Worst Trucks Only Stupid People Buy

Did Scotty Kilmer come up with the vid title?

I work at a GM dealer in the parts dept. and the cam/lifter failure problem has provided me a good living. Thanks GM!

I bought my 1999 Toyoda Tacoma brand new. Always did the required maintenance on it including changing the timing belt about every hundred thousand miles or so and never had any problems other than a leaking power steering unit while it was still under warranty. I gave it to my daughter with over 225,000 miles on it and she is still driving it today. Of course I changed the oil regularly and naturally the tires, brakes and battery. Couldn't be more happy with it. Still running like new.

2007 Ram 1500 4.7. Not a daily driver, but I've had it 14 years. Just recently saved myself 250 bucks charging the original spark plugs myself. Surprisingly they weren't in really bad shape. Figured 17 years was enough to ask. The reason (2 reasons) I'll continue to drive this truck is the (well serviced) transmission is amazing. Granted only 235 hp, but once up to prudent speeds it reallt performs like a champ. That second reason. Not willing to shell out 4 to 5 times what I paid for this truck. Twice as much sure, but NO truck is worth 70-90 grand. That's insane.

Between 2002 and 2014 I owned 3 Dodge Cummins Diesels. Each had in excess of 250,000 miles when I traded. The first one had 275,000 when I replaced the clutch. Each extended cab, 2 w/d, the first two were standard trans. the last was a 2011, had recall problems that was finally fixed at 110,000. No more trouble. For all my lost time in the shop, Dodge gave me $2,200.00. I loved those pickups. Particularly the ones with the Std trans. Anytime I found someone from the Ford or Chevy camp willing to run I knew I would ALWAYS win. Theirs were governed to 94-96 mph, the Cummins was good to 112. After 700,000 miles on those three, I've run circles around the fathers of most of your readers. I'm 82 and still loving the memories.

I've owned a 2011 Ram 1500 since new. It's got newer version 4.7. 226,000 miles. No issues ever. Gets 20-21 hwy mpg. 4 wheel drive, standard cab. Love it

2004 Silverado with the 5.3L. Port injection. No VVT. No AFM. Just a good old solid V8. Simple engine. 3k mile oil changes and non ethanol gas in the tank.

2002 Avalanche 1500. 160k, regularly towing a travel trailer. Only major breakdown was a rear diff blowout replaced under warranty. Really liked that SUV. My family grew up in it. However it had the infamous piston slap problem that I never fixed. Sold it in 2019 when it started burning oil and a lifter started ticking. 😜

I'm a traveling nurse--I visit dying patients in rugged areas--my GMC truck, brand new, soon developed a piston ring failure problem and scratched the cylinders starting a massive oil consumption problem. I was putting buckets of oil in that thing all of which burned and caked over the entire engine bay over the next few years and made the timing chain to slip. It finally failed me during one of my emergency dying patient visits--Thanks a million GMC! (especially for failing to cover what's stated in your warranty).

I’m glad that you mentioned that basic services, like oil changes are cheap insurance. Don’t overlook it. Great work.

I just returned from camping with a Navajo family at Monument Valley. Our host runs a tourism facility involving pickup trucks modified with open seating for 15 people instead of a traditional bed. He showed me the parking lot where they park the trucks. One thing I quickly noticed. About 90% of them were GMT800s. The rest were GMT400s and a handful of GMT900. Most were model years between 2001 and 2003, he said. He explained why the company focuses on the GMT800 platform. "Our trucks have a very hard life. We use them to moving heavy loads every day across hundreds of miles of unimproved, dirt roads, and with minimal maintenance, day after day, year after year. If they break down, we lose money. If they require too much maintenance, we lose money. We change the air filters more often than usual and we run fresh synthetic oil every 3000 miles, and that's about it." They avoid diesel engines because of maintenance costs and unreliability. Most of them are 5.3s or 6.0 vortecs. The interiors receive zero maintenance and all were extremely dirty and many with broken armrests and door handles. The beds have all bed removed and replaced with fabricated heavy steel bleacher seating to accomodate 12-15 people with sun canopies. They run these trucks hard and have learned lessons on which trucks will survive their harsh use case and which ones don't.

I have the GM 5.3 with the active fuel management. One of the AFM lifters broke. Pulled the head, got the lifter replaced. Almost exactly a year later, another one broke. This time, the lifter twisted inside the plastic lifter guide, of course scoring up the camshaft. Long story short, it turned out to be a bad oil pump, which makes the AFM system work. About a year after the second lifter and oil pump issue, the A/C belt broke, and as it was whipping around, it broke the VVT sensor. I’ve always been a fan of GM’s. I have a 2000 half ton with 320k miles, all original except for the water pump and alternator. But the AFM system suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!

I traded in a 2006 F-350 Super Duty 6.0L, which, by the way, had every single problem you've described, for a 1999 F-350 Super Duty 7.3L. That was 7 years ago ago, and the 1999 is still running great in an every day usage. I've put over 100,000 miles on the truck and would not hesitate to drive it all around the USA. It has 246,000 miles on it and is as strong as ever. The thing that kills me the most about virtually ALL these automotive disasters is that in almost ALL cases, the poor designs were directly a result of some rediculous government CAFE standard. My '06, for example, could NEVER get better than 12 MPG. That is before mandated Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve failed causing coolant to enter the cylinders. AFTER I performed the brazenly heinous criminal act of deleting the EGR valve, the truck could regularly achieve 16 to 18 MPG. So, I guess the political save the planet geniuses think that a 12 MPG truck will pollute less than an 18 MPG truck. And THAT was before the craze of burning urea with fuel oil for EXTRA CLEANLINESS crept into their twisted political minds. Hint: all this anti pollution, save the planet mandate garbage is DESIGNED to reduce reliability and increase cost to EVERYONE. Funny how all the wildlife population that we are supposed to be making extinct with pollution is absolutely flourishing. If you use a little common sense and don't blindly accept the fact that we're killing the planet, it's pretty clear to see that it's the GOVERNMENT that wants to "kill the planet" so they can declare a crises, rush in and suspend freedom to "save us" from ourselves. EVIL has to appear as virtue in order to advance. Let's stop giving it the highball signal to destroy everything good!

I have a 99 f250 super duty with the Triton 5.4 and all I've had to do is valve cover gaskets and spark plugs and the spark plugs aren't as bad ass everyone talks about, proper torque and anti seaze and boom, the truck ever drove across country before I fixed the oil leaks and did amazing!

MY 2004 5.4 FX4 is now 20 years old with 174,000 miles and has been one of the most reliable vehicles I've owned. Still looks great too. I've used Mobil1 full synthetic in almost everything since 1990 though. If you sell enough trucks some people are going to trash them because it's what they do.

I wish Ford would go back to building the old basic F-100 with the inline six and three on the tree. Had a 1960 f-100 and it ran like a top for 24 years. Just a basic truck with a bench seat. Truly a gem.

I own an 09 Tacoma off road being a cali owned truck I’ve been lucky not to deal with major rust however my advice to all truck owners get your maintenance done regularly better to spend less than thousands later

I've owned two 1st gen Colorados, an 06 I sold with 200k+ and a 12 I sold with 130k+. Never had any engine problems... and I beat them.

I've have a 5.4L Triton V8 in my 2010 F150 and I've never had a problem. It's 14 years old with 126k miles and not one problem. I changed my spark plugs myself at 80k miles and I was sweating bullets in 30° weather, but they all came out and all were replaced no problem. Engine runs like a peach!

I`ve had P/U trucks since 1978 and never had any serious problems, just routine maintenence and some starters W/Punps and alternators, They were bought new and used in a masonry company all 4WD and all FORDS. Diesel and gassers and never went more than 4000 miles between oil changes. I think I bought my last one this year, a F350 6.2 gasser and I`m 71 years old now. No more working for me or my truck. Were going cross country this spring with the pup.