Welcome to the forum

Being an LB7, I would definitely be highly suspect of a head gasket failure.

Injectors are also a fairly common failure point on those. I would say with that amount of miles they would have been replaced at least once before.

At $2500, you might be able to make a decent truck out of it.

The rust would be my biggest issue with it. How solid is the frame?

If you can do the work yourself, the head gaskets and injectors aren't too hard. Just a lot of work. Gaskets arent really expensive. I'd head stud it while your in there.

The LB7 is a good motor once you understand its weak points. Once those are addressed they can be great. They now make newer style injectors that provide a longer life span.

 

Frame is solid. Just has the stereotypical salt belt cancer. I can indeed do the work myself. The body rust itself is not a deal breaker for me since its a truck for hauling. I dont need a show truck. If head gaskets and injectors are the weak point of this engine then thats not much of a problem for me financially and down time to fix. I have a friend that rebuilds diesels for a living and worse case scenario I can plop the truck down in his drive and he will hook me up. Im not afraid of dumping A grand or two in the engine to fix known problems and make it dependable. How many miles would a typical LB7 get before its knockin on heavens door?

 

It's more than a grand or two for injectors and head gaskets.

To get decent parts your looking at around $3,000-$5k in just parts depending on what you get. Injectors will run you about $1-2k depending what you get and if they are new or reman, so that's the bulk of the oarts cost.

Or, you can check and see what the balance rates are and just roll with what's in there until they fail. And do it just for the cost of the gaskets and studs.

 

I'll have to ask my friend if his shops rebuilds injectors too. What do the rebuild kits for them run or would I just be better of getting the newer design that corrects the original problems?

 

And the plot thickens. The truck was overheating(bubbles in coolant and overflowing out tank), blowing white smoke, temp gauge must be inaccurate or sender is sitting in a pocket of steam. Luckily I can get the parts at shop price from my friend that works in a diesel shop. He works mainly on semis and fleet trucks (diesel). Is it possible to buy a used newer engine 05+ and just delete the emissions for the 01 that I want to put it in? (same long block)? I would imagine there arent many low mile 01-04 LB7 engines around now.

 

It would likely be cheaper to just do the head gaskets rather than swap the whole motor.

But I hope they arent still running and driving the truck. If you are intent on buying it, do not run it anymore until you fix it. How long has it been running around with this issue?

As for injectors, I wouldn't waste my money on getting them rebuilt. Usually isn't much cheaper than a good set of reman or new injectors anyway. I would buy new personally since I see reman parts be bad right out of the gate. Same can be said with new parts as well, but its WAY more common on reman.

 

Why would you pay someone to give you a headache?

 

I´d get SAC Style Injectors and all the good stuff for headgaskets.

The 5speed Allison is known for going into limp mode when too much power over stock is applied.. is the truck tuned with EFI Live or anything like that?
If the rest of the truck is decent I´d consider buying it and fix it up for 4-7k, depending on the Transmission issue.

 

$3500 to have injectors done here, about the same to rebuild that transmission, and probably about the same to have head gaskets done. So $13,000 for a rusty 2001. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

Truck has been parked since the day my friend got it because of the white smoke and limp mode 3rd gear. So its been in a barn for almost 2-3 years. The upside is parts wont cost me near as much because I get them at shop costs because of another friend that works at a diesel shop. I most likely wont pay a shop to do the labor either. This is all assuming I buy the truck. I can walk away or not. Im not in any hurry. I dont have to have a diesel, it would just be more convenient/useful fit to my needs. Im also not worried about resale value. If I have to dump $5k in it to get a reliable truck to tow with then works fine for me. I have a 3 car garage that I can put the truck in and work on it as I can and finish next winter. I just dont want to end up having say 7K in a truck total when I could have possibly bought one for 7k that was ready to go and needed no major maintenance anytime soon. I drive them until they are dead or the frame falls in half.

 

Well I can basically tell you right now its going to be over $7k of parts to get it back to 100% lol.

The head gaskets and such isnt all too bad parts cost wise. It's the injectors and trans that is the expensive part.

Figure like $2k for a set of good injectors, then anywhere from $3k-5k to build the trans so its able to hold power. Then factor in parts for the head gaskets and all other little things you find or break along the way.

It's not a cheap endeavor. But, if you can get the truck dirt cheap is may still work out.

You will not find a perfect running/driving condition duramax of any year for $7k. At least not one that's worth having imo. At that price range they are going to need some work. Or have outrageously high miles and/or rust.

 

Injectors are closer to a grand https://www.injectorsdirect.com/product ... 7-duramax/ and thats your price. I will be getting "shop discount" price. Sam goes for any other parts so maybe this could work? My labor is free and my diesel mechanic friend will hook me up if I need the help.

 

Only one way to find out price everything and see what you would be into it for based on what you know needs done then add 1-2k extra and see if its worth it. Or just do it and let us know ha

 

Yeah if you go the referb or reman. I would never trust those in any vehicle I own. New or nothing. I've had so many reman injectors and pumps fail at work I'd have to be insane to even consider putting them in anything I own Haha.

 

Last I heard there were only reman injectors available, so new may not be an option.

 

Sounds to me like you have already made up your mind since you are relying on the shop discounts, buddies etc. even though you don't specify how much they are. So, go get it, fix it and let us know the final tally.

I don't think it'll be worth it, but I've been wrong before.

 

New are still available.

Here's from OPs own link.

 

New are still available.

Here's from OPs own link.

Interesting. I haven't been around them for some time. I first upgraded to an 07, and now have a gas truck.. Granted you will pay almost 3 grand just for the injectors, probably will make it a 5 grand job to have done, so he is already over the value of the truck.

 

Sounds to me like you have already made up your mind since you are relying on the shop discounts, buddies etc. even though you don't specify how much they are. So, go get it, fix it and let us know the final tally.

I don't think it'll be worth it, but I've been wrong before.

Nope, havent made up my mind. Shop prices for parts are typically 1/2 to 3/4 of price you would find online at specialy online parts suppliers for like and kind (oem rebuilt/new/reman parts).

So my question for all is how much would you pay if you were in need of a truck to tow with that was old as the first year of the duramax? I honestly believe its a plus not to have all the emission crap that the newer models have. Atleast from a maintenance and cost for those parts aspect. Lets assume there is a 2001 out there with 235k with fresh remanned injectors, remanned heads and new head gaskets and running great. 4x4 LT ext. cab. Body good but obviously not perfect.

What say the crew?

 

Any body rust at all I personally wouldnt even consider it. I've dealt with it on my first 2 trucks. Never again.

But for a 100% good mechanical condition LB7, with rust and high milage I wouldnt value it over $8k.

It isnt more valuable just becasue it doesnt have emissions. Especially being an LB7, they are probably the most finicky and problematic duramaxes out there. Once you know that and fix them, they can be great motors. But they are still a pain to work on since the injectors are under the valve covers. And will fill your crankcase with fuel without you knowing if there is an issue with the injectors or lines.

Really all the duramax motors in the gmt800 trucks are either emissions free or easy to get rid of it. It's only an egr cooler even on the latest one you can get, the LBZ. You can delete them without a tune even. Youd just have a CEL.

The insanely inflated prices of the LBZ trucks is unwarranted and is mainly due to people thinking they are something special.

But negating all the above, a refreshed LB7, including built or rebuilt trans, but bad body is only worth at the absolute most, $8k to me. And even that's pushing it imo. Mainly due to the rust.

If it was a mint condition frame and body, as well as just having fresh injectors, head gaskets, trans, etc, I would put it at around $10-12k to the right person.

 

From post #1 "Body has typical rocker panel cancer.". Ive been seeing 2007 or so for 18k and thats out of the question for me. Ill just have to "suffer" towing with my Yukon Denali 6.0L.

 

Yeah and that's a cheap one. It is all too common to see an LBZ listed at anything from $20-30k.

Youd need to be stupid to pay that Haha.

Diesels arent cheap. So trying to cheap out on one isn't worth it, because chances are it will bite you.

If you want something that is reliable, diesel, and can be had sort of cheap, look into the older dodge trucks. The older cummins motors are pretty solid. It's just the rest of the truck that is garbage. And transmissions that get eaten like candy until you put money into them. But the motors are pretty trouble free and easy to work on.

But again, people think a clean one is worth a million dollars.

 

I'd pay exactly $0 for that truck.

 

Hello. im new on here. I just wanted to throw in I recently purchased a 2002 lb7 2500hd crew cab for $4000. It needed injectors. I did a lot of research on mine regarding injectors. The injectors direct you pointed out for injectors seem to have terrible reviews as far as quality goes. I looked into buying Bosch oem remans but they are $2000 and you can get brand new Bosch for $2300. The S&S style injectors run $2700. The S&S style are supposed to be the best injector upgrade. I didnt want to throw that kind of money out. I only paid $4k for my truck. I ended up going with a rebuild service i found on Ebay for $670. They are an injector shop and had really good reviews. I had to take all of my injectors out and send them to them. The injectors were basically remanufactured to oem specs like bosch. My injectors had all new internal parts and came back like new. I would suggest something like that. It worked out for me. Just an FYI this is a very tedious job. I followed a video on youtube to help me out by truckmaster. you will also want to replace the valve cover bolts because the originals are prone to rounding out. You will also want to buy new return line banjo bolts and fuel injection o rings and injector lines. All said and done you would be about $900 into everything. So im about $5k into a good running diesel truck. You cant touch these for less than $8k. And will need injectors done at some point. Good luck