DDEC sounds great on paper and you do get better fuel mileage. But-have the ECU go out once and have to pay for a tow and repair bill-and all that savings go down the tubes. Give me mechanical any day. One of the many reasons I'm converting my '85 Kenworth-mechanical Cat 3406B. Not one electronic control on the whole truck.
Tom, you work with modern heavy trucks every day. How many ECUs are failing out in the field? I would guess that the vast majority of heavy trucks these days have electronic engines.I would agree that for someone with mechanical skills a mechanical engine is going to be easier to fix. I'm just not convinced that ECUs fail that often. Modern cars are fully electronic and how often do you hear of an ECU failure on cars?