I am thinking of buying a PSD. My dad just bought a 2002 PSD, when I opened the hood everything was so tight, it seems like you can't fit a wrench in there. I am a ford guy, and always be one, but having everything crammed in there makes me nervous. Is it pretty tough to do basic sevrvicing on the new PSD? When it comes time to chnage the glow plugs can you do it in your drive way?It seems that Ford uses alot of computers to control everything, I hate computers. I've heard that with the cummins alot of it is mechanical, and there is alot more room to do maitenance.Hopefully with the new 6.0 L there will be a bit more room and it seems it's more user friendly with the oil filter on top. Any info will be a big help.Thanx!

Chris

 

The new 6.0L engine is actually bigger than the 7.3L. It is taller and wider and if you don't like computers you won't like the new engine. But some things have been simplified. The oil filter is easier to get to and the glow plugs can be accessed with out removing the valve covers.
A friend of mine just bought a 2002 Cummins powered Dodge and it is a VERY nice truck. It has a ton of power and is quiet as long as the windows are up and the doors closed. As soon as you open the door with the engine running it sounds like you are amid a thrasher convention.

 

Hi Juju_49,

Regarding your comments about computers, you aren't going to find any vehicle that does not have a computer(s) controlling various engine functions. Unless, you go and buy a '65 Mustang. You can't show me the engine compartment of any newer vechile that isn't cramped with hoses, belts and an engine.

As far as maitenance, about the only thing(s) you can do is change the oil and automatic transmission fluid, in my humble opinion. The latter not requiring a change for a very long time. Glow plugs are not like spark plugs that need to be changed with any regularity. So, that is a moot point.

So, I may have missed a few items here and there, but that all that being said, I would buy the best pickup truck diesel engine on the road with a proven history of reliability and the along with the best truck on the road as well. I would go with a Ford and a Power Stroke Diesel.

Steve

 

 

A Chrysler dealer in our area had a Duramax powered GMC parked with the engine running along side a running 2003 Cummins High Output engine in a parked Dodge. The new Cummins was quiter than the Duramax. A lot of people would not believe it until they stopped to listen. Some things even amaze me.

The new Standard Output and the new High Output Cummins both functions by the control of a computer chip. Mechanical simplicity is going the way of obsolesence.

 

You are correct when you say there is more room in the engine compartment to work on a Cummins. The Cummins 5.9 litre B-series diesel engine uses an inline engine block; therefore, it has a narrower configuration than the V-type engine block used in either the Power Stroke or the Duramax. Unfortunately, an inline engine is longer than a V-type engine with the same number of cylinders. The Cummins does not use glow plugs, but instead has a heating coil in the air intake duct. Computers are the new technology on Cummins, Duramax and Power Stroke engines.

I drove a VW Rabbit four cylinder diesel (500,000) from 1978 to 2000, and beleive me changing glow plugs was no easy picnic. Connecting the electrical circuit conductor to each plug was difficult to accomplish in the tight spaces.

 

I thought the new cummins is quieter because they use an electronic injector instead of the mechanical ones, is this true?

 

Let me know how many transmissions you have gone through to get 99k.

 

Not sure on that one I will have to check into it and get back with you on that. I do know that the injectors are a little more$$ than the older ones.

 

I don't know about 99 but I have 130k and still on the first one. we have a 96 2x4 auto regcab long bed 3500 that has 172k and still on the stock tranny we use it to pull our 35' Citation camper. Not much done to it I estimate the power to be around 280-300hp

 

My father had one and it burned up a tranny in less than a month after he got it--new.

 

they had the trannys pretty much beefed up by the late 90s, it was the early one that had troubles, I know because I live about 40 miles from the plant that those trannies were built in. I knew alot of the guys that worked there. They (the workers) were more interested in the money (25 bucks an hour) then the quality of what went out of the plant.

 

Still on original transmission. Did have one problem though, It would shift from first to third missing second. Found that the second gear band adjuster nut become loose and fell off. That was around 65k. I pull a 31ft camper with a jetski towing behind the camper for 3 yrs. now and not having any other problems. Even getting 18k - 20k out of the brake pads.

 

The new Cummins fuel injectors are the same physical mechanical nozzels that squirt the diesel fuel into the cylinders in the same direct injection location as previously. The difference needed to cause the exploding fuel to be accomplished in a quieter fashion is done by electronically controlling the diesel fuel injection pump. Initially the new electronically controlled pump delivers some fuel to the cylinder in a small amount to start the burning exploding process and then immediately follows by supplying more fuel at a certain rate to complete the buring in an exact quantity needed to provide the power required. The common rail fuel delivery system has more or less constant fuel pressure always available to enable the pump to supply the exact amounts of diesel fuel into the cylinders at the precise times so as to eliminate the sudden detonation of the entire quantity of finely sprayed fuel needed when it is squirted into the cylinders. Power Stroke and Duramax use much the same procedure to cause their diesel engines to run quieter.

 

Dodge Cummins powered trucks never did have a good automatic transmission behind the diesel engine. In fact, Chrysler always had to reduce the horse power produced by the Cummins engine specifically for automatic transmission equipped pickups. GM did the smartest thing when they put an Alison Automatic behind the Duramax. If Chrysler would have been wise they would have originally put an Alison Automatic behind the B-series Cummins. That way Chrysler would have really put together a winner for those customers who like the transmission to shift for them.

As far as the Chrysler automotive workers not being diligent transmission assemblers, you probably are giving us the straight facts. I owned a new 1969 Ford heavy duty 3/4 ton pickup equipped with a 360 CID gasoline powered engine, 4 speed manual tranny, 4.10 rear end gear ratio and posi-traction rear end. The unit gave 17 mpg empty, did not rust out in the body, and it could really be put through the mill. The only problem was that the engine intake manifold leaked engine oil badly where it was joined to the top of the block. It must have been a poor design as even under warranty it could never be sealed up satisfactorily. Anyway, I bought a new 1976 similar equipped Ford 3/4 ton pickup, excempt the new truck had a 3.54?? higher rear end. What a lemon that unit was, and the fuel mileage was terribly poor. The engineers must have been smoking something, not just the assembly workers. My friends used to kid me about being Mr. F-ix O-r R-epair D-aily. You can be sure I am doing some research before I purchase a diesel powered pickup. I am not a Ford, GM, or Chrysler man any longer, insead I want the most practical unit that will meet my needs.

When you pay big bucks for a pickup the quality and practicality should be there. I sure would have liked to have had the optional choices in diesels that are available now, back in the 1960s and 1970s when I worked gasoline powered pickups into the ground. Those GM V8 6.2 and 6.5 litre diesel engines were a bad joke that could not do any hard work.