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Mini Duramax 1st hand experience?

15K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  Gandude 
#1 ·
The stars aligned and i finally decided it was time to make my move. AKA the wife was in a good mood, and her vehicle has has a few recent issues. So after a few occasional statments over the past couple weeks/months about new vehicles on the market, and how it would be nice to switch it up.

While running errands I pulled off into the local Chev dealer. And started showing the wifey the new Canyon (i briefly used to be a "sales & leasing consultant at a Subaru dealership years ago) so with my past training knew how to play may card just right. And now the Misses is tentatively on board with trading in her 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD which has the 3.0L Mercedes diesel. There were only 3 units on the lot, non of which diesel. So haven't bothered with the test drive yet, but gave her a good walk though of the layout and features available.

So now time to hear real world experience from those whom have bought one of the 2.8 Duramaxs. What are your honest opinions?
 
#3 ·
I looked up parts on one....I found a timing belt tensioner listed? 'dunno;
 
#6 ·
I can confirm it does have a timing belt. The serpentine belt issue is due to a bracket rubbing on it, out of the factory it must have been clocked wrong.

Great little truck and not too bad to work on other than these details:

I don't like the fact that you can't pull the starter due to the engine mount bracket being in the way. Once the motor was out, I was able to shave the bracket down and now it can be removed easily.

You can't pull #4 injector without lifting the cab (tried it with the trans out as well but that did not work). Now I have a hole in the cowl to make room to pull the injector out easily, not a big deal anymore.


The truck runs and drives amazingly with the compound kit and ECM + TCM tuning. In stock form they are slow to respond and no power up top, I'm a fan of the instant responsiveness we're able to get out of these vs the 6.6 trucks.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I got giddy like a little school girl when I checked my "subscribed threads" and saw that the man, Mr Screaming Diesel himself posted a response!
Thanks for your input Scott.
I am getting really excited for this thing. I just talked to one of the main company’s which I subcontract for. To ensure that it is OK I get one of these little trucks in the meantime while I rebuild my Duramax after a moose strike (right now I'm running a clunky old 7.3L f350).
Right now I just need to look at the books and see if I can swing it $$$ wise. As like I said I'm rebuilding my Duramax, and in the process of a 87 Square body swap on my 06 chassis. So I might have to wait till this time next year and pick up a 2017 when they go on sale with rebates.

....on that note, If i wait a year to save some cash. Scott might be getting an order for a 2.8L and a 6.6L compound kit at the same time! ;-)
 
#8 ·
Own one, Except for 2 road trips where it went in to limp mode, it runs great close to HOME.....

NOx Sensor 2 Failure, Scary and Dangerous, Goes Limp mode. Not in stock at all dealers, delco part 125 at Rock Auto
 
#9 ·
I bought a 2016 Canyon with 8,000+ miles on Auto Trader and drove it 1,600 miles home. Ran the speed limit mostly, which in Texas can be 75 mph, and got 30 mpg. This summer I towed my small Airstream 8,000 miles on a trip up into Canada (what a beautiful country, at least in summer). Got about 15 mpg towing at 65. I have towed horses a lot in large trailers (40') with various trucks, up to a Freightliner. The Canyon is well designed, has excellent braking and cooling, and has a very quiet cab. I like to listen to music on long drives and can actually hear it well in the Canyon. This week my DEF pump went out which was replaced under warranty at 18,600 miles. Hopefully, this is not a common occurrence. Overall, this is one very nice truck and I hope to keep it a long time.
 
#10 ·
Update: My canyon had another NO2 sensor failure, then the mechanic found that the connectors on the harness under the vehicle for connecting the sensor had no water seals preventing them from corroding. Sat my vehicle indicated the
dreaded DPF cleaning continur driving. NO problem, with mostly highway driving, I had never seen this message. So 55 miles later I get to san angelo and the message is still there. I had to shut off for sleep. Did not sleep well because with each replace of the sensors the manual regen was an issue, it took multiple days in San Antonio for the dealer to 'make it work', well I left San Angelo for home. About 10 miles out the message came on, I sped to 70 MPH and for the next 4.4 hours maintained mainly 70+ speed limits. The message never cleared. On Monday I made a appointment at the dealer. No CEL, just a action required message. I drove to work and home (all highway) both Mon and Tues, about 53 miles each way. Today in the rain I began to get the CEL. and to my surprise, in the left lane at 70 miles per hour, with no warning the vehicle reduced power. Heavy traffic, rain and now my dirty pants. GM customer service is a joke. They are the prevent the customer message from leadership group.

I take this POS in tomorrow, this truck was something I waited for a long time, a mid-size diesel. I am so disappointed in GM, the customer service and the engineering, I hope others buy Dodge!
 
#11 ·
Recently bought an '18 ZR2 Diesel. Love it so far. Only a couple thousand miles but around 26 MPG on the highway and 22 in mixed driving around town. Haven't had it off road yet. Looking forward to it!

Cabin is a good size for a big guy with plenty of room in the back seat (I'm 6'3" and 250).

ONLY complaint so are is the tiny bed but figured I'd pay that price for the ZR2 crew.
 
#15 ·
I'm on my second minimax Canyon now, great little truck, not sure why I got rid of the first one. Note to self if the GM dealer calls don't answer, some how I got talked into a new one.
Anyhow I put on 60 000km on my 06 minimax, final mileage 170 000km, no repairs just mods, canopy, bed liner sprayed on the lower panels, full delete, wheels and tires. As for the delete it worked great but to noisy for my liking, next time I'll keep the stock exhaust, just dump the particle filter. I did change the transmission fluid change as it was not shifting very smooth, turns out it was tuning that was done with the delete. I took it back to the shop that did the delete, they tweeked the programing and the shifting drastically improved.

1086587
 
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