MeanGreen

I have my eye on a 07 5.9 Megacab that has been converted to a longbed. 40,000 miles on the ticker. I'm coming from a 97 Ford F-350 Crewcab 7.3 with 164,000 miles with a lot of mods and it has been very reliable to me.
What is the deal with the injectors and meltdowns with the common rails? Are certain years more prone to issues? Does it generally happen early on or higher mileage? I really want to get a newer truck, but this issue has me a little gun shy.
I did a search and got some answers but not everything I was looking for.
Thanks,
Jerry

'strokeThis_'07

Nothin to worry about. Filtering the fuel properly eliminates 99% of the causes. Run an AirDog with a 2 micron filter and you likely wont have any issue

supersonictoys

mine dropped a valve at 18k and it ate the motor. it's in the shop again "as I type this" with a come and go god awful rattle noise. only 30k on the clock now. was looking at new gas trucks and even chevy diesels today. just don't trust my dodge anymore. I miss my 93 dodge with the 12v motor and all mechanical injection.

rich

it will either run good or run bad less mods longer it should last. if you want a motor that will work and pull get the cummins if not get one of the others. i have had all types of issues with these trucks but it is the only motor out there that will even come close to pervorming the way i want

lost one

My 03 has 52K on it, I dont abuse the truck and dont off road with it.

1.At 45K they replaced all the injectors and the common rail

2.At 50K they replaced the Yoke, drive shaft, carrier bearings

3.The control **** on the air ducts does not work

4.The window control was acting up so I had to bypass the lockout on drivers side control

5.The front engine seal is leaking

6.At 52K I have replaced the ball joints, and have to replace the front axle U-Joint and tie rods.

silverbullet02

I've got an 07 5.9, a little over 34k on the ticker, run it pretty hard sometimes, never an issue with it. With my loads it pulls them at any speed I want. No leaks at all. Loving it!

Brian

VADERPOWER

meangreen, i cant tell u how many posts ive read were guys say, gee i baby this thing, never abuse it, blah blah blah and it keeps having problems. the 5.9 is a medium duty diesel, u have to run them HARD. heavy towing, and clean fuel r keys imo too long engine life. ive got 50000 on my 05 and its been flawless, not one problem, period. whenever i think its starting to run rough, i hook up the fifthwheel and drag it around. there is a guy on this board(ithink his name is andy and he hotshots for a living?) anyway, he has over 400,000 on his truck and hasnt had any engine problems what so ever. if u tow or haul heavy often, get the truck and enjoy, but if its going to be a grocery getter, pass, jmo

supersonictoys

all I do is tow heavy with mine all the time. 17.5k trailer and 2k cab over camper since new. they never come off the truck. probably 29.5 of the 30k on the truck were while pulling heavy. I just think this super high pressure computer controlled injection was a step in the wrong direction as far as reliability goes. mine has been a dud so far.

12valvedutchy

Everyone has their horror stories and there hard learned opinons. But as stated above keep your fuel clean and take the extra time to do proper maintenance and understand that a 7-9,000 pound truck will wear certain parts out faster than a little halfton gasser will. Every truck is different. The more mods the less reliable it will be in the sense that you mod it then don't take care of things. Its a full time job keeping these trucks in good running order. You should be good with the 07 5.9 The 03 04 trucks had the most trouble with injectors but the 04.5-07 are not as bad. I cant guarantee that something wont go wrong but with proper care and maintenance you can eliminate a lot of the risk. Just my .02

Jordan

roughstock

Well, you could get a duramax and have to replace all the injectors, well unless you are 200,000 miles/7yrs, (GM has extended the warranty for them, so you know there is a huge problem). Some people have gone thru 2 or 3 sets. We have a duramax at work and in every 500 miles, it dumps a gallon and a half of fuel in to the oil. Now there is metal filings in the oil. diluted the oil too much. Early duramaxs had headgasket problems. Or the transfer case gets a hole worn in the case, and have to get a new transfer case.
Or
Go buy a new twin turbo ford and loose injectors in 25,000 miles or have the turbos go and fill the intercooler with oil at 18,000 miles.
Been there, seen that.
As with any product, whether it be cars, toasters, table saws, you will hear more horror stories than good ones.
Buy what you want. Things will always break. Expect broken parts and expect to pay, and if you dont, then great.

Spooler

I haven't heard of one issue with a meltdown on a stock engine. A stock CR will give you more pulling power than the modded Ford by far. Like I said, the only meltdowns are folks with Mods. Why the meltdowns on the engine modded trucks. Many reasons. If you want to mod a Cr, do your research or it is going to cost you and sometimes silly things can get you. The high pressure injection system is very sensitive. Just like the Ford guys are finding out....

MeanGreen

Thanks guys for the input. I don't tow, but need a crewcab and a longbed for the homeowner projects that I'm always doing. If I get the 07 I do plan to mod it a little.......4" lift, 35" tires and some sort of power adder. I drove one stock, and no offense, they are too slow off the line. I don't mean drag racing, just daily driving, getting through a stop light without it changing. The same was true about my F350...until I fixed it.
Sounds like my 97 might be a safer bet for a while anyway.
Thanks guys. I'm going to think it over for a while. I wish a megacab was around back in the 94-98 12V era, I'd buy that instead!
Jerry

cody459

With every truck out there your going to hear about engine problems, but your going to hear about less from cummins. Sure a few of us on hear have had bad experiences(read my post in whats gone wrong with your dodge) but thats only a tiny percentage from the ones who haven't had any problems. But like rich stated in his post if you want a truck thats going to out pull and work the others than go with a cummins. And if something goes wrong were here to help.

BigWhiteTruck

I would be more concerned about the long bed conversion than the CTD. 280,000 on my 06 with out any trouble with the motor. Had to replace the ac compressor but nothing lasts forever, it ran most of those miles so I don't feel to bad about it wearing out. If you don't plan to run the truck hard enough to heat it up buy a Hemi. If you liked the 7.3 you should love the CTD and remember on a CTD you have 2 less injectors and don't need to pull the intake and half the motor to change them.

Spooler

Ah,, you felt the crappy torque converter in an automatic. With those big tires you would be having to correct that problem.......LOL