GM's 3L I6 Diesel. The good the bad and the ugly.

I'm actually considering a new truck and thinking the GM 3L diesel might punch all the buttons. 

Anyone on here have experience with them. I know the GRM crew test drove one and liked it. Anyone on here have a long term relationship with them?

Thanks.

I also test drove one and liked it, towed a friend's Mercedes ML320 for the video (here) and it towed well. The oil pump is belt-driven from the rear of the crank and in an oil bath, with a designed lifespan of 150k miles. When it's due for replacement, the transmission has to come out.

I think if you need/want a diesel for towing torque and all of the boost, it's a good option. The oil pump belt thing is... irritating, but spending a grand every 150k is also not the end of the world IMO. 

I have limited knowledge on these except driving them and the warning about the oil pump belt. My main concern with the oil pump would be a rear main seal leak that soaks the belt and kills it long before its service date. Im a big GM fan so I hope these are good.

I am biased and generally untrusting of new diesels because of the problems most manufacturers have had. Dodge cant get a rear main to seal on brand new truck so their solution was a diaper. Certain injection pumps die and take out the ENTIRE fuel system, its so expensive people are having their home owners insurance cover it. Im not really in the diesel community but have many close friends that are big on them, and some of the horror stories are crazy.

Id always rather have a gasser, unless it was a tow rig only, and was towing stuff the available gasser couldnt handle.

In reply to Opti :

How are they getting a homeowner's policy to cover an injection pump on a truck?

Maybe I'm just jaded, but I don't trust any modern diesel.  Not that emissions aren't something to be concerned about, but it seems like all the "stuff" that they put on the motors to control emissions either causes other problems or introduces new and expensive modes of failure.  Having to split from the tranny to replace a belt that drives the freaking oil pump seems like a pretty stupid design decision as well.

I personally would wait a couple years.  The Dmax 3.0L is an Opel engine developed in Italy with (reportedly) help from VM Motori to get it to pass EPA regs, which took a LONG time to do.  That's potential shade on top of potential shade.  Might be wonderful, but I wouldn't want to be the guinnea pig in that hot mess.

In reply to Opti :

It is a wet belt that runs in the oil so the seal leak isn't an issue. 

A couple coworkers have them and put a lot of miles on a truck every year.  They haven't had them long enough for a long term review, but both seem pretty happy with the performance.

In reply to wae :

I have no idea but I have personally seen it on the Fords. Repairs usually range from 10-20K  for an entire fuel system and people routinely get it covered by home owners insurance.

I don't have personal or long -time experience with them, but #iworkforgm and I know managers who had them as company vehicles and were genuinely knocking down 30+mpg of interstate driving, I think they're appealing for that as well.

In reply to Toyman! :

Yep it appears to be behind the rear main. That makes me feel a little better then. I still wonder why they did belt instead of chain, though

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

It came out in 2019 so it's a few years into production now. The only issues I've found are crank no start or long start issues. They are apparently fixed with an ECU flash. 

In reply to Opti :

From what I have read, a chain requires a tensioner and due to how close the oil pump is to the crank, there wasn't room for one. 

In reply to Opti :

I've found a few posts about people getting HPFP failures (which take out the fuel system) covered by their auto insurance's comprehensive policies due to Ford claiming that it was caused by contaminated fuel which means water in the fuel which means it's a non-collision covered loss.