New to Diesel

[BadAtThings]

Hi all. :welcome4:

New to diesel, deciding I want to go Duramax. I grew up learning to drive in a Chevy pickup, had a Jimmy also and then got into a car phase. Moving on from my "fast" car, modding daily-drivers, etc and getting back into a pickup.

The girlfriend is sort of retiring her 03 Mustang GT, she got her fun car, '14 STi for sporty driving and good in snow, etc. She wants to put some performance into the Mustang and track it. I'm hoping to dump my Civic (not considered part of my "fast" car phase) shortly and pickup a newer 2500 and I'm interested in also putting together a late 80s Jap car with a V8 in it and learn how to drive sideways.

Mostly I want a pickup for it's practicality, all the things we go "Shit, wish we had a truck." Eventually we'll have 2 cars to trailer around. Camping, getting dirty, moving stuff, etc. Plus I kind of just want a diesel for reasons like power, sound, etc. I'm expecting that I'll catch some crap for that one.

My first question is, since I haven't yet picked up a truck, but am looking at one in particular, where can I get some feedback and maybe a consensus on what I've got in front of me? I've tried reading what to look for, I know the basics with trucks already, especially living in NJ with our love for salt. I already checked out this 2013 2500HD Sierra and I guess I'm sort of doubting my ability to make the right choice here, based on the things I don't know that I don't know. Thanks in advance for any help.

Basically what I'm looking at:

 

[Poltergeist]

What do you think the total max weight that you will be towing? Trailers and cars.

 

[IOWA LLY]

That 2013 would make a great truck for you if it's priced right.

Honestly, the best advice I can give someone who doesn't know much about diesels would be to buy one that is as close to stock as possible.

Nothing wrong with mods if they were done correctly, and the owner didn't abuse it, but you need to be much more selective when purchasing a modded truck.

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[Mike L.]

:welcome8:

 

[BadAtThings]

What do you think the total max weight that you will be towing? Trailers and cars.

What's an average for something like an 18ft trailer? 1,800 - 2,200 lbs? Heaviest car would be a Mustang GT @ ~3,500lbs, another good few hundred pounds in tools and parts. That's guesstimating at this point.

That 2013 would make a great truck for you if it's priced right.

Honestly, the best advice I can give someone who doesn't know much about diesels would be to buy one that is as close to stock as possible.
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The one in particular I'm looking at, I'm told is completely stock. It was sold at auction, from Ontairo, Canada. I guess the inspectors there deemed it stock, I didn't know they get that in detail. Also, the dealer has gone over it and said it appears stock. Did someone revert it and flash back the rom? No idea, hard to ever know I guess.

Currently, it's sitting with 50k miles, CC, 6.5ft, Allison, SLT package, Leather interior and all that. They were asking $45 for it. Currently I'm working around $42, trying to get it for $41. It says that to "Service Trailer Brake System". When he went to pull it out, it looked like the brakes had stuck from sitting for about 4 weeks. It fired up, sounded smooth, but again, I'm a noob, so aside from any knocking or weird whining or anything like that, it sounded like most turbo diesels I've ever been around.

:welcome8:

Thanks much!

 

[duramaxdiesel]

I can't believe all the trucks that I see going south from up here. The strong U.S. dollar really helps. They probably bought that truck for peanuts. I'm sure they would take $41K.

 

[BadAtThings]

I can't believe all the trucks that I see going south from up here. The strong U.S. dollar really helps. They probably bought that truck for peanuts. I'm sure they would take $41K.

That's pretty much what the guy is telling me, regarding buying power up north.

I drove the truck and it was pretty smooth. I didn't notice any louder noises when taking off, weird rhythm or anything. I'm sure also that due to the completely different powertrain than I'm used to and overall sheer mass of this thing, I notice take off is slower than anything I'm used to. I'm usually pretty ginger with something I'm test driving, then I'll get a little more on it to make sure it can keep up, and it seemed to. I know these are pretty powerful engines, so should this be something that puts me in the back of my seat, or they don't really play like that in a stock setup? I'm going to look at it again on Tuesday and likely put a down payment on it if all checks out.

I noticed something weird, and I wasn't exactly impressed with it, but maybe it's normal? It looks like they went over the entire underneath of the truck with some kind of black undercoating? Is this normal? Some kind of protection?
I was look at a 2012 Silverado on the same lot with 60k and when I went underneath, it looked like they just sprayed something over the surface rust and everything else underneath. Like, there wasn't runs and spray all over other parts of the truck, but it looked like the rear and shocks and that were also the same black. I found some spots where I started kind of rubbing the surface rust flakes off and realize this was all over the frame, so I went to the 2013 Sierra.
The 2013 Sierra looked like it had the same coverage underneath, but it was a lot smoother on the mounts and frame, etc. I banged on a good bit of what I could get to and it seemed like there was hardly any surface rusting starting at all, nothing was really flaking off.

One thing I was curious of, since I am only basing the Sierra's engine bay off what I see online for other stock trucks, one of the pipes for the turbo looks like it was painted with a silver spray pay. Like, the boot in front of the driver side of the firewall, instead of being blue like the picture below, it looked like someone hit the tubing with spray paint and it got on the boot and that little black hose that drops down right next to the boot.

Other than that, I didn't see anything that looked like block off plates when I checked around.

Is that fluid too dark? Or just needs to be changed. Being new, I just worry about everything...

Really, just nitpicking, the hard plastic behind the rubber on the handler to pull the driver's door closed is cracked, so it has some extra give in it. The driver seat has about a 1 inch tear on the bottom outside as soon as you open the door. It'll also probably need tires soon. That's pretty much what I'm going with to get them to knock an extra grand off.

 

[Digmax]

Pull the service records make sure has Gm warranty and not voided for some reason, seems a little high priced to.......

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[BadAtThings]

Pull the service records make sure has Gm warranty and not voided for some reason

I pulled it up on my.gmc.com, went through with the VIN and put in the current mileage. I got some feedback on the warranty info there, but it seems like it's just basic warranty coverage.

Carfax shows this:

 

[BadAtThings]

If anyone is still checking in on this, I had a couple questions as I try to get more insight on these newer trucks.

It seems like the DPF systems need to be cleaned pretty regularly by "faster driving", etc. So if I'm taking it on the highway for a few miles at 75mph or so, it should burn up the particles enough, correct? I shouldn't be running into regens super frequently?
If the truck has been sitting a month or so, it probably needs a good hard driving to clean it out I imagine?

Also, if someone has been dumping GM DEF in the tank, it shouldn't matter how long it's been sitting, it should be good, right? Is it normal to have to drop the tank and clean it out? There's not really any way to know how much DEF or the quality of the fluid left unless a low or poor quality message pop up, correct?
Would someone drop the tank, clean it and fill with new when they buy a truck, the way they would change the oil and filter?

Do people commonly get something like Edge Insight modules for keeping an eye on things? I only stumbled on that particular unit, I'm not sure what else falls into that category. I do live about 5 minutes from XDP. Seems like these trucks have a lot going on behind the scenes that you can't really pay attention to.
We have a 2014 STi now also, it drives me nuts the info we can't monitor, I had a netbook for logging when I had my Stg 2 WRX a few years ago. Wondering if I'm just getting a little ahead of myself..

Thanks for any info!