Worth keeping it ?????

[jilaroo2]

:mad: :( :confused:
Hi,I'm totally new here,very confused and kinda dissapointed in my truck(Chevy lover but that might be over soon) and would appreciate your advice.
A couple of months ago I bought a sharp looking 1999 Chevy K3500 Dually 6.5TD. So far for sharp.............
Second day I had it, the crankshaft broke.... Common problem with these engines I was told ( $4000 to fix ).
One week later... Major oil leak. Oil coupling broke. ( $600 ).
Another week later.........(+/-110Degrees in CA) Water pump died....These Diesels don't handle the heat that well was the remark. ( $1200 ).
Another two weeks.........Starter motor fried. ( $450 ).
Now..... No more starting ( PMD/FSD ???????????? )
Engine starts and then when the hood is slammed shut it dies............After about 10min it will start again untill..........the hood is slammed shut.
From what I have been reading here in the threads again I am looking at a price tagg from arround $500. With no guarantee that this problem will be solved.
So in a couple of months this truck has cost me over $7000 ! The mecanics like my truck, they start smiling when they see me coming.
But I'm about where I start to hate it.
I bought this truck to haul horses with but now I'm even affraid to drive it arround the block.Never had the chance to hook up a trailer. It was always in the garage.
Would just a heatsink for the PMD solve this problem or do I have to buy everithing that comes with it?
Or should I just get rid of it and shop for a reliable truck?
Any suggestions are welcome !!!!!!

Ron

[grape]

i wish i had you as a customer lol.

[rob from bc canada]

That is not actually very funny.

You've had more problems in two months than my old 93 had in 13 years of driving, including 3 years in Arizona = HOT.

As to advice, what do you do when you bought stocks and they start going down? It can happen, and you never know if it's better to ride it out, or flog it before it gets worse.

How many miles on the rig?? Did you buy private or from a dealer?? If from dealer, I'd be back there looking for some help.

If the body is in good shape, and you like it, you might want to give it another chance.

Mine was the older kind without computer, so can't be of any help there.

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

Whew - reading this was depressing - guess I'm not having that bad a day after all.

"...the crankshaft broke.... Common problem with these engines I was told" Yes & no. There's considerable thought here on the Page that broken cranks on 6.2/6.5's might be due to failed harmonic balancers - the rubber in the balancer gets weak, the 2 pieces of it bang together, & there goes the crank. IMHO most of these engines never break a crank; cracking blocks is another issue. (See the poll on this subject - it appears that 6.5's, if they pull heavy frequently, will crack the block in 100-150K miles. Too bad you didn't hear about us B4 you started spending all that money. We have SEVERAL excellent engine vendors advertising on the Page, plus member ronniejoe building basically blueprinted engines.)

How come no warranty from the seller? Private owner?

"Major oil leak. Oil coupling broke." If you're talking about the oil lines between the engine & cooler, I just replaced mine with NAPA parts - $75.94 for both, ~ an hour to install.

"...Water pump died..." I don't even remember this coming up on the Page. Maybe that's because it's pretty easy to change - most folks just do this themselves, & they're not very expensive; maybe it's because the water pump is a low-failure item; I don't know. I've put > 150K miles on my 82 & > 140K miles on my 95 pickup, & I've changed one water pump on the 82; the 95 pickup has > 235K miles & I've owned it since ~ 80K, so I'd bet the water pump is original. It's certainly possible the coolant wasn't properly maintained, which would lead to early water pump failure.

"These Diesels don't handle the heat that well..." Your truck should handle the heat exceptionally well. In 97 (?) they dramatically increased the water pump output to 130 g/m; about the same time they added oil spray to the underside of the pistons; 98/99 they made the oil spray holes smaller (the original larger holes were causing cracked blocks), so you 99 has this fix. In sum, about all you have to do is do what it says in this topic (http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/tdpforum/showthread.php?t=23438&highlight=radiator) (Click in colored text); add an intercooler when you can, & you'll NEVER overheat your truck.

"Engine starts and then when the hood is slammed shut it dies..." I'd start the truck & start wiggling wires. If slamming the hood makes it quit, you can for sure find this problem. "Would just a heatsink for the PMD solve this problem or do I have to buy everithing that comes with it?" If it happens to be a FSD/PMD problem (which I doubt - the symptoms are usually different than yours), buy a good extension & remote cooler from Kennedy or Heath & mount it behind your driver-side headlight (JK) or where Heath instructs you to (mine's behind the headlight).

"...Starter motor fried." My experience has been that yes, these trucks seem to eat starters. This can at the very least be attenuated a LOT by making sure the cables are in absolutely top-notch shape. Do some searches - this comes up quite often, & lots of really good ideas have come up on how to do this. If your cables & connections are top-notch, the starter will spin faster & consequently the engine will start faster, which will add a LOT of life to the starter.

"I'm about where I start to hate it." You're a lot more patient than me - I'd have started hating it a long time earlier than you did. ;)

"I bought this truck to haul horses..." Which it should do with no trouble. If your horse trailer is fairly heavy, start saving for a replacement engine (as discussed above) in 100K miles or so - if you put in a ronniejoe, Kennedy, or Peninsular engine, you'll never have to worry about cracking blocks, & she'll pull anything you put behind it. IMHO this truck is worth fixing for sure.

"Or should I just get rid of it and shop for a reliable truck?" Yup, sell it to me for 1/2 what you paid, in a few days I'll have it running reliably.

The comments you've sited are clearly from someone who hates his job (fixing cars) and/or doesn't really know that much about 6.5's. My brother's a mechanic & he hates all cars, so it's not that unusual to hear talk like that from a mechanic.

About a year after I bought my 82, it blew a head gasket which I replaced; a year later, same thing. The owner of the shop where my brother worked at that time used to be service manager at a MAJOR Chev dealer here in Minneapolis. He said, "It's a red motor, junk it & replace with an 84 or newer - the red motors are junk." Unfortunately, this was B4 the Page existed. That red motor had one of the original high-nickel-content blocks - I sure wish I still had it. It turns out that this was a pretty simple fix & did NOT require replacing the motor. Moral of the story: NOT ALL "INSIDERS" REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT.

Good luck &...

Blessings!

[jilaroo2]

Thanks for your replies and advice.
I really like this truck and I don't want to sell it but I need a reliable truck.
I don't hate my job ( though I'm not a mecanic ) . I like working on cars. It is just frustrating that it is one thing after another. I'm just getting sick of all these problems in such a short period of time. I also have a 1927 Ford ModelT and that thing keeps running. Oil and gas and there it goes.
Bad luck with the truck I guess.
After the crank was replaced on my truck I had to replace the harmonic balancer and pulley myself because they "forgot" about that.
The intercooler might be a thing to look out for then.:rolleyes:
As for the engine dieing when the hood is slammed , I checked all the wiring and connectors and didn't find any problems. But I have had all the symtoms of a bad FSD/PMD too.( Cold start/dieing, hot start problems, engine shut down while driving, etc.)
So, I think that extension and remote cooler is gonna be the next thing on my shopping list. Do I need to buy a PMD too or will the existing one work fine once it is cooled?
And then I hope I can stop spending money on that truck for a while and start saving for a new engine.:( LOL

Again thanks !!!!!

[Hubert]

No once a PMD/FSD acts up its usually considered bad and only used as a spare or back up just in case the new one acts even worse in the future. If it was an intermittent problem sometimes they will work after a good rest sometimes not. Get a new one to mount remotely.

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

"I don't hate my job..." I was referring to the comments made by the mechanics you've been hiring, NOT you. "...they "forgot" about that." That's what I'm talking about - I don't think the folks you've been dealing with know as much as they'd like you to think. $4K with one of our excellent engine vendors would have put you a LONG way towards an unbreakable engine.

"The intercooler might be a thing to look out for then." I'd drive it awhile before thinking intercooler. All I meant is that if you get to the point of adding an intercooler, you can modify for pretty impressive power & still not overheat. Search out ronniejoe's three articles/writeups about his 95 Sub, it's pretty impressive. He pulled the Hill in the Power Pull this year within 1 mph of a stock 06 PS & an 02 DMax.

"Do I need to buy a PMD too or will the existing one work fine once it is cooled?" If it's showing symptoms, it's unlikely to ever be reliable again. I would purchase a new FSD/PMD & mount it in a nice cool place remote to the engine compartment (as I said, mine's in front of the driver-side battery). On the old one, you might want to try tightening the four hex nuts holding the power transistors to the FSD - some have been able to revive them this way. You could then install the old FSD & carry the new one in your glovebox; carry enough tools to switch then roadside if you have to.

"...start saving for a new engine." Only if you pull heavy. My 95 pulled heavy (I think) during its 1st 80K miles. It has a gooseneck hitch in the box, & the guy I bought it from used to load tractors on a double tandem trailer in Canada & haul them to central MN to rebuild them for resale. Since I bought it, it's only hauled a 4K trailer when my daughter raced junior dragsters, which means 9 or 10 trips a summer, averaging 250 miles (one way). My pickup has ~ 240K miles & runs like it did the day I bought it - perfectly.

Blessings!
(signature in previous post)

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

Someone private messaged me, so here's the NAPA P/N's for the oil cooler lines for my 95 Sub & what I paid (w/o taxes):

P/N 827-1085 $30.05
P/N 827-5199 $45.89

Sorry, don't know which one is which.

Blessings!
(signature in previous post)

[Rot Box]

:mad: :( :confused:
Hi,I'm totally new here,very confused and kinda dissapointed in my truck(Chevy lover but that might be over soon) and would appreciate your advice.

Any suggestions are welcome !!!!!!

Ron

When I bought my truck I swore up and down that it was the biggest Pile of junk known to man. I have had every known 6.5L problem that has been mentioned on this page, with one exception....a broken crank (the clocks ticking on the timebomb I can feel it :rolleyes: ). The thing I hate most is how much I love my truck when it runs??? does that make sense? I am no longer a Chevrolet fan for good reason, but I can't see myself driving anything else. That being said... I feel like your truck is worth spending money, and time on. You are in the same boat as me (give or take) with thousands of dollars tied up into it plus the original cost I'd be out of my mind to get rid of it, and suffer the money loss.
What I do everytime that mine breaks is upgrade the part to the next level, or get something with a killer warranty (like my starter/alternator ect...ect....). I don't claim to be an expert (or to even have a positive outlook) on the situation, but I will say this much: There are members on this page that know more about the 6.5L's than I ever could imagine, and they are willing to help you with any bind you might be in. From what I have came to realize is that they are very reliable trucks, but they take some mechanical knowledge, attention, and upgrades to make them that way. I feel for ya man cause I know what it's like. Mine had 40,000 miles when I bought it, so I figured I could go another 100K before I started having troubles. The reason I bought it was to have a reliable vehicle, but man was I wrong.
Sorry my negative side came out, but there is nothing worse than paying for a dead horse :( Don't give up and good luck!