Duramax diesel, short distance driving

[JB13502]

My current daily driver is a 2012 GMC Sierra 2500HD with the 6.0 Vortec gas engine. Pulls all my trailers with relative ease, but works pretty hard on hills when pulling my 28 foot tow-behind camper.

Wife wants a larger camper, most likely a 5th wheel, 33-35 foot. I'm currently looking at a 2018 Silverado 3500HD with the Duramax diesel, crew cab, long box. Thus my dilemma...

This truck will still be my daily driver, distance to work is maybe 8 miles or so. I live in upstate New York, so temperatures vary greatly, if that makes a difference. I tend to put more miles on during the weekend, and average around 8000 - 10000 miles annually hauling trailers.

Will this daily short distance driving be detrimental to the engine, or are today's diesels evolved enough to handle the short commutes? Thanks in advance!

 

[adkhunter1590]

Well one things for sure, you’ll need a diesel to pull a good size 5th wheel camper. But your also going to be asking for problems with such a short commute. These newer diesels don’t like short trips with all the emissions systems on them. The way to fix that is deleting the emissions systems but you’ll void the warranty so that’s not exactly a good option. My FIL has a 2016 Duramax and has a very sub 10 mile commute to his shop and has had quite a few problems with his because of it. I tried warning him but he’s got more money than brains and didn’t listen. Not to mention in the winter time you’ll be freezing your butt off on the way to work because they take so long to warm up in the type of cold we get here in NY. You could always idle the heck out of it to warm it up but then your basically just throwing money out the window in fuel and wear and tear.
If I were you, I’d get the diesel but also get a cheap commuter car to go back and forth to work. You can pick up a used late 2000s Honda Civic or something for $4-6k. The little car would need next to nothing in maintenance and use hardly any fuel. This way you’d keep miles off your diesel and keep any problems you could possibly see to a bare minimum to non existent. Use the diesel as your weekend ride and tow rig. This is what I do with my F150, granted it’s not a diesel and I have a much longer commute but I’d rather rack up miles and wear and tear on my 2014 civic that cost me $12k vs my $45k truck.

 

[thepumpguysc]

To answer your question.. NO, they do not like short drives..
.. they need to get hot or you'll experience low power problems from all the carbon build-up..
AND they don't like to sit either.. so if your gonna get it & let it sit for 4 months till you decide to pull the camper.. expect problems.
Your situation is not ideal for a diesel. Sorry.

 

[Gunny]

I agree with the others, short trips on diesel engines means problems sooner or later, some can be very expensive. That 2500 will pull a pretty decently sized fifth wheel. Get your wife to look at some 28-30 foot models, a fifth wheel has quite a bit more living area than a 28-30 foot pull type.
Now if you're going to be hauling that camper a lot (and I mean a whole lot) then you might be better served with a diesel, since there are work arounds for the short trips, like taking the long way in to work some days, then taking it on long weekend drives to blow it out and get the engine warmed up enough to burn off condensation.
That 6.0 is a good engine, I pulled a 30 foot fifth wheel with mine for years and while I didn't like the performance on long or steep hills, It did pretty well OK. Look at the torque curve on that engine and you'll see you get max torque around 4200 RPM and I never liked the engine screaming like that, but it will hold together.
On long hills, I'd just run up them until the engine started pulling down hard, downshift and then get over in the right hand lane with the semi trucks and follow them slowly up the hill.

 

[om21braz]

I have an approx. 11 mile trip to work one way - no city driving. Having had a 2011 duramax and now a 2017, I never experienced any issues I would relate to short trip. I did have the whole DEF system replaced on the 2011 and a couple sensors after that - fortunately all under warranty. On the 2017 - no issues so far. For heavy pulling, the diesel combined with the exhaust braking makes a very good combination. Good luck with your decision!

 

[dodge man]

I'm not sure I agree with the answers 100%. The problem is the DPF on short trips. If the truck is used hard it tends to keep the DPF cleaner and there are less regens. On short trips it might regen more often and I assume you have to let the thing run its regen cycle before you shut it down. I'd get what you want/need and decide latter if you need a beater to get back and forth to work.

 

[Ford850]

An 8 mile trip at 35mph is a lot different than an 8 mile trip mostly at 55 or 60. That holds true for all engines though.

 

[om21braz]

An 8 mile trip at 35mph is a lot different than an 8 mile trip mostly at 55 or 60. That holds true for all engines though.

That is certainly true. I do believe the newer diesels, or at least the Duramax tends to heat up the coolant almost as fast as a gas engine though. I do not travel nearly as far on a cold morning with the Duramax as I did years ago with a 05 Dodge Cummins before warm air is available. That may not represent warming of the entire engine well though.

 

[newbury]

My current daily driver is a 2012 GMC Sierra 2500HD with the 6.0 Vortec gas engine. Pulls all my trailers with relative ease, but works pretty hard on hills when pulling my 28 foot tow-behind camper.

Wife wants a larger camper, most likely a 5th wheel, 33-35 foot. I'm currently looking at a 2018 Silverado 3500HD with the Duramax diesel, crew cab, long box. Thus my dilemma...

This truck will still be my daily driver, distance to work is maybe 8 miles or so. I live in upstate New York, so temperatures vary greatly, if that makes a difference. I tend to put more miles on during the weekend, and average around 8000 - 10000 miles annually hauling trailers.

Will this daily short distance driving be detrimental to the engine, or are today's diesels evolved enough to handle the short commutes? Thanks in advance!

First of all - does the 10k annual miles include your commute of 2,000 miles (5X8X50) ?
Second are you trying to save money?

I'd be looking for a NON Rustbelt used, but not abused truck and a good economy car.

I've a 12K "equipment" trailer that I haul maybe 2 or 3 times a year for about a 2,000 mile haul roundtrip. I NEEDED a good truck and opted for a used dually. (I've been moving my household from Virginia to Mississippi since 2012 SLOWLY. Deaths and medical problems have slowed us down, but it's sort of like a vacation home.) So I put about 5,000 miles/yr on my dually. When it's not hauling the trailer it's hauling something, like 2 tons of gravel. I rarely drive it without a mission.

I've "econo" boxes at either end for the daily runabouts.

There are extra costs, insurance, taxes, etc. which need to be balanced out.

 

[JB13502]

Thank you, everybody, for your input :thumbsup:

A little more info - clocked my trip to work today, 13.7 miles door-to-door. Don't ask me why it seems like 1/2 that distance, but it does. Guess I've been driving it for too long now . About 3 miles of the drive is back roads from my farm to the highway (around 40-45 mph), the next 10 miles is highway posted 55-65 mph (I do 62 in the 55, 75 in the 65). Downhill going to work, uphill (the kind with a 3rd lane due to grade) coming home. Trip home is a little bit longer (who would think ramps could add almost 2 miles).

We use the camper 2-3 times per month between Memorial Day and October/November depending on weather. Pulling distance can be anywhere from 30 miles to 500 miles.

Adkhunter, if you don't mind, what types of problems did your FIL have?