So would you buy a diesel suburban?

[CRSmith]

I know, I know, the 6. 5 is a horrible pulling motor. But, let's say that it was in a suburban that was only used for the family truckster. Any towing duties would be left up to the CTD.



I want a suburban, but don't want to buy gas for a struggling 350, or a thirsty 454. The 6. 5 seems like a good alternative to the gas motors from a mileage standpoint. I hear the injection pump problem was fixed in the '96 model year. Are the stories of crank breaking all that common?

 

[Ncostello]

From what I've gathered on 6. 5's, 1993 was the last mech injection pump year which was somewhat reliable in diesel terms. The 1994 year introduced the electronic pump and a host of problems. Most problems including pumps, blocks, etc was cured by 1999 and 2000 model years. The years in between are iffy to me. I'm not the 6. 5 expert at all.

 

[nickleinonen]

i had one injection pump die on me when i had my 97 tahoe 6. 5TD. it died from a failed optical sensor inside the pump i think @ 20,000km. that was the only injection related problem. engine lube oil cooler lines were a weak point, they decided to leak at the crimp seal between the rubber flex & aluminum hardline pretty much on the clock at 35,000km [i had it fixed once, then i just wrapped the lines with shop rags so it didn't drip on the driveway the next time they started leaking] mine was the l56 version of the engine which had an egr system that worked terrably. it would jam up, which would plug up the cat on it. this happened a few times, and after the last time i had it fixed at the dealer, i "fixed" it myself for good when i put the 4" straight pipes on it, and custom made a 1/16" solid aluminum gasket for the egr valve. a sub. has the l65 version which has no egr system, but still has cat. . trans will be the 4l80e which is a very nice trans [electronic OD version of the th400] rear brakes need to be manually adjusted as the "self adjusters" didn't work real well i think. the PMD was the weak point on the injection pumps, but there were pmd [aka fsd] cooler/relocation kits avalable to keep it cool, and removing the plastic "turbo power" cover was also useful from removing heat from the pump... oh, and if the front end hasn't been greased at every oil change the idler arm might be toast. it is a pain to get at [you need to drop the front plastic splash shield] and is often forgotten. [iirc, there was 10 or 11 points plus the slip on the front driveshaft]



i ran mobil1 15w50 in my 6. 5TD and did oil changes about every 6000-10000km and it used about 1 liter of oil between oilchanges, but the oil cooler lines were weaping... changed 3 rear u-joints out [one under warrenty, 2 myself], castrol syn 75w90 front/rear diffs. mobil1 atf in trans/t-case... hmm, i miss my old tahoe sorta... it was a nice truck

 

[Big Dawg]

http://www.dieselsuburbans.com/





Scroll to the bottom and click on:



A MUST READ

Diesel Suburban Facts

 

[Chris N5CWM]

I had a 1994 Chev K2500 with the 6. 5TD and it was a fine truck.

Never had any problems over the 6 years I owned it.



The 6. 5 does have some problem areas but they are not major expense items. Check out the forum dedicated to the 6. 5 :



http://forum. thedieselpage.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb. cgi



I'd have one now but have no need for one and the wife is happy with her Trailblazer (GM please offer a diesel option in something other than the HD pickups!).



Find one that has been TLC'd and the owner has kept service records. The nice low mileage well kept ones are HARD to find!

 

[jjohn]

reduaram I had a 1995 L56 Yukon 2 door

I drove it the first 38K miles with 2 different BD chips and liked it enough. I sold it to a guy who I am still in contact with and he still drives it with well over 100k miles. He has had the injection pump replaced (Paid by gm back then).



I pulled a small Travel trailer up hunting a time or two. It did Ok.

not spectacular.

It really shined just pulling itself around with the BD performance chip... . snappy and an easy 20MPG.



It also rode nice I can't take that away from it.

 

[WadePatton]

No, but I'd buy a Ramcharger with a Cummins!

 

[Bill Lins]

I'd love to have a diesel Suburban once the Duramax has proven itself over a period of years.



Alternatively, if I could find a good, clean Suburban or Excursion with a bad engine & transplant a Cummins into it, I'd be a happy camper! Oo.



I wouldn't even consider one with a "sick-5" unless it was cheap enough to swap a Cummins into.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Broken crankshafts

I heard one of the biggest contributing factors to broken cranks on the 6. 5s is a stretched timing chain. This lets the valve and injection timing bounce around and cause preignition which batters the bottom end. Replace it with a quality double roller and chances are the bottom end will hold up quite well.



Vaughn

 

[rholcom2]

I have a friend that has a 94 Chevy 2500 truck with the 6. 5 diesel in it. The truck has had 3 cranks, 2 sets of heads on it, and 4 transmissions. I KNOW that the truck has been ran hard, so this may not help you much, other than knowing that you wont run it as hard as this boy has. And probably wont have the problems due to no hard running.



(by running hard, I have seen him fire it up at about 10 degrees and hold it to the floor out the driveway and down the road, its pulled 25K + worth of drywall on a gooseneck at one time, for 300 miles. He likes to go off roading alot as well, and often times, a four wheel drive tractor is needed to get him out, I am pretty sure that the last crank that was broke, broke while doing doughnuts on the ice for... ... ... . mabye 25 or 30 minutes, just some of the things that I have seen happen to this truck, that makes me think that its pretty amazing to take this abuse every day)

 

[C. Harlan]

when I got out of high school, I was an apprentice for learning about these pumps. . I believe they are the DS 5288 pumps... The optical sensor read the 512 grooves on a special ring. . someway, somehow, it could diagnose what the heck was going on in that pump. . alot of the problems were related to the sensor going out. Just thought I would chime in.



-Chris-

 

[CRSmith]

Thanks for all the info fellas. I'm keeping my eye out, but these things are RARE.