Duramax questions

[David Pendleton]

I know, I know. This isn't a Chevy board, but I have a friend who wants a diesel vehicle. He's currently looking at older Suburbans with the D-MAX.



I heard somewhere (maybe here) that the older D-MAX's had some problems (block related?). I've told him to wait until I could verify this, but I don't remember, exactly where I saw this info.



This isn't a question of convincing him to buy a Ram, he wants room for his family and thinks the Suburban is a good bet. A pickup isn't going to work for him or he'd buy a Ram like mine.



As a side note, are the Ford/International offerings in this class (Excursion) any better?



Can anybody point me in the right direction for the lowdown on the D-MAX? Good years, bad years?



Thanks all.



David

 

[b.j.oneill]

There are no Subs w/ D-Maxs the older ones had the 6. 5

 

[David Pendleton]

Okay then, the 6. 5.

 

[RonaldLarson]

The 6.5 L

is already a bomb, so without modification, they are most likely to explode in stock form. Worst engine ever offered to the public since the Corvair aluminum flat six, or the Vega four. Stay as far away as possible. Diesel engines have a following of afficienados

who take pride in knowing all they can about their engines. I think that if your friend thinks that a Duramax is the same as the 6. 5, he should buy gas power. This is not intended as a put-down, only good advice. Frankly, why would he be interested in a Duramax anyway?

Ron

 

[JoeyD]

David, I know I will get many comments like ol ron's, but the 6. 5 is not like that. It is no Cummins or PSD but it is a good motor. If you are towing for a living then no don't buy one but in a Burb it is fine. What year is he looking at? 94 was a bad year for injector pumps but would surely have been replaced with a better one by now. 97 or newer has the latest cooling updates. I have a 98 and have no trouble with it. Check out The Diesel Page for more info on it.

 

[cold Diesel]

My neighbor and good buddy has a 96 6. 5 chevy diesel. It needed a new injection pump every 30K without fail at around $1100 a pop. His completely blew up at only 135K miles and it now has a 454 in it as he hated the thing. Oh yeah he never towed a thing with it either! He said it was the biggest POS he has ever owned period. His words not mine.

 

[tntway]

personally....

and don't bomb me for this, but, barring getting a 2500 and having it converted to a suburban type vehicle..... i'd go with the excursion. i just can't bring myself to think of me EVER being in a chevy... ...



only problems with the excursion are that you need supplemental oxygen, and the back seat is in another county... ...

 

[JoeyD]

Originally posted by cold Diesel

My neighbor and good buddy has a 96 6. 5 chevy diesel. It needed a new injection pump every 30K without fail at around $1100 a pop. His completely blew up at only 135K miles and it now has a 454 in it as he hated the thing. Oh yeah he never towed a thing with it either! He said it was the biggest POS he has ever owned period. His words not mine.

The injector pump would have been covered under warranty until 100K.

 

[nickleinonen]

i have had one injection pump change on my 'hoe 6. 5td 1997 year. it was done at 15,000km. the stayadine [sp?] pumps need some extra lube to keep them going. i run stp diesel fuel treatment in every tank and i have not had a problem since. the big thing that goes on them is the PMD [pump mounted driver] which controls the fueling. it is suppose to be cooled by the fuel in the pump, but it doens't do the job all that well. you can get external coolers that relocate the PMD [or FSD as some call it fuel solonoid driver] to a big aluminum heatsink some with cooling fans. it helps quite a bit to remove the plastic "turbo power" cover from the top.



"My neighbor and good buddy has a 96 6. 5 chevy diesel. It needed a new injection pump every 30K without fail at around $1100 a pop. His completely blew up at only 135K miles and it now has a 454 in it as he hated the thing. Oh yeah he never towed a thing with it either! He said it was the biggest POS he has ever owned period. His words not mine. "



something does not fit here. unless he was getting some real bad fuel or was putting methanol in the fuel [some truckers do that in winter] the pump should last longer, unless it was the overheating of the PMD that caused the failure.



one other thing. . gm knew about the pumps being a little weak, so they have a revised warrenty on the pumps. i think the 1996 model year is covered by it. it covers the injection pump for 11 years and 193,000 km's [120,000 miles] i have the letter somewhere. . if i dig around for it, i can scan it and post it on the net to prove that.



[edit - found the letter. will scan and post under misc images in my sig link. covers 1994 - 1998 model years]



i am pretty happy with my 6. 5TD. after removing the emission stuff on it [it is useless - cat and egr on the light duty "S" versions - i got that don't work well] other than problems with that and the one pump and leaky oil cooler lines, no other problems with the engine.



the diesel subs are pretty ok. they have the "F" version of the motor that has 195 - 215 hp [depending on year] and around 420 trq. they move ok.



best bet to keep that pump alive is to run some fuel additive that lubes the pump.