pickup world" my absolute #1 concern would be buying from the dealer with the most competent diesel service/repair staff. If you're not going to use the dealer, then find out what the repair shop you're going to use is good at and stays current on.

Horse1, well said. With our semi trucks, we’ve gone as far as speccing smaller displacement engines (I.e. 13 liters vs 15 or 16 liters), in order to get the engines to work harder and run hotter.

And idling is the devil.

If you want to beat the hell out of it I'd go with Ford.

Highway driving I doubt it matters much.



I really like the 6.7 Powerstroke, it's been great for us. We have an '11 and a '15 both F350's with the 6.7 and they are good to go work pickups.


But that said they are both deleted and that makes them REALLY great.



Horse1 gave an excellent post on the potential issues you face with the emissions systems.

This time of year a pickup might run for 6-7 hours straight with a lot of that being low RPM use so it was a no-brainer to delete. And the pickups are both out of warranty so no risk.


If I had the desire to buy a new diesel it would be tempting to delete right off the bat but it would also make me a little nervous on the off chance you had an engine issue.

Since emissions it's been a complete 180 on idling. My friend's Ford will shut off if you let it idle too long.

Before emissions, I was always told better to leave them running and not all the on/off.

Own 2 duramax presently and have had no issues at 45,000 and 105,000 respectively.


The yanmars we have in several pieces of equipment seem bullet proof. I’d love to see them make one for a truck.

The Yanmars I've run in the Tak CTLs and JD utility tractors have been stellar. I'm sure they put them in trucks...just not in this country.

I have the GM 3.0 liter Duramax in a Silverado. Currently at 10k miles. It is a really good motor and tranny. I like it better than the 5.3 gas motor

How is it in severe cold? Does it start without any difficulty?