I'll take a 12-valve over a common rail any day of the week

Been working on both for years at my shop outside Houston. The common rail trucks are faster and quieter but I swear they break down twice as often. Had a 2016 Ram come in last Tuesday with injector issues - $2,800 quote to the guy. Meanwhile my buddy's 1998 12-valve has 400k miles and still runs on the original injection pump. People talk about power numbers but I see more of those high-pressure pumps fail than anything. The simplicity of the mechanical injection system just wins for reliability. Give me a P-pump and a manual trans and I'll outlast any of these new electronic trucks. Has anyone else noticed the repair frequency difference between the two?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowangonzalez1mo ago

Honestly the 12-valve is just a tractor engine that happens to be in a pickup. Hard to argue with that kind of simplicity.

grant_ross2729d ago

2000 RPM and a cloud of black smoke, yep that's basically a combine in truck form. But hey, when your glow plugs conk out at 4 AM you can just pour diesel in the intake and call it a day.