GM turbo diesel, any good?

[KOdegaard]

Can anyone inlighten me on the 90's GM turbo diesel.

The reason I ask is I would like a Suberban with a diesel,

I was toying with the idea of a CTD trans plant into one

and ran across a few of these GM units on Ebay.

Are these the converted gas engines form the 80's

that as I recall were junk?



TIA

Kirk

 

[DPelletier]

No,

The 5. 7 GM diesel was a converted olds 350 small block and had the well deserved reputation of being garbage. In fact, I believe that this engine is single handedly responsible for turning many people off of diesels to this day.



The 6. 5TD grew out of the older 6. 2 (which was a replacement for the infamous 5. 7). The 6. 2 was reasonably reliable albeit very weak on power. The 6. 5TD had OK power for its day, but wasn't robust enough to take much modification. High EGT's and an aversion to higher boost levels prevented it from having the potential of an early Cummins or Ford 7. 3.

I still own a '93 6. 5TD and it ran wonderfully up until about 150,000 mi after which time it required two top-end rebuilds (plastic valve keepers, sheesh!) and suffered a catastrophic failure of its dual mass flywheel which cost me mega $'s.

In a nutshell, I would think that the 6. 5TD is adequate if its got relatively low mileage and isn't used to tow really heavy or really often. No amount of money can make it as strong and as reliable as a Cummins, but then again, the Cummins is truly in a class by itself. There were some additional issues around the electronic versions (post '94?) and you would likely learn some usefull information on the GM diesel page.



How'd I do, JUeckert?



Dave

 

[Grizzly]

In a word NO, GM has a long way to go before I would consider them. Stay with Cummins, I'm very happy with mine. Grizzly

 

[KWeber]

I have had experience with only one; and it wasn't stellar.

It WAS in a 1995 Chev crewcab dually 4x4. It made 141,000 kms without any major mechanical problems. Apparently it was saving up for the big one.

It blew a head gasket, so we thought. After teardown, it was discovered that the deck was improperly prepared from the factory on one side. It was pitted and uneven.



The truck was off of warranty by this time. It now has a 24v Cummins install in the works.

Aside from that I've heard of many that have had fuel pump issues.

 

[DThelen]

I'm still driving around one of the old junk 350 diesels. I have a 1981 Delta 88 that makes 62 miles round trip every day. The thing don't burn hardly any fuel when its at Idle. I chould let it warm up for a 1/2 hour before I left for work this last winter and got the same mileage weather If I just drove off with it. Wish My 99 dodge would do that. I leave my dodge idle for 1/2 hour my milage goes to pot.



25 mpg winter

30 mpg summer



Dan

 

[DCaswell]

I put over 300k on a 98 1 ton auto which pulled alot of loads between 8 & 12k. Oil & F every 3k & did transmission service every 40k. One set injectors & 2 starters in that time.

When I traded it off on a CTD it was totally crap. Wouldn't pull up a dandelion from the lawn. Pretty sure mine was the exception to the rule but I think if you found a low mileage one & didn't use it to haul a trailer it would last fairly well with regular servicing

 

[KOdegaard]

Thanks all, think I will pass on the GM oil burner.

 

[JUeckert]

something told me to tune in tonight after being offline a couple of days,just think, i almost missed out on you turning over[ok, slightly turning] a new leaf dave ,very proud! back to topic,yep i like the little gm diesels,seen some with 300k+ very hard miles,seen some that didnt make it to a 150k being babbied,actually i think thats the seceret to gm diesels,drive the **** out of them!

 

[DHayden]

I've experienced them in the 1 1/4 ton and Blazer military trucks. I have had a few friends with them also both 6. 2 and 6. 5L neither one of those engines installed in something with wheels could get out of its own way. I wouldnt even recommend them for boat anchor duty but maybe if you cleaned them up good they would make a decent artificial reef :-laf