GM 6.2 with grid heater not Plugs

[NWhitney]

Is there a way to modify a set of 5. 9 Grid heaters, relays, sensors, and controller to work on a 86 cheby 6. 2. Glow plugs are dead, controller dead, and our FD is looking at takeing ownership of it (free of course). It is better than our 72 FURD with no PS or Power Brakes. We would like a late 12valve or early 24valve but this will be a better stop gate than a gasser. Top of the intake on the 6. 2 looks like a standard gasser V-8 intake runner, just no carb bolted to the top of it.

 

[Jed]

Is this by chance a surplus military vehickle? If it is a 3/4 ton 4wheel dr. It may be a cucv. In any case rebuilding the glow plug system will be far better and cheaper. How do you know that the glow plugs are toast? When my controller went out I bought glow plugs thinking that must be it. All of my glow plugs were just fine. If they are not melted obviously damaged they are good. controller is an easy fix. I have put 50,000 on mine in the last 5 years with no problems other that a rebuilt pump. No power but a good solid truck that will climb just about anything.

 

[JUeckert]

whitey,if needed reinstall new glow plugs, and rig them on a momentary push button switch,it will be cheaper and much more effective. i have done all my 6. 2 trucks this way,and i'am much happier with the setup. if you have a good injector pump,and live in a warm climate,or have the engine the least bit warmed up,you would be suprised as to how little you will have to use the plugs and how many years they will last. . p. s. you can run a hot wire from the battery,and touch it to the tab of the glow plug to test it. weak or no spark means bad plug,good spark means hot plug. .

 

[MMiller]

I don't think an inlet heater will sufficiently heat the precombustion chamber itself to get the fuel to fire on startup. It is necessary to get the precombustion chamber itself hot enough to get the fuel to burn and then light the combustion chamber.



I don't think you'll get the 6. 2 to start otherwise.



Michael

 

[nickleinonen]

hotwire it with a switch... had to do this to the old 90 6. 2 we use to have. worked great and dirt cheap to do. i remember we used a few relays in parallel to handle the load [and if one went bad, all them relays went toast pretty quickly]

 

[NWhitney]

Jed, Yes this is a Military Surplus Truck. 1 Ton SRW LWB St. Cab 4X4. It is currently owned by the local cops and they are going to donate it to us.



Both Batteries are flat so it is hard to test and see how much is bad, my chief says he started it last fall and the plugs did not work then (he is a diesel mech. ) I was hoping that a grid heater would work but sounds like it is not a good option.



On the glow plugs, are there some that are better than others (GM vs. aftermarket), same for controller. I think we will have to use a controller and not go to a switch, some people have trouble starting the 72 gas let alone having to remember to hit a button before starting the diesel.



Some one told me that the 6. 2's used 6volt glow plugs and you could convert them to 12volt plugs, Fact or Fiction??



Thanks for all the help on the non-cummins cheby

 

[FordCummins]

I think Kennedy Diesel sells glow plugs for the 6. 2 that they claim are so heavy duty they can stay on continuously without burning out (not that you would want to do this anyway) but it would save the headache of changing them again if a standard one burned out. Id call Kennedy, they seem to be pretty good on the 6. 2 parts. I also agree with the momentary push button setup for the GPs. A whole lot simpler to do and diagnose any future problems. If you are looking for a cheap glow plug relay replacement, look at Napa GPR-109. Its about 30 bucks, and worked great on my ol PSD.

 

[JUeckert]

nw,glow plugs can be had at several places. there is nothing wrong with ac brand plugs,they rank with the best of them. word of caution,there were a couple of different plugs used in the 6. 2 and newer 6. 5 engines,yet they will all exchange over as for fitting and wireing harness hooking up. the most common plug in a 6. 2 was a 9g late ,11g plugs could be had as a replacement and came on later model 6. 5 engines. this being said,the plug used in military 6. 2 engines was called a 8g i think. i bought a military blazer 6 years back,one of the probs was bad glow plugs,seems 8 g was what was on them,dont know the difference. bought a military service manual on the gm vehicles about 2 weeks back,hadnt had time to scan it over. long story short,i put 9g plugs back in it and wired it on a push button,no probs since. . oh yea,some plugs operated on a 6 volt current[9g ]if i remember correct.