Educate me on the GM 6.5 turbodiesel engine please!

[cbass94]

I have a chance to buy a GM 6.5L turbodiesel with quite a few bells and whistles on it. Problem is that I don't know much about this engine yet. What do people know about it? Enlighten me to see if this is something I might want...

 

[catmandoo]

what year,the 92-93 turbo's had mechanical inj pumps and wastegates.the 94-up used an electronic pump and wastegate.these are notorious for eating the the pump mounted fuel solenoid driver(fsd,or pmd).a quick easy fix for this is to get an extension harness and move it up to the radiator support so it can get some cool air.92-95 used the obd-I system,96-up uses the obd-II.95 up has the newer style dash.they aren't a powerhouse like a powerstroke or cummins,but you could get them in a 1/2 ton.the later 98-99 use an updated cooling system with dual thermostats.some 97-98 had issues with mainweb cracking.

 

[FormerOwner]

My Brother-in-law had a 97 Z-71 with the 6.5L TD. It ate 3 injector pumps and then the local GM dealership refused to honor the GM warranty after the 3rd pump.

He promptly sold the truck to another stealer and laughed...

If you have your heart set on the truck and it's for a great price, contact Midwest Fuel Injection... www.mwfi.com they have virtually all of the diesel injection parts that you'll need at a great price.

When my Dodge Cummins had an injector pump die, they were the fastest and cheapest place. Plus, they charged me NO CORE because I sent the original core back within 30 days. FREE SHIPPPING TOO!!!!

Good Luck!

 

[catmandoo]

GM upper the pump warranty to 125,000 miles,after that your on your own,but as i said probably 90%of the problems were with the fsd/pmd,some brilliant engineer decided that it would fit nicely on the side of the pump,what the duffus forgot was that it was in the valley of the engine and the pump gets hot from compressing the fuel.electronics and heat don't play well together.

 

[cbass94]

Thanks for the info guys. It's not actually a truck, it's just the engine and I would be using it to repower one of our Land Rovers if I went with it. I think it's a bit bigger engine than I want to deal with though, thanks again for the comments!

 

[catmandoo]

if your just after the engine it ain't gonna work if it's a 94-up,you'll need the ecm to go along with it, 92-93, you just need power to the pump.engine weighs probably close to 800 lbs,don't those landrovers use aluminum buick v6's??thats alot of weight difference.

 

[cbass94]

The engine is coming out of a Rover (Defender) and would be going into a rover so all the parts are there. There's an aluminum V8 in the rover currently, so yes there would be some weight difference, but that would have been accounted for with upgraded front springs. As I said earlier though, I decided against the engine. It's cheap and that's what initially drew me to it, but I'm looking for something a bit smaller to put in. With the GM 6.5 I would only gain about 4 mpg or so. With something smaller I can gain quite a bit more and still have enough power to play. Maybe it'll have to be the International 2.8L after all...

 

[FormerOwner]

Naw man...

just find you a used Frito-Lay or bread truck with the 4 cylinder Cummins 4BT... they are easy to find in auction yards... dang near bulletproof setup.

 

[cbass94]

Yes, that would be a great option, the only downside is that you have to modify the bulkhead to get it to fit, grrr. That 4BT is a great engine though and if it weren't for the builkhead issue I would have it in there already.

 

[FormerOwner]

Just find you a reputable frameshop... they can make it fit. The engine / tranny combo I was referring to has a GM 4-speed auto or a 4-speed manual (don't recall the manufacturer).

 

[cbass94]

No matter which engine I go with, it will no doubt use different engine mounts than the V8 gasser that's in there. So I'm planning on fabbing those up myself if/when I go that route. The 4BT is definitely top on my list. I'll have to look into that GM transmission to see exactly which one it is, it might not require bulkhead (transmission tunnel entrance) modification. The one that I was always looking at with the 4BT is the NV4500 transmission because it bolts right up to the 4BT easily and Advance adapters makes adapter plates that allow the NV4500 to bolt up to the Land Rover transfer case which will make things quite a bit easier. Thanks for the tips guys.

 

[catmandoo]

yep that would be the trans,the automatics were the turbo 400.i was looking at a 4bt to put in my pickup but all i found were the stepvans with auto trans,and i wanted the manual

 

[FormerOwner]

rebuilt NV4500's run ya just over 1300 give or take.

 

[catmandoo]

yep they are few and far between.sometimes you can find early to mid 90's chevy pickups with em .there was just one on ebay about 100 miles from me.i think it ended up under a 1000.pull trans and part out the rest.

 

[VFchicago88]

I believe in the mid 90's they also changed coolant system, a higher flow water pump and better radiator.

I like the 6.5 motor, and Im sure it would benefit from an intercooler.

 

[catmandoo]

they went to dual thermostats in like 97 up.

 

[hank miller]

It is an OK engine, but it isn't up to the same standards as a TDI, powerstroke, or Cummins. You will get better milage than a gas engine, but not by as much as you might expect. The engines are not known as reliable, though in this day any engine should outlive the body it is placed in with reasonable maintenance.

I had one for a few months, and I'm glad I traded it in for a powerstroke. Still I'd take that engine over a gas.

 

[catmandoo]

my 92 chevy 1/2 ton pickup has over 500,000 miles and gets 24-26 mpg's,22-24 with winter blend.where you drop the milage is in the 3/4 and 1 tons.i've had 5 or 6 of em and have yet to replace a pump or headgaskets.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

I've had an 82 & 83 6.2 1/2 ton,an 83 1/2 ton 6.2 suburban,and currently a 94 2500 ext.cab w/ 6.5 turbo diesel-I like the 6.2 better(more simple).I still can't decide if I want to sell the 94-need to renew registration within a couple weeks-need to make my mind up.