New from Texas

[lavacarancher]

First time poster. I have a 2004 GMC 2500HD w/Duramax with 230K miles. Probably sooner than later I will need to replace the engine or at least the injectors. Has anyone had any experience with crate motors from Summit or Banks? Or anyone else?

I would like to warm it up a little - 150, maybe 200 hp while not jeopardizing the reliability/dependability and I have a few questions before I jump off and do something crazy. If I'm in the right place please let me know.

Thanks,

ET

 

[DBUSHLB7]

Can you give us some more info on why you feel the motor needs or is close to replacement? Why the need for a crate motor? Your motor can be rebuilt and reliable. These Duramax motors are good for a lot longer than you think with regular maintenance and TLC

 

[lavacarancher]

Sure and thanks for the quick reply.

Short answer.
My first diesel and I suppose I've had too much experience with gas motors to think that an engine (any engine) will be as reliable at 200K+ as it was new.

Long answer - oil pressure is dropping and runs at about 45 psi @70 mph. Starting to hear some pretty serious "clacking" when not completely warmed up and yes, I know that's maybe normal for a diesel but it didn't do that 50K miles ago. Fuel milage starting to drop off. Cost of an injector job is more than crate motor complete. Original injectors in motor. And on and on.

The real reason is that my nieces rented a drag strip last Saturday afternoon to let their husbands run their new toys (Porsche 918 Spyder and Nissan GTR). Several of the kin folks took a trip through the traps with their grocery getters including a nephew with his Ford Power Stroke. He turned a pretty respectable time considering it is a 7000 lbs+ vehicle.

It's been years since I competed or even built a HP engine and I just got the bug again. My GMC pickup is absolutely awesome and I have surprised a few folks with its performance and I just wanted to tweak it a little.

Thanks again for your reply.

ET

 

[DBUSHLB7]

No problem. Is your truck an early 04 or 04.5? Don't be impressed by the power stroke, you have a much better power plant under your hood.:thumb:

What kind of money were you told the injector job would cost? A performance tune and entry level mods such as a good intake and exhaust are a great place to start but I'm sure you already knew that. The balance rates on your injectors and fuel return should be checked for starters. There are sharper people on this forum than me, hopefully they will chime in.

 

[Kat]

:hello: and :welcome5:

 

[emiller3]

:welcome8:

 

[Poltergeist]

:welcome8:

 

[blk smoke lb7]

Welcome to DD :thumb:


There are guys ouy there with moded truck way past where your at,put in some goodies and go have fun with it.Whats the 8th digit in the vin? a 1 or a 2 ?

 

[lavacarancher]

Whoa, lots of good folks out here! I'll try to answer your questions.

Truck has been babied all its life. Oil change every 3000 miles - religiously. Air filter, fuel filter, transmission oil and filter as well on regular basis. I have made two tows with it that went way over factory recommendations, one at 26,000 lbs for over two hundred miles and one at about 30,000 lbs for about 150 miles. Transmission temp never got over about 180 degrees. Had two one ton Dodges towing 16 bales of hay run away from me just outside of San Antonio but other than that no problems at all.

Two quotes on injector job were within $500 of each other at around $8K. Crate motor advertised at around $7K (with injectors). I am leery of crate motors and don't mean to dis anybody but I just don't want to get into a pi$$ing contest if I bought one and found something wrong with it. I would really, really like to do this myself (bragging rights , etc, you know).

8th digit in VIN is a 2.

128 mph with a sub 11 second ET? That's impressive!!!! I mentioned my nephew-in-law with the Porsche 918 Spyder, he consistently ran 128 mph with 11 second ET through the traps and he was top dog. Closest anyone came to him was the GTR. Power Stroke turned 88 MPH but I don't remember the ET but seems like it was around 15 seconds. Three Corvettes, several more Porsche, a Cayenne (nieces daily driver) all fast but not good enough. There was even a Rolls there but he didn't run. I almost forgot, NIL with the 918 also brought his Raptor. Not impressive at all - Power Stroke gave him a pretty good run and a bone stock Tahoe blew his doors off. No doubt he will have it at the dealership this week demanding they "fix it".

Don't mean to sound pretentious as I'm not in these folks league at all. They are doing very well in life and all of them that I know made it on their own - good for them. And that's as close as I'm coming to making a political statement.

Thanks for the info. I'll be back with lots of questions in the near future. In the mean time I'll be doing lots of reading here.