I picked up my truck the other day from Allen Samuels on the 610 loop. The AC Conderser had gone bad, 2nd in 24 months. Still had warranty.
The Manegr was very glad to talk CTD, as he just bought an 09 or 10 3500 and loves it.
On changing fluids on the Diff. he thought somewhere between 15-30k wsa a good interval, with Synthetic. Check it with your finger every 5k after 15.
NV5600- Check the fluid, leave it alone if it is running OK. Maybe change at 100k.
Oil- Believes Dino is OK, but if people want to buy Snthetic, it is OK with him.

Engine Exercise-Run the truck un to redline once in a while, it will run better.

Parking between trips- Run your truck once a week and get it up to temperature, at least 10 miles. This is especially important on older trucks, regardless of miles.
Fuel- Strong believer in getting the best fuel possible and staying consistent. He like Phillips

6.7 Owners- As you all know, these have had some issue. ALL of these issues have been corrected with software updates, including injectors. I am sure there are a lot of contrary view on that subject. There are updates everyday for 6.7's.

Other Car- Moded VW GTI Gas, putting down 250HP.
I hope all the service managers from Dodge that you meet are like this one.
On the other hand $90 to install a serpentine belt is a bit pricey.

 

My boss's '03 with only 42K miles on it has water pump out ALREADY. He's not happy and looking to switch to Toyota.

 

.....wait until he tries to change that Toyota waterpump.

 

Yep, I was just thinking, boy, only drive that Toyota 5K a year and see how well it fares....... a 20 Min water pump Vs. ?????

 

you have to change the timing belt on then toyotas to do a water pump

 

The grass is always greener...yada yada yada, It sure would be a tough task changing a water pump on a ricer beside the road, mind you I did once change a broken crankshaft on an inline 6 beside the road. Girl friend at the time was NOT impressed.

 

A 6 year old truck and your boss is crying. What a wimp . tell him to suck it up and buy the repair. Six years old and he cries ALREADY. What a tool.

 

I know. I looked on my 01 and it doesn't look that hard. Not sure how it is on 3rd gen. Guy doesn't do any work on his cars as far as I know....I showed him how to change oil on his Cummins.

 

If you showed him how to change the oil then it is safe to say he doesn't do any work himself.

 

first one in 6 years...i just did a second one on mine, just over 5 years old. i let the dealership do the first one because of warranty but this one i did myself and it was fairly simple. tell him to quit whining and just do it. BTW if you think he's crying now wait til the lift pump goes out and the warranty has expired, cost over $1000 for the in-tank and retro kit

 

well he DID oil change himself (or so he says). After I've showed him where his oil filter is and showed him which oil to get. I'm trying to help him out since he pays like $75-80 for oil change and it costs ~$50 if you do it yourself.

 

Is the lift pump still an issue on "common rail" trucks? His warranty did expire, I'm just waiting to see how much dealership will charge him to do water pump on his truck.

 

The in-tank pumps arent very bad. The earlier ones seem to have been marginal, although Ive yet to have an issue with either of mine.

And why in the hell would you spend over a grand on an inferior factory retrofit, when you can get a better pump, added filtration, which I could only see as adding longevity to the fuel system, for half that?? Doesnt make much sense to me

 

talked to my supervisor, he says he expects to pay $1200-$1500 for water pump change....I just smiled and walked away. They he says he just doesn't want "anyone" working on it but "diesel mechanic"
Is it just me or it doesn't take "diesel mechanic" to change a water pump on a truck. Maybe there's something I don't know?

 

(raises hand) heck im in the wrong racket.......1200 bucks fer a water pump
toughest part of the job is draining and disposing of the anti freeze