Chevrolet diesels reach RDI Power as 2 kinds of truck: Silverado HD pickups that tow and haul, and commercial Chevrolets built to work, from chassis cabs and medium-duty Silverados to Express cutaways. Brian, our service advisor, spent 35 years as a technician at a Chevrolet dealership, so the trucks and their quirks are familiar before they reach a bay. For the engine-by-engine Duramax breakdown, see our GMC Duramax page; this page is about how Chevrolet trucks get used and what that does to them.
Silverado 2500HD and 3500HD pickups
Steering and front end
Silverado HDs use independent front suspension with torsion bars. On 2001 to 2010 trucks, the idler arm and pitman arm wear out and the steering gets loose and wanders. Tie rod ends and ball joints follow on trucks that carry plows, service bodies or heavy bumpers. We check every joint for play, replace what is worn and set the truck up on our truck alignment equipment.
Towing loads
A Silverado pulling a gooseneck in August puts its cooling system, Allison transmission and brakes under the most stress they will ever see. Fluid condition, transmission temperature history and brake wear tell us how hard the truck has been working. Our post on Silverado repair and maintenance concerns covers more owner questions.
Commercial Chevrolets
Silverado 3500HD chassis cab and 4500HD to 6500HD
Chevrolet returned to medium duty with 4500HD, 5500HD and 6500HD trucks built in partnership with Navistar and powered by the 6.6L Duramax. These carry dump bodies, service bodies, wreckers and flatbeds. Besides engine work, they bring upfit wiring, PTO circuits, heavier brake loads and bigger tires into the picture.
Express vans and cutaways
Older Express vans and cutaways ran the 6.6L Duramax, and later vans offered a 2.8L Duramax. Cutaways sit under shuttle buses, ambulances and box trucks, which means long idle hours, heavy electrical loads and constant stop-and-go. Charging systems, brakes and cooling get extra attention on these units; see bus repair and first responder vehicles.
Kodiak
Chevrolet’s earlier medium-duty truck, built through 2009 as a twin of the GMC TopKick, with Duramax power offered in the lighter models. Plenty are still working, and parts research is part of the job.
Colorado and Silverado 1500 diesels
The Colorado offered a 2.8L Duramax 4-cylinder, and the Silverado 1500 offers a 3.0L Duramax inline 6. Both carry a DPF and DEF, so short-trip driving and aftertreatment health go hand in hand.
Fleet Silverados and Express vans
Contractors, delivery operations and municipalities run Silverados and Express vans in numbers, and the same few items come up across a fleet: brakes worn by stop-and-go work, charging systems strained by idling and accessories, and DEF and DPF warnings on trucks that rarely see the highway. Fleet plans schedule PM around those patterns so the problems get caught in the bay.
How we approach a Chevrolet
We start with a road test and a full scan of every module, then inspect the truck on the lift with the work it does in mind. A fleet Express gets its charging system and brakes measured; a towing Silverado gets its front end, cooling and transmission data checked. Every finding lands in a digital report with photos and the technician’s comments. Engine-level detail lives on our Duramax service page.
Chevrolet warning signs worth a visit
- Loose steering, wander or a clunk from the front end
- Transmission temperature climbing when towing
- Charging or battery problems on a van that idles for hours
- DEF, DPF or check engine warnings
- PTO, lighting or upfit circuits acting up on a work body
Fleets running Silverados and Express vans can put them on an RDI Fleet maintenance plan. For a single truck, call with the year, the VIN and what it is doing, and we will plan the visit.