Cummins 6.7L Diesel vs. Gas 6.4L Hemi V8

[simimike]

Mike....High vehicle registration and taxing fees on a 3500 every year does not excite me. Cost seems high! A 2500 gives me the payload for my loaded Hawk with padding to grow. Perhaps DMV fees in CA are high on the 2500 too?

I recently sold a Ford Ranger and at 5 years old the yearly reg. was $320. Everything is high in the workers paradise of California. My new '15 Chevy with a GVW of 7600LB was $611. The taxman always gets his cut. Also you can go by the Ram dealer and ask the salesman what the cost would be, they should have the info in their computer.

Mike

 

[norcalhawk]

Mike....I know this is everywhere...the tax man gets his cut. But, as you know, here in California, paradise is gray and getting darker every year for the middle class like you and me. Enough said! Still looking at my options......

 

[norcalhawk]

For those of you who have diesel engines...what is the average maintenance cost annually for a Diesel, auto transmission, 3/4-1 ton, 4x4 with camper on 100% of the time? Not asking about fuel, tires or insurance, etc. Curious about maintenance such as: oil changes, fluids, preventive and must have service requirements to maintain a reliable well running engine.

Thanks to all.

 

[K6ON]

I put about 17K on my 2500 CTD a year. Oil changes are between $50.00 and $80.00 depending if the dealer has a sale. 3 of those a year. Transmission service is about $150.00, Transfer Case about $75.00 and front and rear differentials about $125.00 each. I have all that done at the dealer once a year. The fuel filter, air cleaner, etc. I do myself. My Cummins is a 5.9 (2007) so don't know what the newer ones cost to maintain. ! have about 136K on the truck and only replacement items over normal maintenance has been one wheel bearing and a set of ball joints ($1100.00 total). It's on it's second set of brakes which I did myself. It got a new front end track bar under under recall and now waiting on airbag replacement under recall. All in all it's been a great truck and I have no plans of replacing it any time soon.

 

[kmcintyre]

I think the maintenance of diesels aren't really that different that gassers. Fluid changes for transmission, transfer case, differentials are no different than any other truck. Oil changes are though as you typically use full synthetic. If you do it yourself though, it's not that bad and synthetics will last 10k miles so 2x conventional oil. Engine life is 3x (or more) of a gasser though.

 

[norcalhawk]

Thanks for your impute.

 

[Daped]

I own a 2014 Ram 2500 4x4 HD Cummins with a very loaded Four Wheel Hawk on its back. I have put on about 8000 miles. The last time I parked it, it was averaging 20 MPG, and I have filled it twice with DEF. I have had some problems with the "UConnect" and the "radio", resulting in bizarre instrument cluster readings and random electronic events. One time the truck started and idled remotely without any instructions from me. Mostly check engine light misgivings. These problems seem to be fixed now, and am very happy with this set up.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Some where in my past life, I remember a maxim from a colleague. "You can't always make the right decision, so make the decision right."

The trucks today are all so good, I don't know if you can make a bad decision.

 

[norcalhawk]

Daped,

Those are some impressive MPG numbers....strange about the electronics however. Do your (mpg) numbers reflect a "broken in" engine? I have heard a few different times that the Cummings diesel take several thousand miles to break it in?

 

[Daped]

Not sure when I can expect "broken-in mileage", my truck has only 8000 miles.

 

[Bwht4x4]

I've had two different 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 diesels. Maintenance is simple and no harder than a gasser. I do all of my own maintenance and just did most of it prepping for a long road trip (including new brake fluid and power steering fluid). I've been having Blackstone Laboratories (http://www.blackstone-labs.com/) check my last two engine oil samples to see where I am with the elements and properties of my oil when I change it. My last two oil changes were at 6,500 miles and per the lab results I should run the oil at least 8,000 miles for the next test to see how it looks, because at 6,500 miles the oil still has a lot of life.

Also, I've never heard of a diesel engine requiring synthetic engine oil. Maybe on the newer ones, but I run Chevron Delo 400 15-40W in all of my trucks.

The expensive part of the maintenance I think is the diff fluid changes. The synthetic oil for the front and rear requires quite a bit and it's not cheap. Everything else is not bad at all. I buy my 15-40W oil at Costco on sale and it comes in a box of 3 one gallon jugs for about $32 (if I remember). I run all Cummins filters that I get at Geno's garage and always buy a few extras to have on hand.

If I had to put an average cost on maintenance I'd say it's probably $200 to $300/year, but like I said I do all of my own maintenance so it saves me quite a bit of money. An oil change at my local dealership is over $125 I believe! Where the cost of a diesel is going to get you is if you have to rebuild the transmission or install new fuel injectors (>$2,000). I run a Glacier Diesel 2 micron fuel filter to help delay that cost!