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#3985990 - 08/14/09 01:46 AM Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks?
fellfrosch7 Offline
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Registered: 12/17/01
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I've been kinda looking at late 90's SUVs/trucks in the $5k range recently for god knows what reason. Something big would be good, with 3rd row seat maybe.

Which models were considered the best? Ford, Chevy, Dodge? MPG's? Chip/cheap upgrades? I'd like to stick with Chevy if possible, unless they're complete crap.

Or I might just keep the Astro cargo van, I just did a whole bunch of maintenance work on it and it's pretty much as good as a thousand dollar beater is gonna get.
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#3985997 - 08/14/09 01:53 AM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: fellfrosch7]
NOT spotch... Offline
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Cummins!
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#3986001 - 08/14/09 01:57 AM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: NOT spotch...]
fellfrosch7 Offline
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OK, this thread's title should read "Duramax vs Powerstroke vs Cummins".
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#3986545 - 08/14/09 09:56 AM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: fellfrosch7]
Impulsive Online   nohc
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I'd try to find something that doesn't sound like a bag of hammers in a dryer, but is still reliable. Cummins are the most annoying things on the road next to Harleys.
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#3986681 - 08/14/09 10:24 AM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: Impulsive]
SEANSE-R Offline
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Powerstroke and cummins are both noisy as hell. The duramax is noisy but to me less irritating. You can actually go through a drive through with out shutting it off.
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#3986693 - 08/14/09 10:26 AM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: Impulsive]
UglyValiant Offline
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Well, technically, as a late 90's deal, you wouldn't be looking at a duramax...just the awful, underpowered, not very efficient...but very simple and reliable GM 6.5 diesel. It more or less goes without saying to avoid anything with this engine at all cost.

Really, when it comes to either the 12V cummins, 24v cummins, the 7.3 powerstroke, and the early duramax engines, you can't go wrong. Engines themselves are all very rock solid and reliable...duramax might get a slight edge in mpg, but the cummins were pretty good to depending if it's in a 2wd vs 4wd, and if you've got 3.54's vs 4.10's (being so efficient making torque, I'd only look for the 4.10's if I was looking to tow over 10,000lbs). The 7.3 isn't a world beater in fuel efficiency; it has a good edge in non-towing, and of course, blows away gasoline engines towing fuel efficiency.

All are simple to work on...but a big inline six is always the easiest.

The transmissions are all strong units, each being able to take moderate modifications of the engines before you begin to reach the breaking point. Of course, each trans needs good/correct service, especially the much maligned dodge trans.

Looks is your preference. I'd always really like the dodge and fords...both look tough just sitting there. During that era, the Dodge is the oldest of the three (unless you really do look at late 90's GM trucks, which again, with HD trucks, there is no reason...they were a relative non-player in the HD truck segment).

Myself personally, if I had the time and money, I'd probably look for the real old style dodge ram (89-93) with a cummins, extended cab, manual trans, and 4WD. The trucks were relatively light and configured as such, could pull down as much as mid 20's with conservative driving. Find a clean one (they'll still get 5-8G clean!), go through with tires/brakes/etc/etc to make like new again and enjoy.
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#3987721 - 08/14/09 02:04 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: UglyValiant]
NHRATA01 Offline
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Yeah Ugly beat me but I'd say avoid the GM trucks with the 6.5, and hurts me to say that being a GM fanboy, but the Powerstroke and the Cummins are both superior. Always been leery of Chrysler transmissions though.
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#3987733 - 08/14/09 02:06 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: NHRATA01]
NHRATA01 Offline
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Also FWIW I'm pretty sure you're looking at the old style GM trucks ('88-00) if you go diesel. The GMT800s came out in '99 I believe for the 1/2 ton, but the 3/4 and 1 tonners didn't start until '00 or '01 I believe. Which means thats when the Duramax finally appeared.
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#3990542 - 08/15/09 11:17 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: NHRATA01]
GOTXQSS Offline
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Registered: 10/15/03
Posts: 222
Loc: Vegas
What a perfect vehicle choice to ad to your collection.. Lets see a diesel truck.. You don't tow, don't do mexican yardwork, need to carry anything but rims which thebeater van works great at already..

What's the point? New family vehicle?lol

"Id rather be cummin then strokin"
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#3991187 - 08/16/09 02:14 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: UglyValiant]
Quad4_driver Offline
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Registered: 09/28/02
Posts: 11119
Loc: B.C. Canada
 Originally Posted By: UglyValiant
Well, technically, as a late 90's deal, you wouldn't be looking at a duramax...just the awful, underpowered, not very efficient...but very simple and reliable GM 6.5 diesel. It more or less goes without saying to avoid anything with this engine at all cost.

Really, when it comes to either the 12V cummins, 24v cummins, the 7.3 powerstroke, and the early duramax engines, you can't go wrong. Engines themselves are all very rock solid and reliable...duramax might get a slight edge in mpg, but the cummins were pretty good to depending if it's in a 2wd vs 4wd, and if you've got 3.54's vs 4.10's (being so efficient making torque, I'd only look for the 4.10's if I was looking to tow over 10,000lbs). The 7.3 isn't a world beater in fuel efficiency; it has a good edge in non-towing, and of course, blows away gasoline engines towing fuel efficiency.

All are simple to work on...but a big inline six is always the easiest.

The transmissions are all strong units, each being able to take moderate modifications of the engines before you begin to reach the breaking point. Of course, each trans needs good/correct service, especially the much maligned dodge trans.

Looks is your preference. I'd always really like the dodge and fords...both look tough just sitting there. During that era, the Dodge is the oldest of the three (unless you really do look at late 90's GM trucks, which again, with HD trucks, there is no reason...they were a relative non-player in the HD truck segment).

Myself personally, if I had the time and money, I'd probably look for the real old style dodge ram (89-93) with a cummins, extended cab, manual trans, and 4WD. The trucks were relatively light and configured as such, could pull down as much as mid 20's with conservative driving. Find a clean one (they'll still get 5-8G clean!), go through with tires/brakes/etc/etc to make like new again and enjoy.


I wouldn't call the 6.5L reliable. They are pretty bad on injection pumps, and the heads like to warp.

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#3991237 - 08/16/09 02:40 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: Quad4_driver]
Euphoricuck Offline
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Registered: 11/05/03
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good thread. Ive been eyeing these for the last little bit
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#3991448 - 08/16/09 04:27 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: NHRATA01]
NOT spotch... Offline
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Registered: 07/25/00
Posts: 57149
 Originally Posted By: NHRATA01
Yeah Ugly beat me but I'd say avoid the GM trucks with the 6.5, and hurts me to say that being a GM fanboy, but the Powerstroke and the Cummins are both superior. Always been leery of Chrysler transmissions though.



All I have is anecdotal, but the overdrive in my dad's 1991 cummins didn't go out until it had over 300k miles, and that thing was constantly used for hauling towing for about 13~ years up until that point. The transmissions in the newer ones seem stronger... the early 200x one he's driving now drives like new and I *think* he's pushing 200k on it.

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#3991509 - 08/16/09 05:09 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: NOT spotch...]
Scargoes Offline
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Registered: 07/17/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: High Dessert
I'd have to say Cummins. Yeah diesels are loud at idle, so what. The 02 Ram 3500 I used to drive pulled hard to 3400rpm and was smooth as silk off idle.

My friends 04 Common rail CTD gets awesome milage. We towed his racecar two sets of tires and an 800lb tool box from Whittier to Las Vegas and averaged 20mpg round trip with the cruise set between 60-65mph. He bought the truck with a 5" exhaust and has a Smarty tuner set in tow mode.

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#3992224 - 08/16/09 10:36 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: Quad4_driver]
UglyValiant Offline
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Registered: 10/09/02
Posts: 6364
Loc: Milwaukee, WI
 Originally Posted By: Quad4_driver

I wouldn't call the 6.5L reliable. They are pretty bad on injection pumps, and the heads like to warp.
I'm basing it off it's fairly reliable track record in the military...of which I'm not aware of any head warping issues.

IIRC, the military hummer's do use a different injection pump; for the light duty GM trucks, there is a fairly permanent fix for issues related to the injection pump failures. Again, not aware of any persistent issues in the military Humvee's related to injection pumps, though I could be wrong.
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#8877158 - 12/10/16 09:03 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: UglyValiant]
00Formula
Unregistered



The only experience I have with 90's diesels is a friend had a 3/4 ton Ford. It had a ton of miles but was very reliable until he totaled it. He used it to tow when he had a mowing business.
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#8877294 - 12/11/16 02:20 AM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: ]
SE-RKilla Offline
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Sure wasn't any Nissan diesel.
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#8978802 - 03/20/17 09:57 PM Re: Which were the best/most reliable 90's diesel trucks? [Re: SE-RKilla]
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