Buying first truck

I know there are CAT fans around here but the C15 is not one of their best. When compared to older CAT engines it just doesn't stand up to them. The one I had was average on mpg and performance. I went back to Detroits D15.

 

was just curious, if you bought a pre-emission truck in California, how would you get it home?? Dont they fine drivers for driving older trucks that haven't been retrofitted for the new emission law?

 

Yellow motor = sheety mpg

Never heard anyone say anything good about twin turbo. All I've ever heard is how much of a pile they are.

 

I have heard the single turbo C-15s are good but I dont know first handed. Just hearsay. I know a N-14 cummins gets good mileage but pre EGR DD get awesome milage, they donthave the tourque like a cat does but thats why you find one with say a 13 speed or an 18 speed and the right rear gear ratios. Just because something has twin turbos does not mean a thing. To me with that C-15 it means that there is one more thing to go wrong with it and when you look at it which would you rather replace the turbo on? A single turbo engine or a C-15 with its compound setup on it?

 

Been talking with a local co. that bought 10 of the twin c-15 trucks when they first came out. Although they had problems out of them in the beginning, they told me that 98% of the problems had been fixed. The owner of the co. told me they had no more problems than the older motors now! I hope this is true cause I'm looking at buying one of the newer c-15 twin trucks.

 

The best advice I can give you is from a buddy that is a CAT service mechanic. He said the best motor they have ever made was the 3406. He said the C-15s are good but sometimes you get a crap one. He has done an inframe on a twin c-15 with 1.2 million on it and said that the motor looked like it had 100K miles on it. Said it could of gone atleast another 500K before it really needed a rebuild.

That guy changed his oil every 12K miles and bought the truck new. He put a gallon of lucas in every oil change and IIRC he used mobil delvac conventional oil in his truck.