[Duken4evr]

I wonder if it’s really the wrist pin or a failed piston that leaves the wrist pin only supported on one side.
I don’t understand why GM changed the injectors and pistons from the what was used in the world engine. As in what is used in Australia. They claim it needed to be updated for North America.
I haven’t been able to find piston or injector failures in Australia. One guy was on here saying he had a rod end failure that resulted in an engine replacement..
Not sure how you use yours but mine has had a hard life. I have 50,000 miles and I have towed thousands of miles heavy. Holding it wide open up long hills with over 6k travel trailer behind it.
I have had 8000 lbs construction dump trailer full of hard wood behind it.
I am 64 but still a bad kid at heat and love to get the tail out once in a while. Love that torque…..
I do oil changes, fuel filter ect at 50% but I do run it very hard. I keep telling myself to stop or I am going to end up with an aggressive driving ticket..

Nice! I suspect if anything was gonna go south it would have already It seems there are mostly good ones, with some bad ones thrown in. It sounds like you have one of the good ones.

My truck has a pretty easy life. It does a lot of highway and longer trips. Towing "work" is 3 dirt bikes on a trailer and a bed full of beer and gear. What a great long distance traveling companion these diesels are. I drove mine from CO to ID with the dirt bikes and it was a pleasure, 80 MPH for hours on I-80 was effortless. I take the wife's plug in hybrid, aka "the golf cart" on short runs. My Canyon only gets used if I am going to go at least 20 miles, usually more like 90 or 100. I use it for my work as a property adjuster, all it carries on most days is a pair of ladders.

 

[Judge]

I just started a new thread about my 2018 w/ 69750 miles on it that grenaded yesterday....

Here is the post with more details........

2018 2.8L Duramax Failure w/ 70K Miles

I have followed this Forum a but since purchasing my 2018 GMC Canyon Denali but this is my first post. First a little history and background before getting into the title of my first post. I fell in love with diesels only recently after I purchased a Thor Super C Motorhome on the F-550 Chassis...

www.coloradodiesel.org

 

[jmon2017duramax]

I am curious who has put the most miles on their Canyon / Colorado Diesel so far. Please post your miles so far and any problems you have had.

2017 colorado long bed 4 x4 with 61,000 miles
truck is used to tow rpod travel trailer about 3400 lbs. 30% of miles have been towing.
35,000 miles/ key sticking in ignition. shift lever replaced by dealer problem solved
52000 miles/ noise in drive train. rear differential was shot. Dealer rebuilt under powertrain warranty
59,000 miles/ check engine light on. cracked cold air pressure pipe off of turbo heat exchanger. replaced pipe under power train warranty
59500 miles/ fuel filter replaced at dealer. mechanic noticed clicking noise from high pressure fuel pump. pump relaced under warranty.

Disappointed with overall reliability. How many rear differentials go out before 60,000????
On the plus side i have found a chevy dealer with a good diesel mechanic ( he owns a diesel colorado) and they have repaired all items under warranty.

 

[Duken4evr]

Glad you have a good dealer, bonus points that their mechanic owns a diesel twin!

Curious if the diff fluid was changed prior to failure. Drained mine early (5K miles or so) and all kinds of break in swarf came out of it.

 

[tag1]

I am curious who has put the most miles on their Canyon / Colorado Diesel so far. Please post your miles so far and any problems you have had.

i have 43k miles on mine with zero issues, get 32 mph without a trailer as long as its 2,000 rpm or lower. even the large v8 duramax's do well in milage as long they dont go over 2,ooo rpm

 

[terryjm1]

For those of you that posted a few years ago, how about an update? Anyone over 100,000, 150,000, 200,000 now?

 

[escapepilot]

2017 4x4 crew cab long bed. Just hit 138,000 this morning. Only two issues - trans shudder which I've posted about and hasn't been a problem since I changed to a different fluid and an annoying low voltage code that hasn't appeared again after double checking the wiring harness near the A/C compressor and making a minor adjustment.

 

[EddieV]

Catalytic and nitrogen oxide sensor 1 and 2 failure 56861 mi. Radio touch screen failure 3yr. other than that nice truck. 25/38 mpg!

 

[tcshirley13]

102000 had def injector issue. That's it until now. I think the engine brake for my engine name just failed on my long tow trip. Anyone have any ideas, I saw the post where the guy had it go out on his trip. Trying to get more info on it

 

[tcshirley13]

2017 4x4 crew cab long bed. Just hit 138,000 this morning. Only two issues - trans shudder which I've posted about and hasn't been a problem since I changed to a different fluid and an annoying low voltage code that hasn't appeared again after double checking the wiring harness near the A/C compressor and making a minor adjustment.

What fluid you go to

 

[SFLTruck]

102000 had def injector issue. That's it until now. I think the engine brake for my engine name just failed on my long tow trip. Anyone have any ideas, I saw the post where the guy had it go out on his trip. Trying to get more info on it

The engine brake is not a physical item it's the use of back pressure used to slow the vehicle down due to the diesels higher compression ratio.

What are the symptoms that you're talking about?

 

[DieselDrax]

102000 had def injector issue. That's it until now. I think the engine brake for my engine name just failed on my long tow trip. Anyone have any ideas, I saw the post where the guy had it go out on his trip. Trying to get more info on it

The engine brake is not a physical item it's the use of back pressure used to slow the vehicle down due to the diesels higher compression ratio.

What are the symptoms that you're talking about?

There is no engine braking with a diesel, that higher compression is nullified by the spring effect of compressed air in the cylinder. Traditional engine braking is caused by the throttle plate being closed and the vacuum resistance helps slow the vehicle down. No throttle plate with a diesel, no engine braking.

The exhaust brake is part of the turbo's function, if the vanes were stuck then you'd also experience a difference in acceleration. Do you have a check engine light illuminated? If you do then the exhaust brake/tow mode will be disabled. If no CEL then it should still work. Is the indicator light for tow/haul not coming on anymore? Does it come on and then go right back off again? Need more details.

 

[SFLTruck]

There is no engine braking with a diesel, that higher compression is nullified by the spring effect of compressed air in the cylinder. Traditional engine braking is caused by the throttle plate being closed and the vacuum resistance helps slow the vehicle down. No throttle plate with a diesel, no engine braking.

The exhaust brake is part of the turbo's function, if the vanes were stuck then you'd also experience a difference in acceleration. Do you have a check engine light illuminated? If you do then the exhaust brake/tow mode will be disabled. If no CEL then it should still work. Is the indicator light for tow/haul not coming on anymore? Does it come on and then go right back off again? Need more details.

I know this but based on the lack of knowledge by the poster I didn't want to get too much into the weeds.

 

[Duken4evr]

Saw a guy on the private 2.8 Facebook group looking at a '16 Colorado with 230K on it. That is encouraging. My advice was to buy it, if it was gonna blow up, it would have done so a long time ago.

The 230K mile truck is stock, I can't even imagine how filthy it's intake is though...

 

[Coloradorob]

Saw a guy on the private 2.8 Facebook group looking at a '16 Colorado with 230K on it. That is encouraging. My advice was to buy it, if it was gonna blow up, it would have done so a long time ago.

The 230K mile truck is stock, I can't even imagine how filthy it's intake is though...

It would be cool to know the history of that truck. Issues, type of oil used and how many of those miles were hyway.

 

[terryjm1]

Just hit 75,000 miles on my 2017. So far, the only issue was a bad diesel particulate matter sensor that reared its ugly head after I pressure washed the undercarriage. Found one on Amazon (Only $63, oddly)and replaced it myself as it was out of warranty by a few months.

Oil changes are typically at 5000 miles. Fuel filters when DIC says 20% remaining. I don’t add fuel treatment but try to buy fuel with some biodiesel in it. I have about 25,000 miles of towing on it, usually around 5000 pounds. I changed to the new trans fluid at 45,000ish miles and plan to do it with a new filter at 90,000. Most miles are on the interstate or two lane highways. Very little stop and go driving. I was considering deleting (I even have the now unavailable AFE turbo back exhaust still in the box) but am now leaning to just sticking with the intact GDE tune which I flashed in at about 70,000 miles. I have not experienced trans shudder. I am kicking around the idea of doing an injector replacement at 100,000 miles as a preventive measure as injector failure seems to be the cause of most catastrophic engine failures with the injectors used before GM changed them in newer models. I know the failures are uncommon but…

 

[terryjm1]

Just hit 75,000 miles on my 2017. So far, the only issue was a bad diesel particulate matter sensor that reared its ugly head after I pressure washed the undercarriage. Found one on Amazon (Only $63, oddly)and replaced it myself as it was out of warranty by a few months.

Just after I posted the previous update, I had a NOX sensor code. I replaced the NOX sensor and all is good now. I just passed 78,000 miles. I did forget to list one other issue. I had a weird charging issue that would leave the battery dead. I didn’t 100% confirm why that occurred but I did find a slightly loose wire under the engine bay fuse box and I replaced the battery, which was only 2 months old. The battery didn’t test bad but I was 1100 miles from home when the problem occurred so it seemed like a no brainer as I was able to return and replace it at no cost.

 

[DieselDrax]

86,xxx miles, mostly trouble-free.

• NOx sensor at 16k.
• Lost 3 of 4 studs out of the turbo that are used to bolt the downpipe to it, that was around 70k miles I think.
• Three exhaust manifold nuts for the #1 cylinder came loose and caused an exhaust leak, that was around 82k miles while I was camping out in the middle of nowhere when it started chirping like a VW Beetle. Was able to tighten them up using basic tools. I still need to check the rest of the nuts at some point.

Unrelated to the engine:

• Transfer case input seal started leaking at some point within the past year, had that replaced along with the trans output seal since they were already in there.
• Driver's side rear axle seal started leaking at some point within the past year, replaced.
• Rear brake pads replaced this summer.
• One of the rear parking brake shoes had the friction material detach and start dragging about 300 yards from home, this was a couple of years ago.
• The swaybar bushing bolts that hold the swaybar to the frame have a habit of rusting and then snapping when you try to remove them, even after using penetrating oil and heat. Had to drill out a broken bolt when installing swaybar relocation brackets after installing a front lift earlier this year.

I think that's all the notable stuff. Hasn't been perfect but it's still been one of the best vehicles I've owned overall.

 

[terryjm1]

86,xxx miles, mostly trouble-free.

• NOx sensor at 16k.
• Lost 3 of 4 studs out of the turbo that are used to bolt the downpipe to it, that was around 70k miles I think.
• Three exhaust manifold nuts for the #1 cylinder came loose and caused an exhaust leak, that was around 82k miles while I was camping out in the middle of nowhere when it started chirping like a VW Beetle. Was able to tighten them up using basic tools. I still need to check the rest of the nuts at some point.

Unrelated to the engine:

• Transfer case input seal started leaking at some point within the past year, had that replaced along with the trans output seal since they were already in there.
• Driver's side rear axle seal started leaking at some point within the past year, replaced.
• Rear brake pads replaced this summer.
• One of the rear parking brake shoes had the friction material detach and start dragging about 300 yards from home, this was a couple of years ago.
• The swaybar bushing bolts that hold the swaybar to the frame have a habit of rusting and then snapping when you try to remove them, even after using penetrating oil and heat. Had to drill out a broken bolt when installing swaybar relocation brackets after installing a front lift earlier this year.

I think that's all the notable stuff. Hasn't been perfect but it's still been one of the best vehicles I've owned overall.

Great detailed response! This will help others for certain. I will add, most of those issues you experienced should not have happened. Bolts and studs coming loose? Friction material coming off brake pads? That is ridiculous!

 

[DieselDrax]

Great detailed response! This will help others for certain. I will add, most of those issues you experienced should not have happened. Bolts and studs coming loose? Friction material coming off brake pads? That is ridiculous!

Unfortunately, there have been others that have lost downpipe studs and had exhaust manifold nuts loosen. I think I'm the only one that has had both happen, but other owners have experienced these same issues. Thankfully it seems to be pretty rare.

The friction material coming off the shoes is kind of expected, they're just glued to the backing and the roads here are salted in the winter so those 2 things tend to lead to issues eventually, pretty sure others have had this happen as well.

The leaking seals seem to actually be the most uncommon so far, especially the t-case input seal. I do my own oil changes are crawl around under my truck often to keep an eye on things and that's when I spotted both seals leaking (strange that they started leaking around the same time).