Fuel in Oil

[Roger Lamothe]

First of all note my membership #36. Previously I was the not so proud owner of a 95 6.5TD. I think I hold the record or near it for the 8 Inj pumps and 3 FSDs. But other than the fuel delivery problems I really liked that truck.
I recently traded it for a new 2002 ext cab 2wd D/A and I thought it was the greatest. I have no desire for more power,but I wanted durability. I now have ~ 10k and I noticed that the dipstick was showing oil almost to the large dia barrel, way above full and brought it to the dealer.
Now the @#$%*&^ GM's inability to get it together has reared it ugly head with fuel in the oil. The service dept said they have seen a few and had one in that nearly filled a 5 gal pail. They said that there is lengthy testing to try and find the cause.
I've gone from thinking I had the best truck on the road to same old same old.

[hoot]

Sorry to hear about that Roger. I believe it's very fixable. Either it's the pump or an injector? Some one chime in on any other causes. Anyway, from history I believe anyone that has had the problem had it fixed. Big difference between this truck and your old one. These trucks tend to get fixed and stay fixed.

Good luck Roger and don't sweat it. It'll get done and you'll be a happy camper again.

[Roger Lamothe]

Well, they have had it apart to get at the injectors. They went through the checks with the Chevy Techs on the phone. As of now they have not found the cause of the oil in fuel. They have bumped it up to the next level in Chevy tech support and he will be in next week to go through it again with them. They gave a 2002 Tracker 4 banger auto to use. I am going thru withdrawals. After all the problems with the 6.5, I hope this is not a sign of things to come. I have already had a leak in the transmission.

[Roger Lamothe]

The Tech rep was in today and went through the testing again with the service dept. He said it was bad injector(s) and ordered a full replacement set. The service manager said the rep ordered the injectors himself and he could get them quicker.

Roger

[stretch]

Good luck and keep us posted. smile.gif

[Amianthus]

As much as some would expect me to say you shoulda bought a Ram, I'm not gonna do it. tongue.gif

I would say that it seems that you may not have lost all hopes in that you seem to have a dealership that cares. Not to mention a service rep, that is taking your problem seriously. That is good any way you slice it. Whatever brand of truck you drive. Don't jump ship yet. Not until they stop trying to fix it and shift the burden to you (within reason).

I have a sneaking suspicion that injectors (leaking or dirty) are going to be the achilies heel of the Dmax. Hopefully not. I don't want to hear about how diesels are not worth the money because GM "F"'s up another one, that's for certain.

[Wally]

Kinda worries me too. :( I understand that the heads will be signifcantly redesigned for 2004 models. The claim is to make the injectors easier to service but I wonder if it doesen't have some thing to do with the coolant and fuel leaks.

[Wilky]

Dear Roger:

The fuel in the oil is a problem with the Duramax and it will happen again, but since your Truck is Still under Warrenty you should make them change out all the Bearings. Reasoning, the diesel fuel severally reduced the vecosity of your Oil and has caused excessive wear to the bearings. Also, have them extend your factory warrenty for this reason. GM will extend warrenties if you Bitch enough. My Mother has a 1999 Tahoe that has been through 3 A/C's and they extended the warrenty, and GM better hope that this last A/C last or she will make there world a miserable one. Remember don't be a Nice Guy with these Jerks.

[fredwe]

roger

this same problem happened to me,except it filled my crankcase completly up and made a bad mess under the vent hole , they first had asked if i had a power box , then after a few hours on the phone they deciced to start pressure testing the system to find out a line from the fuel header to the injector was leaking, they did no other work and all is working now except the truck seams to be louder now

[bearman]

Hey fredwe
Good to see another member on here from Medicine Toque ;)
Roger Lamothe
I had it happen twice on my 2001 Dmax (along with 2 transmissions, fuel pump, Ect, Ect.), I bitched and whined long and hard enough that GM made me a VERY sweet deal on a 2002. Keep on them and don't let them get away with any thing. My 2002 is purring away @ 30000KM and no problems at all.
Cheers
Bear :D :D

[Roger Lamothe]

Well I got my truck back. The dealer couldn't find a leak, the factory rep checked it out and had all injectors replaced (3K for parts). I've put on about 800 miles (300 towing). I keep checking levels and OK so far. Time will tell.

[stretch]

Roger,
I had the same problem almost a year ago, but not as severe as yours(about an extra quart found in the crankcase). Changed the oil and it hasn't reappeared. Time will tell... smile.gif

[hoot]

Amianthus,

Don't you think that by now (into the third year of production) that any real serious injector issues would have made headlines in the industry?

I don't see any major breakout of injector problems. And if there are issues, who's to say they aren't easily rectified?

I think right now the biggest issue is the HP fuel pump. Leaks and pressure regulator.

I think you can go to just about any GM truck dealership and ask if they had any pump failures and you will probably get a yes. I noticed the few dealerships I've had the opportunity to talk to had seen bad pumps. That I do not like to hear. I hope Bosch addresses any problems better than GM/Stanadyne did with the 6.5.

[Amianthus]

hoot, who knows. It just seems that this is a recurring problem with this fuel system application. After three years, it should be about time for a change (revised part). I've heard rumors of a different head design to address injector issues. Something about having them more easily accessable, return line issues, and injector seal changes. But this is just a rumor I've heard. I'm hoping that these changes will make the Dmax better in the public image. Not that it's really bad now, but there's alot more at stake than just one diesel motor.

[DieselDennis]

Speaking of revising parts and such. I was thinking about the different head gaskets for the engine. Whatever was the reason for this? Allowing for different valve projections? And why would there be different valve projections?

[odoh]

IIRC it was piston projection. Why? Not sure ~ critical diminsion tighter than production tolerences? ~ odoh

[DieselDennis]

Piston projection as in some of the pistons come above the block more than others? :confused: And why would they come above the block more than others? Longer rods? Bigger crank? :confused:

[hoot]

Probably variations in the block deck heights in relation to crank centerline.

It's possibly a compression tweek or the valves come so close that manufacturing tolerances could not maintain the clearance consistantly.

[ 10-11-2002: Message edited by: hoot ]</p>

[george morrison]

Regarding fuel in oil. Please don't miss our thread/discussion on diesel fuel quality. Injector life can seriously be compromised by dirty diesel fuel. At this point we do not know how good our stock filter is but in most OEM filter applications it is 50% efficient at best, allowing literally millions of abrasive particles through our fuel system per gallon. We are trying to get a resourceful soul to do a 'before & after' fuel sample to ascertain just how good/bad our fuel filter is. We *know* the fuel is dirty...
George Morrison, STLE CLS

[More Power]

The other day, a few of us were discussing Dmax problems reported over the past 2 years here in this BB.

Fuel in oil was one issue we discussed, and how suddenly and dramatically the instances of fuel leak reports ended when I began asking people to report if they were also running power modules that raised fuel-rail pressure.

A couple of the frequent posters who experienced fuel leaks did contact me privately, and said yes, they were using a fuel-rail pressure increasing power module.

Makes me wonder how many of these fuel leak reports were caused by owners and how many were the fault of GM/Bosch.

MP

[george morrison]

And yes, I agree completely with the possibility of extreme overfueling causing fuel dilution/fuel in the oil. I have seen several chipped Duramax engines with had 5% and even 20% fuel dilution. Yes, l/4 of the oil drained out was pure diesel fuel! When so very much fuel is introduced into a diesel engine, we are going to have increased combustion; however, much of the fuel is either incompletely burned causing soot and the rest is not burned at all resulting in cylinder wash-down, fuel dilution of the oil, etc. Thus markedly increased power many times comes at a price.. An engine with 25% of its lubricant as diesel fuel, well, bearing life is not going to be the longest.....
George Morrison

[ 10-11-2002: Message edited by: george morrison ]</p>

[3176CATPOWER]

I have noticed a few posts on the forum where the guys are putting power modules on their new trucks or planning to so.My rule of thumb on major mods of that sort is to put some miles on the truck first(12,000-15,000)to get a base line and see what you actually got before starting your headaches.From what I have read here on the forum there are more than a few who have laid out the big bucks for the taste of misery.Drive it,experiance it,you just might like it stock.

[GMC-2002-Dmax]

3176CATPOWER,

I drove mine stock for 4 months and had been unhappy with the low end power and acceleration.

I felt that it was too slow off the line and shifted too much between 5/4 so I went for the "Juice".

I am not saying the Duramax did not have power I was looking for more throttle response and less shifting.

In my opinion, if there is a weak link in any design or a marginal part it is going to show up no matter what. The chances of finding it when pushing the truck stock or otherwise increases when you enhance it's performance or load it up by pulling weight.

I believe also that your own personal driving habits and your maintenance schedule makes a difference.

Some stock trucks have lost head gaskets and injector seals and some chipped one's have. The real question is who had what and for how long. How were they using there truck??

Don't take any of this personal, it's not, just my $.02 cents worth.

I for one am not worried, if I have major problems I will have it repaired, then trade it in. I won't keep a problem I will solve it by getting rid of it altogether and buy another one.

Too me a major problem would be a continual failure of a major component like the engine, tranny, computers etc.

Hope to have NO PROBLEMS, and I wish everyone else luck chipped or not ;)

GMC :D