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Comprehensive 6.6L LBZ Duramax Maintenance Guide & Parts List

The Complete guide on maintaining your 2006-2007 6.6L LBZ Duramax Diesel GM truck

Are you the proud owner of a 6.6L LBZ Duramax? If you’re reading this post, you’re probably looking for a little help in the maintenance department. As you probably know, the LBZ Duramax is one of the most sought after diesel trucks around. They’re one of the most capable pre-emissions diesels around and they can produce a lot of power with only a tuner. They were built to be durable, but the lack of emissions makes them much more reliable than the newer trucks too. Despite this, it’s good practice to take care of your LBZ and follow OEM recommendations when it comes to maintenance. In our Comprehensive Guide to 6.6L LBZ Duramax we make it easy for you, and provide you with the best service schedules to follow, maintenance parts to use, and the fluid capacities so you know exactly how much you’ll need to purchase.

LBZ Duramax Service Schedule
Duramax Gallery Submission

How Often Should I Service My LBZ?

If you want to keep your LBZ Duramax in tip-top shape, you’re going to need to service your truck at least every 10,000 miles under normal operating conditions, and at least every 5,000 miles under severe operating conditions. We’ll go into what these two different circumstances entail and it should be very clear which category you fall in. Different parts will need to be serviced at different intervals so make sure you pay attention to our LBZ Duramax Maintenance schedules, so you know what service you are approaching.

What to Do If you Just Purchased Your Truck

If you just purchased your LBZ Duramax, I strongly recommend doing a maintenance overhaul of your truck. Unless you know the person you bought your truck from, and you’re confident that they pampered the truck you just bought, I would replace all the oil, fluid, and filters found on the truck as soon as possible. They could’ve been using cheap aftermarket fluids, filters, and engine oil, so it’s best to start fresh and use the parts that were designed by the manufacturer or quality engine oils like Shell’s Rotella T4 15W-40. After the initial overhaul, follow either the normal operating conditions service schedule or the severe operating conditions service schedule.

Normal Operating Conditions Service Schedule

What does normal operating conditions mean? To follow this category, your truck is likely a personal vehicle you use for transportation and light towing. You don’t idle frequently, and you don’t do significant city driving. Most people with diesel trucks will fit in this category.

Maintenance/ServiceMilesKilometers
Change Oil10,000 miles16,000 Km
Change Oil
Filter
10,000 miles16,000 Km
Change Fuel
Filter
15,000 miles24,000 Km
Replace Air
Filter
As needed or every
30,000-45,000 miles.
48,000-72,000 Km
Flush Cooling
System
150,000 miles240,000 Km
Replace Auto
Transmission
Fluid
50,000 miles80,000 Km
Change External
transmission filter
50,000 miles80,000 Km
Change internal
transmission filter
50,000 miles80,000 Km
Replace Transfer
Case Fluid
50,000 miles80,000 Km
Replace Rear
Differential Fluid
100,000 miles or immediately
if submerged in water.
160,000 Km
Replace Front
Differential Fluid
100,000 miles or immediately
if submerged in water.
160,000 Km

Severe Operating Conditions Service Schedule

Severe operating conditions include towing heavy loads frequently, excessive idling, lots of driving in the city, and fleet vehicles. Commercial vehicles should be serviced under the severe operating conditions guidelines listed below.

Maintenance/ServiceMilesKilometers
Change Oil5,000 Miles8,000 Km
Change Oil
Filter
5,000 Miles8,000 Km
Change Fuel
Filter
15,000 Miles24,000 Km
Replace Air
Filter
45,000 Miles***
Depends on
Conditions
72,000 Km
Flush Cooling
System
150,000 miles240,000 Km
Replace Transmission
Fluid
25,000 Miles40,000 Km
Change External
transmission filter
25,000 Miles40,000 Km
Change internal
transmission filter
25,000 Miles40,000 Km
Replace Transfer
Case Fluid
50,000 Miles80,000 Km
Replace Rear
Differential Fluid
50,000 Miles80,000 Km
Replace Front
Differential Fluid
50,000 Miles80,000 Km

Tasks That Need To Be Done Every Maintenance Interval

The following tasks are things that should be done every time you service your vehicle. Whether you change your oil every 5,000 or 10,000 miles, you should be doing everything on this checklist every time you’re performing maintenance.

  • Rotate Your Tires
  • Check all tires for signs of wear or damage.
  • Thoroughly inspect steering and suspension components for wear, damage, or faulty parts. (replace if necessary)
  • Check for fluid and oil leaks by taking a look at where you most often park your truck, under the hood, and under the vehicle itself.
  • Inspect Brake Hoses & Check Brake Pads for wear

6.6L LBZ Duramax Fluid Capacity

Before you can get to work on servicing your truck, you need to know how much fluid or oil for a proper service re-fill. It’s always good to keep some extra fluid and oil around, just in case you spill some of what you bought, or a leak develops later on. The figures below may not be exact. Make sure you check dipsticks and pay attention to fill lines on reservoir tanks. There’s more information in your 2006 or 2007 Duramax Diesel supplement about servicing your truck if you need more help.

Oil/FluidCapacity – QuartsCapacity – Liters
Engine Oil10 Quarts /w Filter9.5 Liters
Auto Transmission Fluid7.4 Quarts service refill
12.7 Quarts total capacity
7 Liters
12 Liters
Manual Transmission Fluid6.3 Quarts6 Liters
Auto Transfer Case2.0 Quarts1.9 Liters
Manual Transfer Case2.0 Quarts1.9 Liters
Coolant22.0 – 31.4 Quarts20.8-29.7 Liters
Front Differential Fluid1.8 qts1.7 Liters
Rear Differential Fluid3 – 4.3 qts 2.8-4.1 Liters

2006-2007 6.6L LBZ Duramax Maintenance Parts – Fluids, Filters, and Oil

Using high quality parts, filters, and fluids is so important if you want to keep your LBZ Duramax on the road for a long time. To make it easy on our readers and fellow diesel lovers, we compiled a list of the most common LBZ Duramax maintenance parts. Take a look at the chart below. Click on the links below if you’d like to purchase the parts from Amazon! The prices are great and the shipping is awesome for Amazon Prime members.

Part TypePart #
Engine Oil15W-40 in temperatures above 0 Degrees F
Shell Rotella T4 15W-40
Shell Rotella T6 15W-40
Engine Oil FilterACDelco PF2232
Fuel FilterACDelco TP3018
Engine Air FilterACDelco A3087C
Coolant50/50 mixture of Dex-Cool
12346290
and Water
Auto Transmission Fluid
06 6-Speed
See Below
Dexron VI AC Delco 10-9243
Manual Transmission Fluid
ZF S6-650 6-Speed
GM TranSynd full synthetic transmission
fluid – GM 12378515
External Transmission
Filter (Automatic)
ACDelco TF950
Internal Transmission
Filter (Automatic)
6-Speed Auto
ACDelco TF920
Transmission pan
gasket
ACDelco 29549684
Transfer Case Fluid
Automatic
Manual
See Below
AUTO-TRAK II GM 12378508
Dexron VI ACDelco 10-9243
Front Differential FluidSAE 80W-90 Axle Fluid
Rear Differential FluidSAE 75W-90 Synthetic Axle Fluid

LBZ Duramax Steering & Suspension Components

Remember when I mentioned checking steering and suspension components as something you should do every time you change your oil? What happens if you discover one of your steering components needs to be replaced or if you just want to change your shocks because the old factory ones aren’t cutting it anymore? Below is a list of high quality aftermarket products and OEM replacement parts for many of your steering and suspension components. Steering and suspension parts are a known weak-point in the Duramax trucks because they don’t share the same robust straight axle design as Ram or Ford trucks. By replacing weak parts in your IFS, or independent front suspension, you can save yourself a lot of headaches down the road.

Maintenance/ServiceKryptoniteMoogCognito
Pitman Arm 3 Spline
Pitman Arm 4 Spline
KR6654
KR6536
K6654HD
K6536HD
N/A
Idler Arm10KDG535K6535HDN/A
Upper Ball Joint
(Stock UCAS)
KR6696K6696N/A
Lower Ball Joint
(Stock LCAS)
KR6693K6693N/A
Complete Ball Joint
set
0110BJPACKN/AN/A
Upper Control ArmsKRUCA10CK620054110-90290
Lower Control Arms
Left
Right
N/ASee Below
RK621356
RK621355
N/A
Torsion KeysKRKEY10K100012110-90269
Torsion Key BoltsN/AN/AN/A
Kit – Tie RodsKRTR10N/A110-90285
110-90283
Tie Rod End (inner)10KXDI34
10KXDI78
ES3488N/A
Tie Rod End (Outer)10KL34
10KL78
ES3609N/A
Center Link
Without Hole
for steering
stabilizer
KRCLP10DS300059A110-90285
Center Link With
Hole for steering
stabilizer
N/ADS300011N/A

LBZ Duramax Front Shock Absorbers

The Shock absorbers your LBZ Duramax comes with are very poor in quality compared to aftermarket ones like Bilstein or Fox shocks. If it’s time to replace your shocks, I strongly recommend replacing them with one of the options i’ve listed below. You will notice a huge improvement over factory ride quality.

LiftBilstein 5100Bilstein 5160
Reservoir
LiftFox 2.0
Performance
Fox 2.0
Reservoir
0-2″
24-18673525-1876180-1″980-24-663980-24-959
4-6″24-18718325-1876874-6″980-24-658980-24-960
6-8″33-186542N/A7-9″980-24-962980-24-961

LBZ Duramax Rear Shock Absorbers

LiftBilstein 5100Bilstein 5160
Reservoir
LiftFox 2.0
Performance
Fox 2.0
Reservoir
0-1″24-18674225-1876250-1″980-24-664980-24-955
2″24-19120325-1876254-6″980-24-659980-24-956
4″24-18663625-1876947-10″980-24-958980-24-957
6″33-185576N/AN/AN/AN/A

Learn More About the LBZ

Want to learn more about the LBZ Duramax? Visit some of our other LBZ Resources and articles by clicking on one of the links below.

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ABOUT Kamil

Founder of Diesel Resource and a complete diesel head. Has a little bit of problem buying too many trucks. Learn more about him by checking out his truck.