The End

[6.5 Detroit Diesel]

Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

This past two weeks, I have been down in Chilliwack, BC, attending a Bible Course. It's about a 3 1/2 hr drive away from Kelowna. Friday morning, I go to fire up the truck, and a starter bolt snaps off. It's been known to do this in the past, so whatever, I have to get to class, and I catch a ride. This morning, course over, I am getting ready to head back to Kelowna. I get my buddy to hook up and pull me down the road. At 30 MPH, I dump the clutch with the truck in o/d, and the tires lock up. I am thinking that something is definetely wrong, but my buddy kept pulling, and we got her started, in a twisted way. figured all that different colored smoke wasn't good and got her back to the house. Pulled off the radiator cap and discover that over half of the coolant is missing.

Given the higher boost and w/m injection combined with the 405,000 kms on the engine, I was half expecting it. Just sucks that I have to go and trailer it back home. :D

Bet's on how badly it went? I am finally getting back onto building the engine for it. Just took a quick kick in the butt.

[Robyn]

I feel your pain. :(

Old trucks have a soul, and become so much a part of our daily lives that when they finally die its like losing a member of the family.

Fortunately we can bring them back.

If I were to speculate I would say that you may well have seen a serious coolant leak either into a cylinder or the crankcase or both.

Just take a deep breath, yank the sucker out of the truck and rip it apart.

Bag all the parts in logical order for the duration of the build and then focus on the reason of the failure.

Maybe it was something simple like a head gasket. Unfortunately with half the coolant gone, it went somewhere.

The most probable cauase of the broken starter bolt is a hydrolocked piston. :eek:

Remember back on 06 when the Burb went down, It was sitting idleing at the barn and started to smoke terribly, run it to the house and shut it off.

Decided after about 2 minutes to restart and move the rig to a better spot to work on it, bad plan. Bumped the starter and wham, starter laying on the frame.

Broke both bolts off right quick plus sheared off some ring gear teeth. :eek:

Luckily no other damage was done.
Broken bolts came right out of the block flange and the starter was not hurt.

Ring gear was lost though.($25 for a used one on ebay) :)


Water dont compress they always told me, they were right. :rolleyes:

Good luck and keep us posted.

Robyn

[6.5 Detroit Diesel]

Yea, I think you said it pretty well Robyn. These trucks become part of the family. What scared me is that so much coolant was missing and we got the truck running. :eek: The starter is still hanging where it should, minus that one bolt, but I will have to check that ring gear. I will bring her back, only I intend to really bring her back in top form. It's just a bummer that it happened when I was needing a work truck right away. I guess that's what the '95 diesel will have to be. But it just won't be the same, lol.

I am having to find a vehicle to tow it back to Kelowna. In the circle of people I am in, if something like a vehicle breaks, or there is a heavy load to pull, it's my truck that get's borrowed. :rolleyes: Now it's looking like I might have to borrow a *ord dually to go and pick her up.

[Beedee]

Aw man, that really bites.
And to have a F*&d tow it home.... talk about rubbing salt into the wounds Ouch!!!!!

I'm making a run to Edmonton this week, real quick just for a couple of days. Have some elderly relatives I want to see, taking the car to save $ on gas.

Too bad, If I had the truck, could have towed you home and dropped you off on the way. No time for that, sorry. Would have been nice to have a "Real Truck" tow it into the drive.:D

Brian

[6.5 Detroit Diesel]

darn, but that would have been nice! Thanks for the offer though. Hope your job situation works out soon

[Beedee]

Yeah, would have been fun. I pulled a car on a trailer from Kamloops to the island, but have never pulled anything up the Coquihalla. Would be interesting to see how the old girl would do.

Got the call from job #2, planned start up is the 1st of Sept weather permitting. Hence the quick trip to Edmonton. I could have found a job if I tried really hard, but was just enjoying the time off, don't get it very often.;)

Take care

[Robyn]

Getting towed always sucks, but having to get your GM rig towed in with a F**D is a real insult

I had one of them Strokes once nad had to get it towed with a Chevy. I was quite amused as the truck was only a few minutes from the lot. Just bought it and it quit on the way home.

Bummer eh ??

Went back to GM rigs
Had the Burb towed back in 06. Came home on a Freightliner roll deck but that was OK (Freightliner was a REAL truck :) )


Good luck on the fixemup

Robyn

[jerry598]

My sister's 2000 ford pstroke went down twice in the first 50K miles.

The first time it limped into the dealership on warranty at 30k miles with a broken tranny. Spent a week 800 miles from home waiting for the dealer to fix it.

The second time it went down was for a serious transmission fluid cooler hose leak. I towed it to the repair shop with my beatup old 1980 chevy pickup (which has never been towed anywhere).

I laughed all the way.

I'll keep my chevy trucks - both of them.

[DaveBr]

Hey Ben

I'd be curious to know if you find cracks in the lower end when you tear it down. Keep us posted.

Dave

[6.5 Detroit Diesel]

i will keep y'all posted. i leave saturday afternoon to pick it up. work has gone crazy since i got back. on top of that, i am trying to get the 95 roadworthy, (transfer case, glowplugs) and i am trying to close a deal on a sweet little 02 camaro. :)

[Stratosurfer]

Sorry about your truck, however it seems that donkey carried it's burden quite a long way before giving up the ghost.

I have to comment on all the F*#D vs Us banter however.
It seems to me we need to be careful about talking about any other vehicle not making it to it's intended location, for as I see it, the Dipaco PMD we have just rec'd recently has now finally, after almost 10 years put our beloved 6.5's in anything resembling the word reliable...

On some occasions in my 6.5 travels I felt my ailing beast needed the old 'Horse Pistol'.

Just my many times broken down, towed, fixed on the side of the road .02 USD's. (With the new Dipaco PMD it has been a long time however).