Taking the plunge with an old diesel

[emt_hound]

Hi Everybody,

Boy, am I glad to find these forums. I'm an American currently living overseas...in a definitely non-GM friendly country. :) Yet, somehow, I managed to get my hands on a 1994 Chevy K1500 2-door Blazer with the 6.5L diesel.

The truck barely runs...in fact, it doesn't run at the moment (I think the fuel pump finally died). Fortunately, I was looking for a hobby to keep me busy in between work and sleep.

I'll be ordering almost all my parts through the local APO and I'm hoping to learn a lot from this forum as I navigate my way through the repair and rehabilitation of my first diesel vehicle. It'll be a slow process, but I'm looking forward to it!

[Robyn]

Welcome to the forum. :)

The troopers here are very helpful all around and we can help you get your rig up and going again.

The 94 2 door is a rare bird, and with a diesel its even more rare.

Keep us posted and let us know what you get into.

The biggest issue with these is the PMD

(Little black box on the drivers side of the injection pump) This should have electronic injection.

These boxes control the fuel injection pump and are notorious for going south.

Make sure the fuel filter is in good order (replace it)

You can prime the new filter by removing the electrical junction box cover on the firewall right over the AC box area.

There is a fuse thats in a little plug type holder. Unsnap the fuse and touch the center of the fuse (small bare spot) on the 12V stud in the junction box.

The pump will whirrrrrrrrrrr and the fuel should purge tha air from the filter though the vent (loosen just enough to let air and fuel escape.

Once this is done, then you can crank it up.

A failure to stay going or a run and then stop can be the PMD/FSDF

The PMD needs to be mounted on a cooler out of the engine bay.

Leave the old PMD in place, order a fresh PMD (DTECH BRAND) and mount on a remote cooler and use an extension harness (aftermarket)

Inside the lower skid plate thats right below the radiator is a great spot.
Fairly cool and protected from the elements.

Use a good finned heat sink for the PMD and order a new #5 resistor for the PMD (fits in the PMD plug socket before the cable plugs in. (pretty self explanatory when you see it and fits only one way)

From this point its a run it and see type of thing.

The 94 has the OBD 1 system of electronics and any codes can be pulled using a paper clip in the ALDL connector to jumper the needed pins.

There is a writeup here at the page on how to do this.

Good luck and keep us posted. Hey Post some Piccy's of your ride.


Missy

[emt_hound]

(scribbling notes furiously)

You got it, Missy!

Thanks for giving me a place to start. Last night, I was sure it was the fuel pump, but now it seems a lot of my symptoms are pointing more to a failure of the PMD.

Frankly, I need to go through the whole fuel delivery system and check everything over. The first 16 years of this truck's life were definitely not normal and most of its issues are related to years of neglect.

Pictures coming soon...

[twaddle]

Hi there and welcome to TDP.
Where are you located? Just in case any of us have know of any useful contacts in your area that may be helpful.

Good luck with your new project.

Jim

[emt_hound]

I'm currently living in Morocco. Beautiful country with very friendly people but not much in the way of parts stores.

The biggest challenge to any work I need to do is going to be the sourcing of parts. :)

[twaddle]

Try West Midland American Vehicles Ltd in England, UK. I used to deal with them when I lived in Scotland (now living in Canada). They have been importing American spec GMC vehicles and parts into the UK for a good number of years now.
http://www.american-vehicles.com

It may be quicker and less expensive to ship parts from the UK as it is closer to Morocco.

David in Parts and Ivan in the workshop are very helpful.

Hope this helps some.

Jim

[emt_hound]

Twaddle, thanks for the post. Didn't see it until today. Sorry. I'll check them out.

The hassle so far has been the wait between ordering the part and then getting it. :)

I'm going to go read the sticky and then try to post some photos...

[emt_hound]

Okay, this is the test to see if the pics load...

[emt_hound]

So, today was the first day where I had a few hours to play around during daylight hours. I managed to replace the air filter, fuel filter, and fuel lift pump.

All of it was pretty easy. I'm constantly surprised at how little rust and corrosion there is. I could almost spin off the fuel pump by hand. It must be all the dry air.

Still waiting for the PMD and a bunch of little stuff, but that's okay because I'm busy as heck this next week...and the batteries on the truck are now completely dead anyway.

The biggest PITA about being overseas is the three week turnaround between ordering the part you need and seeing it in the mail. Oh well, c'est la vie.