Protect Your Brand New Duramax

[More Power]

While it is getting a little crowded under the hood of the new trucks, you can still see quite a bit of aluminum. From the block deck up most of the engine is made using aluminum... Raw, uncoated, naked, vulnerable aluminum. Every aluminum casting, every aluminum pipe, every aluminum bracket, every bit... is highly vulnerable to the effects of time, moisture and especially the highly corrosive nature of road salt and de-icer. What had been beautiful, bright and shiny aluminum the day you first drove it home from the dealership, it all turns a nasty and ugly powdery flat battleship gray over time, as road de-icer and other contaminates suck the life out of that naked uncoated aluminum. Now, those living south of the freeze line might feel their engine is safe from aluminum corrosion because you don't live where road de-icer is used. But, the aluminum components on those engines will suffer from surface oxidation and corrosion no matter where you live... perhaps just not quite as bad.

What can a new truck owner do to both protect his investment and maintain the awesome appearance of this state-of-the-art in high tech diesel engine? Glad you asked!



Dupli-Color, the manufacturer of an expansive line of automotive spray paints, offers a high temperature clear that won't deteriorate at engine temperatures (this paint is rated for 500 degrees F)and will provide corrosion protection for all of those shiny aluminum bits on your engine.

Sometime soon after buying your brand new diesel pickup you should spend an hour or so protecting all of the aluminum you can see under the hood.

Step 1- Remove the airbox and other plastic components, exposing as much of the brightwork as you can (ie. air management systems) so you can see more of the aluminum components like the cylinder heads, valve covers, serpentine brackets, alternator, water pump, cam timing cover, air conditioning compressor/pipes, etc. without going overboard in disassembly.
Step 2- Lightly powerwash the engine to remove any dust.
Step 3- Let the engine dry.
Step 4- Spray paint the aluminum, while masking off all of the non-aluminum or painted parts. Give the aluminum two coats.



The time to do this is when your truck is new... or you've had the engine apart for service work. If your truck ever needs a new alternator, a new A/C compressor, new head gaskets or any other aluminum part - clean/buff/polish and paint it before it goes back on. The spray can pictured above is several years old - still sprays just fine.

I wish I'd done this for both my 2001 GMC and Lil Red when their engines were brand new. I did do some of this on Lil Red, when it got new head gaskets a couple of years ago. It's alternator, A/C compressor and valve covers were coated with the spray can pictured. Wish I'd had the time for a buff/polish as well.

Jim Bigley

[DieselDavy]

Great Idea! I'll have to remember this when I get my next new truck. (every 25 years, weather I need it or not!)

[More Power]

Great Idea! I'll have to remember this when I get my next new truck. (every 25 years, weather I need it or not!)

I'm always impressed with custom engines, like those that Gale Banks uses for different projects. He uses a lot of red paint on the aluminum, which is cool. I also think some "cut and polish" would look great too, if it can be protected from corrosion. I really wanted to paint the upper valve covers using red paint on Lil Red's Duramax while it was apart, while the lower valve covers I wanted to polish/clear-coat. But, I just ran out of time when it was apart. However, even if the aluminum isn't polished, new aluminum looks great when clear-coated, and it'll stay that way for a long-long time.