DON'T BUY these TRUCKS & SUVs Until you watch this video - Kevin Hunter The Homework Guy

Hello, friends. Today, we're going to talk about SUVs and trucks, specifically talking about the ones that you might want to avoid and reasons why. Hi, I'm Kevin Hunter, the Homework Guy. Joining me again today in studio is our in-house automotive expert, Alex Stevens. He spent a lot of years building cars from the ground up and put in 12 years working as a race team mechanic. We're doing this follow up show today, not only to warn you about problematic vehicles, but also to demonstrate to you that our auto expert, Alex Stevens, is the real deal. What he knows about vehicles is mind blowing. Alex, again, it's good to have you with us. Thank you, Kevin. Glad to be here. So before we get started, let me just say that Alex's critique today on these vehicles is not to say that they're total junk and that you should never, ever buy them. It's more of a FYI to give you a heads up on potential known problems with them. More of this kind of content will be coming in the days ahead. So if we missed a vehicle that you have a question about, don't worry. Put it in the comment section down below. And Alex is monitoring our comment section and he'll look for it. We might just do a show on it. Also, at the end of today's show, I'm going to give Alex an opportunity to share his experience with reliable trucks that he currently manages in a 25 truck fleet used for extreme duty in the oil field. And Alex, I noticed you're wearing your black gold shirt today. Winter's coming. It's here today. So I had to throw on this hefty shirt today. So, yeah. So for people who didn't know, black gold is one of the garment supply companies in the oil field. And there's a lot of other things that black gold has as well, right? They do hats and shirts, FR shirts, stuff like that stuff. So. All right, cool. So, Alex, let's get the ball rolling by talking about a few SUVs our viewers might want to be careful with and perhaps avoid altogether when buying a new vehicle and some reasons as to why. So these are in alphabetical order. Yeah. Let's start with the Audi Q3 in 2016 or 2022. Yeah. You know, we started our show last time talking about imports in German cars. Right. And once again, I want to say I like German cars. I appreciate many things about them. But similar to what we talked about in our last show is, you know, there are some transmission issues. We also are still seeing some electrical issues in turbochargers. And very much. I don't know if we talked about this before in the last show, but some of these vehicles, these manufacturers, for example, they make one one car line, right, or multiple car lines. But they're using the same engine or transmission over multiple models. Right. So sometimes you're going to say, man, this car, this entire all Audi's have transmission issues or turbocharger issues. Well, no, not necessarily. They're using that engine over multiple models. Right. So that's probably why we're seeing this solid issue. So with the 2016, they had some transmission issues. They had a few electrical problems and once again, turbo problems. Right. So let's talk about some of the repair costs. Yeah, still in that 3000 to 4500 range for a turbo, depending on what dealer and so forth and transmission issues are obviously going to be in that 1500 to 3000. Now, there were some software updates that improved. So like maybe you don't need a full replacement or a full repair. Maybe it's been going to the dealer and get a software update for some of those issues and change, you know, the programming in the engine or the transmission, TCM, stuff like that. So very good. So a summary on the Audi Q3, you know, overall, once again, turbo issues, good car. They've had some infotainment, you know, connection issues, which once again, if we push more tech, you're going to have struggles with that area. It's just, hey, does everything work together all the time? And then driver assistance features and so forth. And, you know, people have complained. What I've read and kind of studied on is fuel economy not being the greatest with these vehicles. So the 2022 model had some improvements with that by turbo and transmission. They kind of solve that and they begin to solve it, begin to fix those problems. So. All right. Well, next up on the list is the Buick Encore, the 2015 and 2017. What kind of problems are we having with these? You know, surprisingly, oil consumption is a big problem. And if if they are using a lot of oil consumption, you're going to potentially have turbo issues and potentially even major engine problems. So that's something that kind of goes hand in hand. To me, oil consumption is kind of the kiss of death to an engine, isn't it? It is. That's that is a challenge to deal with. What kind of repair costs are we looking at here? I mean, you could be an engine four thousand five thousand all day long turbo problems. You know, they can range that twenty five hundred ish range. So but we did see a redesign. And so that kind of helped in twenty eighteen plus models. So. OK, so kind of a summary here on the Buick Encore for twenty fifteen, twenty seventeen. You know, I I'm going to summarize this as a whole. Kevin is maintenance for the engine and turbo. Right. Those things go together. It can at least help it. Right. Are you running good fuel in it? Are you keeping the fuel system clean? Are you running good quality oil, maintaining that? Right. So, you know, overall, they're seeing issues with oil and engine problems. So turbo problems so that that goes hand in hand. And then also there's in that range, we're still really getting to Apple CarPlay, getting into Android Auto. So that's some of the infotainment system issues that that car has as well. So. All right, cool. The Chevy Suburban twenty twenty one and twenty twenty three. You know, those are cool SUVs. I love Chevy. I love Suburban. I think they're awesome. They've had some transmission issues and they've also had some electrical, I would say, programming calibration issues with that. And they've actually began to solve that with updates once again. So that's a common thing. There's been some full fledged failures on these vehicles. And a few years ago in the previous, you know, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 range, there were some major transmission problems with GM that they were experiencing, and they've since solved that. So something that actually didn't put on this list I want to talk about is also an oil consumption scenario with these vehicles that we see is the engine is known for consuming a little bit of oil. But there's also some suspension challenges. The airbags, you know, they ride nice. But that's a four thousand dollar, twenty five hundred dollar potential repair, depending where you're going. So. So how about repair costs, whether it's transmission or suspension, et cetera? I would say three thousand, six thousand dollars, depending. Once again, you know, is it under warranty still or is it denied warranty, those kind of things? All right. A little summary here on the Chevy Suburban. Overall, good vehicle does have a potential issue for some transmission problems. And like I said, the suspension and you're going to notice maybe a potential infotainment like we said, this is the Android auto, the car play wireless car plays coming out nowadays. So those are some challenges. I have a 2020 model truck, GM truck, and I sometimes have issues with mine. So like it's kind of a cross all boards there. Now, these Chevy Suburbans also have the eight cylinder and four cylinder that they shift back and forth between firing on four or eight. To me, that makes absolutely no sense. Yeah, I think you should put a big old camshaft in that thing. Get rid of that stuff. There's a company I can recommend it to anyone who wants it. You'll make more power and it will sound phenomenal. And I'll probably get a little bit better mileage, too. So I'm getting rid of that and run on a V8 like it was intended to be. But we talked about this in the last show. Driving for efficiency makes manufacturers do some challenging things and some cool stuff doesn't always pan out, doesn't always, you know, equate to reliability necessarily. But at least there's the striving for being more efficient. So I own a 2016 Chevy Suburban, and you and I had conversation about this four cylinder versus eight cylinder operation. We did. And you mentioned that there's all kinds of chips available on the market that stop this shifting out of eight cylinder and into four cylinder. But some of them don't actually completely do the job and could do some damage to the vehicle. 100%. Yeah, there are some manufacturers and I won't speak them, you know, their name, but they they're selling you a really a blank, a blank box. It's not actually doing what it says it's doing. It's just you plug it in. You feel like it's doing what it's doing, but it's really not. Or it's changing the line on the dash. It's not actually changing the engine parameters for that. And, you know, that's really, I would say, a non intrusive way to do it. You still could encounter the the issue by having a camshaft failure or lifter failure that you know what that system equates to, but at least helps keep that engine for maybe going into that, you know, V4 mode or V6 mode or whatever the case may be. And some of them, if you buy a replica brand, they do work and they can help us in the life of that engine. But equate to that to, you know, what you said, the 16, 17, all that you own. There is oil consumption issues due to some of that camshaft valve train issues that they're doing there. So and there also are some electrical problems. Nothing over the top, but there are a few. All right, let's move on to the Chevy Tahoe 2016, 2017 and also the 2021. As I said earlier, they share similar engine transmission combos. I mean, right. Chevy's had a history of this. I mean, 1955, we get the small block Chevy and it's not it didn't change pretty much up until the early 80s overall engine design, but they use it over multiple car lines. So if I look at this vehicle, I look at the Tahoe and I said to myself, oh, look at a Suburban, look at a Silverado. They're all sharing the similar problems. Engine issue, transmission problems, oil consumption. Right. It was at every single one that came off the line. No, it's the first round of batch and they fixed it. But those early trucks and SUVs were having three thousand five thousand dollar repair bills. You know, GM was replacing some engines for that. And we've since got that kind of salt. So that's a generalization of that truck. I think I'd love to lump those together for you, because it really covers multiple vehicles. So an overall summary here on the Chevy Tahoe. Yeah, I would say transmission, potential transmission problems. You know, torque converter is a common issue with that. And then once again, infotainment, you know, that's like kind of the early ages of infotainment for car play. And then oil consumption is a potential and or the camshaft, the lift are failing and you're getting a potential need to replace the camshaft, stuff like that. So. All right, crazy. The Chevy Traverse in 2018. You know, Chevy Traverse. I always liked these when these first came out. I thought they would look cool. They're a good bridge between the Tahoe and so forth. But they've had some challenging issues. Transmissions have been a pretty big issue with them. And once again, engine oil consumption. This list is littered as we review this with people. You know, as I went through this, I was building this out. This list is littered. This this car list is full of oil consumption issues, transmission problems. So this one is not did not escape that. And that repair bill can be, once again, that three to $5,000 repair bill. There was some updates made to help solve that. And you got to know, too, that as they have these issues, they're aware of it. They know it's coming. They see it and they're trying to make updates or update a part to maybe fix it. So it doesn't happen again. So it's not like if you own a 2018 and you get it fixed, it's going to do it all over again. So but the summary of this vehicle, I would say transmission is a big one. You know, potential transfer case issues, hard shifting, not, you know, holding a gear, slippage, stuff like that. So I've heard even some potential stalling problem. Yes, 100 percent or hesitation leaving a stoplight or coming to a stoplight. You get a jerky shift and it's, you know, fluid issue with the transmission fluid. So there's also been some AC air conditioning performance, not necessarily the AC system breaks, but it's actual performance in cooling the interior, which comfortability for not getting cold enough. Right. Right. All right. Moving on to the Ford Expedition, the 2017 through the 2019 transmission issues, something, you know, once again, we talked about this turbocharger. If it's an eco boost, that's a, you know, it's kind of an unknown issue there as well. Not and I want to specify something here. It's not that just because it's a turbo engine, it has problems. It's not always the same. It's this design of that turbo or how it's cooled or how it's oiled. And if you're not maintaining it right, it can the turbo can be the first thing to take the hit. Right. Sure. And then these are also having catalytic converter issues. I know someone personally who has an 18 model that just did a set of cats because the turbos went out and it destroyed the cats as well. So you started out with a, say $4,000 or, you know, $3,000 turbo bill may turn into a seven or $8,000 because now you can replace other parts around it. So another thing to talk about, Ford did make some, make some updates, whether it be a software for the transmission. They also found some parts inside the transmission, the updated with a sun, natural drums and so forth. So that's helped as well. But yeah, a summary of that or that vehicle, I would say is going to be, uh, delayed shifting is a big problem. Um, gear slipping is another big problem. Um, turbos, um, beginning to wear out, you know, whether it be, uh, oil, using oil or they're not sealing. So then you're actually getting reduced power or the, because the turbos are failing, the cats get stopped up. And then you don't really not getting that exhaust out, the exhaust pipe and the engine starts to stall. So, um, those are some challenges. Um, once again, we, we talked about this a lot, the last two shows of manufacturers pushing for efficiency and the way they can do it is make the engine smaller, put set of turbos on it. It's only using that turbo boost when it's at that right RPM. And other times it's a small engine that's efficient. So it's a bridge of two worlds, but they come with challenges. So, all right, the Ford Explorer. And when I was growing up, we always called this the Ford Exploder. Same. Yup. Um, so 2016 and 2020, you know, once again, transmission again, transmission problems. Um, and spendy repair. Yeah. It's, it's like a $5,000 fix for that. Um, you know, depending if you have a full rebuild or a swap, for example. Um, and I would say to, uh, some of this goes back to how it's maintained. You know, some of these vehicles, you probably remember the previous Exploders or Explorers. Um, you could change, you could check the oil, check the transmission fluid. You had dipstick, right? Yeah. Some of this stuff doesn't have dipsticks anymore. So like, how do you check the fluid? You know, those are either the dealer to do it. So I go back to a little bit of this. Some of these issues are yes, Ford. No, they made, maybe made a not completely built part or thought through something, but they need to be maintained. So software problems, transmission issues, they've helped solve that with a software update. Some of those, but yeah, some people might've got in due to actual failure points. So, so a summary on the Ford Explorer, I'd have to summarize that saying that probably you're going to potentially in encounter transmission problems and then also a electrical issues. And they also, um, they had some issues with, uh, interior problems where they actually get rattling inside. That's the kind of thing I've heard, uh, do some of my friends and some customers I've worked on cars throughout the years and, uh, Explorers. And they actually had some issues where parts were actually breaking inside the interior and we're rattling around. So, you know, something else, maybe it's not actually breaking down. It still runs, but you're hearing a rattle if you're going down a bumpy road. So, yeah. All right. The GMC Yukon 2016, 2017, and also the 2021. Yeah. So if you GMC take the C off of it, you have GM, which means Chevrolet as well. Uh, same exact problem we saw in the Tahoe, same exact problems we were seeing in the Suburban is, you know, transmission problems, um, you know, electrical issues, suspension, airbag issues, right. Um, so really some basic summarizations. We just talked about the Tahoe. So, but, uh, once again, they did make an update with the airbags, um, air suspension, um, or right. So that, that helped, um, solve that a little bit too. All right. Next up on the list is the Nissan Pathfinder, the 2023. Yeah. No, uh, I'm a huge Nissan guy, as you know, um, I have a 240 in my garage. Uh, love, love Nissans. I think they're great cars, great trucks, great vehicles. Um, they've had some transmission failures and, you know, not too long ago, they had a CBT and they've since gone away from that. And now they have a new nine speed trans. If you always have a new model year, you have a new transmission, for example, are you always going to have issues? Not always. I think early on manufacturing, there might be a couple of known issues. And that's part of what we're seeing here. I believe is just, you know, we know that we're getting a new transmission and there's manufacturer updates. So there could be challenges that this haven't quite seen it validated all the way through yet. So that's been a big thing. You know, it's mostly the earlier ones, not to not like, you know, 2024s are all having problems, but some of those early ones off the assembly line may have some challenges, um, with transmission problems. So that's a three to $5,000, 35, you know, 5,500 repair bill, um, and general sensor malfunctions, you know, new model years, newer trucks, newer vehicles, sometimes have that stuff where maybe the sensor is failing. He's not full fledged electrical problem. It's just basic sensor stuff. So, and that could be a $200 repair bill in your driveway with the code reader and you can decipher what's going on there. Or it can be a thousand dollar repair bill at the shop, or maybe even a dealer if it's not covering a warranty. So, um, but yeah, real summarization I guess would say is, uh, overall this, the nine speed, there's been some like rough and delayed engagement and we call it gear hunting sometimes, or like fishing for a year. Like, well, is it going to pick a gear? I don't know. Right. Or you're in between a lane change and you're shifting and it's like, what's it actually doing? Does it know what gear is in? So you're hunting. So, but better than a CVT hands down. So that was why I would say it's a summarization. I've seen a CVT transmission apart and I look at it and go, how the heck does that thing even work? It's a glorified golf cart, man. That's what I say. I mean, that's what I was, that's all I was thinking about it. Yeah. Awesome. All right, let's move on to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the 2021. You know, Jeep is really, uh, man, back in the day, Jeeps were like, kind of, they were great for off-roading, but they've really stepped their game up. I'm, you know, I have a friend that was just visiting me here recently and he just bought a real nice Jeep Rubicon with the 392 in it. That thing's I didn't ever ride it. I think it's awesome. They've really come a long way, but they still encounter problems like anyone else does. And they kind of had some transmission issues, um, suspension repairs. Right. Um, and also I want to point this out who owns Chrysler. Stellantis. Stellantis. They're a European company. So I'm not saying that makes them bad. I'm just saying there's some challenges of them knowing our, our culture in America, our driving habits. I'm not saying they don't, they're not, I'm not saying they're untouched, but their designs that they're using are sometimes European inspired or more complex. And because of that, they can sometimes encounter the similar issues that Audi or some of those European cars encounter, right. They're using similar materials or similar design specs. So they've issued, they've had some transmission issues. They've had some suspension repairs that need to be done. Um, you know, whether it be bushings or ball joints or stuff failing sooner than it probably should. Um, but they did, uh, have some recalls for that and they also had some software updates to help those transmission problems and maybe solve. So that I'm aware of fixing a Jeep, it can be pretty spendy. It can be, you know, those can be, I mean, a suspension repair can be parts and labor, you know, maybe a $2,000 bill, depending where you're getting repaired at could be a $4,000 bill, you know, transmissions always are going to be, if you met, like I said this before, line item transmission expensive is the next word after that $2,000. So, so summary on the 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Yeah. Overall, just, it's had some challenges with the transmission, uh, as we said, but also once again, infotainment screens, freezing, unresponsive, um, you know, they've, uh, encountered some, uh, overall issues with the suspension. Um, so I think it's just, uh, if you have one, you know, if you're looking at buying a used one, really have it inspected. I think that's important. All right. Moving on to one of your favorite categories, trucks. It is. I love trucks. You know, I, I love all vehicles and I've owned a few trucks over the years and, but I enjoy trucks. Maybe it's just what I do, but I like trucks. We're actually going to talk about a truck that Alex happens to own there. The vehicle of concern that we have are in previous years, but you know, I want you to really quickly tell the story about driving your 2020 Duramax from North Dakota to Seattle, Washington, and getting like 30 miles per gallon on the highway with it. And it's a heavy duty truck. Yeah. I have a one ton Duramax. It's a 2020 L5P with the 10 speed. Um, it's got some work done to it. Um, and I've, I took one on a family trip recently and, uh, Work done to it that you did to it. Work that I did to it. Yeah. I'm, uh, I guess as you could probably guess, and maybe some of our people joining us is that, uh, I usually don't let people work on my truck. I'm a very particular person. And that I don't trust them. It's just, um, you know, I want to work on it. And I'm capable. Uh, I've been blessed with the gift and I like to use it. So, but yeah, I took a family trip and, um, I've done a couple of updates to it, upgrades to really maximize, you know, uh, I would say the performance, but also the efficiency side of it. And, uh, on this trip I was able to, and obviously not saying everyone's going to get this. Um, I was very careful on my, my input of my throttle and how I was driving. I wanted to see what was the best way to get most of my, I was curious. Um, and my, my best, uh, average I've achieved was a 28.7 miles per gallon. It was my best average. Um, and equate that to the overall trip. Um, my longest run on a tank that I could have went, um, was 747 miles. Wow. And that blew me away. Um, not granted blows me away. Uh, one ton Duramax loaded with, you know, the family and the gear, the whole nine. Um, and I think it goes back to how are you maintaining your tires aired up to the right PSI, you know, are you running the right fuel in this thing, you know, and then how are you driving it? How are you treating it? So I really try to maximize that. But my total trip, my average for the entire trip was roughly 3,747 miles or 300 over 3,700 miles. I don't remember the exact number, but, uh, I still averaged in the 22 and a half range. Um, that include climbing the North Cascades, Mount Rainier, uh, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, like, you know, climbing some of these pretty large grades. I've driven that route many times myself and it's pretty mountainous. Yeah, it is. And high winds, you know, uh, poor Seattle diesel. I'll say that. The diesel in Seattle is not the greatest. So, you know, I couldn't really find that top tier diesel like I wanted, but I was able to achieve that. So, um, I believe a lot of people say, when they think trucks are like, Hey, uh, I want, I'm looking for efficiency. Why would I buy a pickup? I disagree. These new trucks are really getting in that market where you can own a pickup truck and drive it every day. Like you would a SUV, a big car, SUV, and get pretty good mileage. So, so if the kind of mileage Alex was talking about intrigues, you make a phone call to Alex and have a conversation with him about how you could potentially do that for your truck. Because if anybody knows how to get fuel economy out of a vehicle, you're looking at them. Yeah. And I mean, you know, is every truck going to get that? No. I mean, but can you, can you make some changes to improve it one or two miles per gallon or maybe three miles per gallon or right. That's better than it going out that sauce by keeping it a little bit longer. So yeah. Well, let's start here with the Ford F one 50, the hybrid 2021, 2022. These were the pandemic trucks. We talked about this for hybrids and EVs, you know, um, I'm not against them. Um, and I said, I'm pro hybrid. I actually thought Ford did a great thing making a hybrid truck. Um, and what they've had some issues with the, with the actual, not necessarily the battery, but the overall powertrain, hybrid powertrain, and then also some transmission issues, full failures. They, yes, they're covering a warranty. You know, there is a warranty form, but I mean, if you get to a certain age and mileage in that vehicle, you no longer have a warranty. Um, and so let's say you have to fix it outside of warranty, or let's say they don't decide to fix, fix under warranty and you have to have it pay that bill. You can pay a $5,000 repair bill all day long. Um, and that's, I would probably average that cost over that truck four to $5,000 for some of those issues. So in Ford did, you know, once again, we talked about this earlier in the show, you manufacture a truck or a vehicle, put it on the road and you start driving it. And as more people drive it, you say, Hey, we missed a little bit in the code here. We need to make an update to this software update. So that's some of the things they address with it. And that helped solve some of these problems, but there's definitely people who are paying some, you know, pretty hefty bills for the transmission and hybrid drive system. So a summary on the Ford F-150, the hybrid. Yeah. Overall hybrid, uh, the hybrid drive, the hybrid, uh, hybrid powertrain was a, was an issue. And then, um, equating that to also some transmission problems, um, were, were pretty common. And then, you know, uh, lane assist and driver assistant features, you know, glitchy sensors going out, you know, saying it's working, can't read the road, stuff like that. So, um, yeah, there's been some challenges there. And for a hybrid truck, a lot of people would buy a hybrid for fuel economy purposes. And this F-150 didn't get all that great of fuel economy. No, I mean, it was better. Um, but still not to the level. I think that is, that is what the people intended to get, you know, did they get better mileage? A hundred percent. So. All right. Moving on to the Ford F-250, the 2020. Yeah. You know, this is specifically kind of talking about diesels. You can get a seven three Godzilla motor in this and you're going to be eight non-diesel. Okay. Those are pretty reliable. They have a couple issues, um, you know, generalized things, but I really want to focus on diesel trucks because I think most people, if you buy F-250, they're probably getting diesel. And that's actually why, you know, most manufacturers came out with a two 50, maybe even a 3,500 or 3,350 with a gas engine to get more people buying those trucks without having the death diesel issues. So they were having, this thing has fuel pump problems, CP4 fuel pump problem. And we're going to cover this throughout this list of trucks that we're going to talk about is, uh, I mean, I know people who have spent $8,000 on a repair bill, personally know people because of fuel pump problem with that truck. Um, six, seven power stroke has had some issues. The deaf has some problems. Um, do I believe a Ford makes a bad truck? Um, am I a Ford guy? You know the answer on that. Uh, we'll leave that there, but not necessarily. Yeah. Unbiased at this wholeheartedly Ford makes a good truck. Um, but they have challenges with the deaf system. They have fuel pump challenges and that being the CP4. And if you're a Ford guy, if you're a diesel guy, if you're a truck guy, you know, that is an issue. Um, there's also like expensive repairs. Yeah, it is. I mean, like I said, this, uh, you know, some of those deaf issues can easily be three, $4,000 to fix. And if you can even get the part sometimes, you know, okay, Hey, I know it needs to be fixed, but then I'm waiting a while to get the parts. So they did do an update that helped with that. And it kind of, you know, shorten that window of trucks are having problems, but sometimes it's still, you know, the deaf system in any diesel truck is an issue. Just what it is. Now I know people who have 500,000 miles on a complete emissions compliant deep factory deaf system, never had to put a wrench on it, you know, just maintain the truck. And that is possible. So I want to, I want to make sure I state that not saying I'm against deaf or anti deaf system, but I also know that list is different. The list of people at high mileage, deaf intact systems that have never been maintained compared to people who have a diesel truck that's had a lot of deaf problems. The list is two different heights. So just want to put that out there. So, but summarizing that F2 50, uh, fuel pump issues, um, transmission issues and deaf problems, right. And that's going to be really the same for any diesel truck. All right. Moving on to the Ram 2,500. This is the 2017 and the 2022. Yep. I personally owned a Ram 2,500 2017 for all you gear heads out there. My truck was a G 56 six speed six, seven Cummins. Um, so I had a six speed manual Cummins diesel and that's every diesel heads dream is to have a manual diesel truck. And I had one, I often I have a picture of it in my wall and I often reminisce about it. But, um, that truck, I had a problem with that truck. Um, so the automatic Rams, um, the CC seven, uh, CC RFE had some, they've Rams always had transmission problems, especially in this truck, especially in the diesel truck, kind of known problem. Um, so there are some things you can do to help prevent that from happening, you know, there, but they've had full fledged failures. I just personally replaced one in our truck, one of our trucks, they've gotten cost more cost affordable, but it's still about a $5,000 bill all in. They've had deaf issues. Um, not quite as frequent as the Ford's necessarily in the deaf system, but there has been some, um, issues there. And the vessel had some electrical issues, um, particularly with the turbo BGT turbos, um, with our actuators on that side. So it's not necessarily a harness issue. That's more like a natural sensor or actuator problem. Um, and they've, they've had some wiring issues between the chassis on those two. So, um, but yeah, they do a general summary, I guess would be if you own a Ram diesel, six, seven Cummins, you need to be concerned with, um, your deaf system, making sure you're not idling long. And then also transmission problems, making sure you have the transmission serviced. I would say this, we talked about this last show, like my approach to maintenance. Um, those trucks need to have the transmission fluid service if you're using it, what it was intended to as a heavy duty pickup. So that's something that takes into account. And then also, um, once again, Apple CarPlay 17, I think was the first year or 18. I could be wrong on that, but I believe 17 or 18 was the first year for Apple CarPlay and the Ram 2,500 from the factory as an option in those trucks. And they had some glitching issues where you plug your phone and wouldn't connect or something like that. I experienced it in mine. So that's something to note. Well, now let's talk about a truck that you're driving. You're actually driving not these this year. Yours is a 2020, but you got the Duramax. So there was some problems with the 2015, 2017 Duramax. What type of issues? Yeah. So even if we go back a little bit further in, you know, a couple of years before this, even like 14, 13, that range, right. Um, the LML, um, and then 17, I believe in a 16 and a half year. So a 17 half year truck, they had an L5P, which is the same engine I have in mind. Um, so they kept a six speed, but, um, they had similar issues with the fuel pump as we just talked about in the Rams and also in the Ford. Now, um, Ford still to this day has a CP4 Ram, went back to what's called a CP3, which was, as I said, the greatest fuel pump made. It was really good fuel pump. Uh, and GM kept the CP4 up until they switched over to L5P. And so those trucks have been plagued with CP4 problems. Um, it's kind of a known thing. Also, these trucks didn't have a lift pump too. Um, so that was another challenge. So that pump's having to suck fuel, um, versus getting fuel to itself. Um, and then they've had some def issues and they had some turbo problems where, you know, where there'd be turbo seals blowing out and then you were actually superheating the intake and you're getting piston failures. So, and they also had crankshaft issues with the pins on the crankshaft. They didn't, they're not key that you have a pin. That was another problem with the Duramax is that's not necessarily a low mileage Duramax per se. That's actually a higher mileage, a truck that's been used someone's mod of tuned said truck and put some adjustments to it. Right. But, uh, so yeah, the Duramax summarized as a whole, I would say, um, they've had some, uh, CP four problems, which is equated to some major fuel issues. They're just like the Ford, just like the Ram. Right. And they also, you mentioned that a lot of these trucks share a similar type of fuel truck. They did. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so the Ford, the Ram and the Duramax at some point at a certain stage of life, they all had the same fuel pump. CP four Ford's kept it. Ram. When I went back to what they had in the previous generation, the CP three, and I believe that was in 2022, um, or 2021 half year, 2022 and GM in 19, when they went to L5P 18 to 19 at range, they went to the L5P. They put an HP four, which is a totally different manufacturer than they had before. So I would say those, yeah, they all shared that same problem. Just like we talked about, you know, similar manufacturer, same, same issue and we're carrying it over multiple truck lines, manufacturer lines. So, um, but I'm a Duramax guy. I think four power stroke has its place. I think the six seven Coleman has its place. The Duramax has its place. I personally own a 2020 L5P and a knock on wood. Praise the Lord. It's been a great truck. Uh, my truck has 170,000 miles on it. It's a 2020. So you could do the math, getting my miles out of it. And, uh, but it goes back to maintenance with these trucks. Heavy duty pickups are not a truck. They can actually take a longer beating Kevin. They can be a little bit more abused. They were built. Everything's a little bit heavier, a little bit more robust. They can take a heavier beating and maybe stretch those maintenance intervals, but just know that you're potentially gonna encounter some problems with that. So it all goes back to maintenance when you own, I think some of these vehicles on this list. Well, that's a wrap on today's show. But Alex, on the subject of trucks, you currently manage a fleet of around 25 trucks. So you definitely know what's a good, reliable truck. And if there are concerns, you know what to do about them too. So any closing comments on your favorite truck based on what's in your fleet and your experiences with reliability? Yeah, certainly. Um, so yeah, we have roughly 25 trucks. Um, we, most of our fleet is actually Rams surprisingly. Uh, you know, early in the show I did talk about like some of the challenges with the RAM pickups, um, from the CP4 pump and also the, some of the transmission issues. But for us, I actually picked that truck. We've chose that truck for a couple of reasons. Um, the cost of ownership and then also the bang for the buck and reliability with a dealership aspect. So, um, we also have Duramaxes. Um, as I said earlier, I drive a Duramax and I love that truck, but if I had to narrow that down and say, what's the, you know, overall, what's the truck that I would select or one of my favorite trucks. If you had to buy another one to add to the fleet. Yeah, I, that would be, this is a challenge for me, uh, Kevin, I'm going to say either a Duramax or, or six, seven Cummins Ram. Those are, either one of those trucks there to me, they're, they're flat across the board equal on paper. Um, I couldn't just pick one. I think both those trucks bang for the buck, overall reliability, overall cost of maintenance and overall repair costs. Those trucks are really, really both good trucks. The Ford's okay. Not saying the Ford diesel with the Ford gasser is not a good truck, but I think just from my experience of what I've owned, those two trucks are fantastic. Whether it's a Chevy Silverado Duramax or GMC Duramax or Ram 2,500 3,500 six, seven Cummins, both those trucks are fantastic vehicles. So for me, may not be the answer you want, but, um, both those vehicles are the, are the, the trucks I would pick either one of those, not necessarily answers that I want, but I'm more curious what your professional opinion is. Yeah, certainly. And I would say with that is you may ask yourself why, why would you be so, you know, these two vehicles is I go back to, you know, uh, they both get the job done with a good cost and they're not, you know, they have issues, but they're, they've have a track record of kind of a good reliability. And then when there are issues or you can fix it yourself for the most part. So, and you guys put a lot of miles on your truck, so you're getting huge longevity out of both of these trucks. A hundred percent. I have some, um, six, seven Cummins that have, um, over 200,000 miles on them that have spent their life. Not just as I call, uh, a trailer queen or a, you know, a, a city slicker truck. These are trucks that work really hard. They pull heavy loads. They spend their life in dirt and grime and rough roads. And we've not done too much major repairs. I would say we've had one, he's needed a transmission. Um, but you know, for example, my, my 2020 Duramax by L5P truck is a 2020 and it has 169,000 miles on it. So, um, roughly 169,000 miles. So like that truck has not had any major real issues, knock on wood, praise the Lord. Um, but it goes back to maintenance. It goes back to how you drive it and how you take care of it. So. Awesome. Well, I'll tell you what, friends, I can vouch for the roads being really crappy in the oil field. I've had an opportunity to drive out to a lot of these sites and, uh, wow, things fall off your dash. Your coins bounce out of your coin tray, like all kinds of crazy things. So, um, all right, friends, if you really enjoyed hearing from Alex on these vehicles today, and especially the trucks, and you appreciate him coming on the show to join me, make sure you hit the like button and subscribe to the channel because there'll be a lot more in the days ahead with Alex. You can speak directly to Alex about your vehicle. 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Thanks to all of you out there in the audience for coming back. We greatly appreciate your loyalty. If you want to direct help via our hassle-free car buying service in your next car deal, you can text Liz today at 701-441-3399. Alex, thanks again for joining me today, and I'm sure everybody in the audience appreciates hearing about all your expertise on vehicles. Glad to be here. All right. To all of our long time subscribers out there, you guys rock. God bless you all. I'm Kevin Hunter, the homework guy, home of the only totally hassle-free car buying service, and now also home of the only car buying show on YouTube who is working hard to keep you informed on the good and bad vehicles out there so you can make smarter purchase decisions. I'm signing off on behalf of the amazing Elizabeth, our car buying coaches, our auto expert, Alex Stevens, and the entire Homework Guide team. Thanks for listening.