Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 2003 Chevy 2500 Duramax w/ auto: Any good???

Found a nice 2003 Chevy Duramax 2500 with 250K miles. Are these trucks solid (engine and tranny)? Any issues I should consider before buying?

Thanks,

Jordan

Go here and look around, lots of answers. Good luck!
http://www.duramaxforum.com/

There was an overheating problem with the duramax for a couple of years, I think 2003 might be in that group, but I'm not sure. Something to look out for.

Thanks.

Yes theyr'e solid. Find out if the injectors have been replaced. Go to Dieselplace.com and duramaxdiesels.com and post any questions you have.

You're right, you don't know. The '03 engine is an LB7, they had no overheating problems. The '04.5 and '05 were LLY and a few people had overheating under some circumstances. My LLY has never overheated.

Wow. Searching the net, looks like these engines have had some serious problems.
Primarily injectors, but also tranny problems with the Allison. I'll have to take a close look at this truck.

Actually no, they haven't had "serious problems." Many 01 and 02 injectors needed replacement at 90 to 100k miles. Still, I know a whole bunch of guys who drive/dragrace/sledpull with LB7's (pre-'04.5) and love them, they think it's the best engine. The LB7 has no cat convertor and a different turbo.

Tranny problems? Don't know what you mean by that. The Allison is a really good transmission and in '03 it was way better than what the others were offering.

Given its nine years old your almost guaranteed to have problems.

Not true.

Your best bet would be finding a low-mileage 2006. That would get you the LBZ engine and the six-speed Allison 1000 tranny.

The LBZ is arguably the best-of-breed.

I owned one for several years and it was a total winner.

Dieselplace.com is indeed your finest source of information.

God Bless,

Steve

I agree with that. Mine is a 2006 with just 45,600 miles on it. No particle filters or any of that crap, just the egr. So far no major engine problems except for a replaced egr. Also the transmission lines leak and the steering shaft clunk which I had fixed. Maybe mine does not have enough miles to tell about long term durability. Time will tell.

I must say it is one beast of a truck as far as towing.

Cosmetically, the truck is almost perfect. Rubber is near new. It has a nice ARE shell. Its the extended cab model, HD, leather seats, LT 4wd. Custom aluminum wheels. The dealer is asking 13,999.00. As I said, it has 250K miles. What do you experts think of that price? If the engine checks out, I was gonna offer $12k. I just need to get 50-60K good miles out of it. I'll be doing some light towing.

The dealers on drugs with that mileage.

I just sold my 06 LBZ with 85K on it for $26,000.00 Those 2006s are sought after and I had several guys in a sword fight to get mine. You will not find one cheap.

My 06 crew cab dually ran me $22,500 with 108k for mileage.

Love how it rides and towing with it is great!

That's ok but not a particularly good deal. Not with 250K miles. Also look at the seats...with that many miles the stock driver seat will have torn stitching along the edge. Realize that a used shell isn't worth that much if you're selling, about 1/2 or 1/3 of a new one. To get an idea about prices check the ads in a few forums. Also look online at ebay and craigslist. Shop around.

Thanks everyone for the advise.

way too high priced for those miles


look out for


injectors

high pressure fuel pump

ball joints

wore out CV shafts and joints

The truck, unless alot of money has been plowed into it and I would need to see receipts is basically shot at that point IMO.