Chevy died again

[DPelletier]

Well, my superintendant comes to me this morning and tells me that his (company truck) 1993 K2500 chevy 6. 5 turbo diesel is barely running and smoking excessively just like it did 10 months ago. Last time, I took it to the dealer and $ 4,700. 00 later it ran again. It had about 135,000 mi on it at the time. They rebuilt the heads (apparently had bent valves) and replaced the injection pump. Now it has 150,000 mi. on it and it appears to be doing the exact same thing. I had expected a diesel (even a car-like diesel such as a GM), to last a little longer than this. I gave my super one of the F150's with the 300 6cyl for now, whilst I ponder how much money I am going to waste on it this time. Truck is probably only worth 8,000 or $9,000 when it is running properly, but I won't get much for it as it sits. By the way, I have three F150's with between 150,000 and 200,000 miles on them and none have had any drivetrain work done at all. Oh, and they cost significantly less to buy than the 6. 5 td in the first place! This thing is giving diesels a bad name.

Anyways, I mainly need to vent.

I should probably ask this question in the conversion forum, but has anyone swapped a 5. 9 into a chevy diesel? It might be worth keeping if it had a cummins in it.

Dave

 

[Chipstien]

It can be done but you would probably be better of on taking the loss and buying a dodge.

 

[Motorhead]

Can't beat the little 300 Ford 6cyl. At UPS, we had alot of vehicles powered by them. They could take alot of ABUSE!! We had one Econoline that ran 424,000 miles on an engine. Never had the head off and only had a timing gear set put in. Chris

 

[lmills]

I have a friend that has one of the 1500 HD chevy's with the turbo diesel in it. At about 90,000 the turo went and took the motor with it. He has also had 3 trannys in it. Pretty bad when they can't make a transmission to hold up behind one of those.



On another note, I just sold a bone stock 88 chevy 1500 silverado with 287,000 trouble free miles. I guess if you want a durable chevy motor you need to buy a gas motor.

 

[Morphious]

I had a 95 gmc 6. 5, when it had 90k miles on it, the injection pump went out... after having it rebuilt, it started going out again 10k miles later (a months time frame). I had to get rid of it and bout the dog. That was the last GM product that I have bought, was a die hard chevy fan before that, but after 2 lemons in a row, I'd had enough.



Morph.

 

[DPelletier]

Thanks for the replies,

Chipstein, I know it would be way easier just to buy a dodge/cummins, but in order to get rid of the chevy, I am going to have to rebuild it again! I only thought that if someone makes a conversion kit, I would much rather sink the $5,000. 00 towards a cummins transplant (even if it was a used engine) than waste the money rebuilding the piece of s**t 6. 5. I'd have more faith in the longevity of a cummins with 150,000 mi on it than a brand new crate 6. 5. By the way, the dealer quoted me $14,000. 00 for a brand new 6. 5!!!







Not sure if this was installed or not!



Dave

 

[lmills]

I would put a post in the diesel conversion board. There are quite a few guys on this board that have put the Cummins in other applications including chevy trucks. I am sure they would more than gladly point you in the right direction for what you need.

 

[Briar Hopper]

A big block Olds 350 can be had relatively cheap in salvage yards, or by buying a running car. Do a transplant, converting the truck to gas, with the right donor parts it can be done for under $2000.

I have friends that converted their diesel station wagons in this manner.

On the other hand, if you can find a replacement diesel engine as cheap as possible, that'd be an option.

 

[DPelletier]

Thanks for the info.

Briar Hopper, I knew that the old 5. 7 chev diesel was a converted Olds 350, but I wasn't sure if the 6. 5 (and the 6. 2) shared dimensions such as motor mounts and transmission compatiblility? That would be an easy out for sure. FYI, all Olds engines share motor mounts and transmission hook-ups etc. It is easy to replace any Olds small block engine (of the same bank angle) with a big block. Maybe I'll lever in a 455! Cheapest way to make a really fast car is to put a 455 in a trans am that originally had a 403 olds small block smog motor (preferrably a big-valve toronado engine).



Thanks

Dave