Locating a mechanic

[metallicflame]

I know this is probably a long shot, but we're from the Kansas City, MO area, and I'm looking for a mechanic near me that has 6.5 experience.
Is anyone from around this area and can direct me to a reliable source?

[ccc]

Greetings OP, I hope you found a mechanic. I never found one in the area that really knew what was up with the 6.5. I had a lot tell me they did but when they didn't know what a DB4 was, they were out. If you found one, let me know, I have a dead 1997 6.5 I would love help with.

[arveetek]

I'm down in SW Missouri (SE of Joplin). I don't know of any reliable professional mechanics, but am willing to help out a fellow DP member when needed.

Casey

[ken93]

Be happy to help either of you if I can. New to forum, not so much to 6.5. 18 years of turning on them. What seems to be the problem? Your not going to find a reliable mechanic, because anyone near MO who knows anything about diesels got sucked up by Uncle Sam 12 years ago and is making big money keeping them running in the sand. Who ever is left, I wouldn't let near my truck.

[ccc]

Casey and Ken; Thanks so much for the response. I am reluctant to open this subject up again. There is a thread here somewhere from a year or so ago where I was trying to identify a problem with fuel delivery. The problem was, I was getting fuel off and on. The PMD was tested..... After doing everything I could think of short of buying a new IP (which I didn't want to do if it wasn't the IP!) I gave up and let it sit. That's why I would like to have a real mechanic that knows these motors well take it over. It gets LOT's screwier but mostly be cause I am not a mechanic. I have pulled the truck to the proverbial farm graveyard - the fence line! I might get the energy up to tackle it again but maybe not either!

[rapidoxidationman]

"the pmd was tested"

Did you try a KNOWN good pmd?

[ken93]

Sorry to hear that. From my experience with electronic controlled ip (ess) t is almost never the pmd to start. It was a terrible design putting the pmd where it is. Heat and electronics never mix.
What kills them is the ess starts to become weak. It now takes more current to keep the ess open.. This is what kills pmd. They are already working at greater than designed heat, because of engine heat, now throw in an elevated current draw, and you get a board failure (bad pmd). Didn't see your other post, but if you were leaning toward pmd and its not. Most likely the ess. Just because they appear to work, doesnt mean they do.



Had some free time. Found your original. Where did you order ess from. Been this route before with cheaply made ess. get ahold of a known good ess, and try it. Just because it moves when energized doesnt mean its good, and never assume a new one is a good one. I recieved three bad ess in a row from gm to the point they refused to give me another without seeing the truck. Borrowed an ess from another vehicle, and drove it to them. They installed their "new" ess (which was bad) and swore it was the pmd. I put the borrowed ess back in the truck and drove it out of their garage, infront of the service manager. He then, at no charge to me, personally replaced the ess two additional times until he found a good one.

[phantom309]

Greetings OP, I hope you found a mechanic. I never found one in the area that really knew what was up with the 6.5. I had a lot tell me they did but when they didn't know what a DB4 was, they were out. If you found one, let me know, I have a dead 1997 6.5 I would love help with.

I read your old thread,. and i will re-iterate,.

i watched and read as you chased after fuel problems and wasted hours looking for poor/no fuel delivery aided and abetted by folks looking at hardware problems and it tired you out to the point you quit,.

I mentioned two simple things,. first one being IF a diesel runs out of fuel,. including a 6.5,. they don't just shutoff,. they stumble splutter surge and then shutoff,. so chasing around with marine fuel tanks with thick fuel is entertaining but a waste in my opinion,.clear fuel lines yada yada,.

You really do need,.a KNOWN TO BE GOOD fsd and KNOWN TO BE GOOD extension harness,.

I mentioned ignition switch,. it may also be intermittent ground at the back of the head for ecm,.

I never open injectors to test for fuel flow,.if fuel is flowing i either have smoke and no fire,. or it fires, or tries to,.. end of story,. pump needs all leaks sealed to make pressure to fire,.injector lines open are leaks and the amount of fuel that comes out at cranking speed is deceptively very little,. keep things simple,.

INMHO if it shuts off suddenly its electrical,.
re-inforced by description " it fired right back up first try with no hesitation"

Mine had an alternator problem last month,over charged some and it fried the fsd,. it shut off at 30 mph,.i didn't hesitate,. i plugged in my spare fsd and harness and carried on ,...
I did not start chasing a fuel feed problem,.

I run a class 8 truck sized fuel filter after getting rid of the silly little factory thingy,.and i have a gauge on it,. it save a lot of guess work
It actually shows 1inch of vacuum when shut off over night,. but quickly shows 7 psi when key turned on,.
It was showing 7 psi when truck quit,.no long and involved guess work needed,. NO denial that its electrical and then investing 20 exhausting hours with fuel lines filters shut off solenoids etc,. etc,. nauseating etc,..

People on the internet love to show off the knowledge they have googled or read from other sources etc,. and it then becomes a contest to post the most odd obscure possible causes of the no run situation, simply so they can appear knowledgeable,not considering at all for one moment the aggravation and waste of time they are putting the poor unsuspecting owner through,.
and what merry tangents folks who have no experience go off on,.
entertaining some times to say the least,.

Because i,ve been lazy and/or inattentive/and or to0 busy,. i have run my poor old truck out of fuel probably 5 times in 5 yrs,.it will stutter and stumble on braking and corners, when it finally quits it will rev up by itself momentarily then puke,.

my method to start it is simple, i loosen the plug on the top of my filter, hot wire the fuel pump, wait till i have solid fuel pressure and the foam and air is all out of the filter, tighten the plug, and then put my foot down on the fuel and start cranking,. it usually takes 2- 10 sec cranks and its starting to fire,. i then let it sit for 30 secs to a minute to give the foam a chance to settle then do it again,. 6.5's always start, even with weak lift pumps,.and NO injector lines open which reduces pump pressure. YOUR results might vary ,..

KISS.. works best for me as just like forrest,. i know i'm not a smart man,.

[ken93]

I read your old thread,. and i will re-iterate,.

i watched and read as you chased after fuel problems and wasted hours looking for poor/no fuel delivery aided and abetted by folks looking at hardware problems and it tired you out to the point you quit,.

I mentioned two simple things,. first one being IF a diesel runs out of fuel,. including a 6.5,. they don't just shutoff,. they stumble splutter surge and then shutoff,. so chasing around with marine fuel tanks with thick fuel is entertaining but a waste in my opinion,.clear fuel lines yada yada,.

You really do need,.a KNOWN TO BE GOOD fsd and KNOWN TO BE GOOD extension harness,.

I mentioned ignition switch,. it may also be intermittent ground at the back of the head for ecm,.

I never open injectors to test for fuel flow,.if fuel is flowing i either have smoke and no fire,. or it fires, or tries to,.. end of story,. pump needs all leaks sealed to make pressure to fire,.injector lines open are leaks and the amount of fuel that comes out at cranking speed is deceptively very little,. keep things simple,.

INMHO if it shuts off suddenly its electrical,.
re-inforced by description " it fired right back up first try with no hesitation"

Mine had an alternator problem last month,over charged some and it fried the fsd,. it shut off at 30 mph,.i didn't hesitate,. i plugged in my spare fsd and harness and carried on ,...
I did not start chasing a fuel feed problem,.

I run a class 8 truck sized fuel filter after getting rid of the silly little factory thingy,.and i have a gauge on it,. it save a lot of guess work
It actually shows 1inch of vacuum when shut off over night,. but quickly shows 7 psi when key turned on,.
It was showing 7 psi when truck quit,.no long and involved guess work needed,. NO denial that its electrical and then investing 20 exhausting hours with fuel lines filters shut off solenoids etc,. etc,. nauseating etc,..

People on the internet love to show off the knowledge they have googled or read from other sources etc,. and it then becomes a contest to post the most odd obscure possible causes of the no run situation, simply so they can appear knowledgeable,not considering at all for one moment the aggravation and waste of time they are putting the poor unsuspecting owner through,.
and what merry tangents folks who have no experience go off on,.
entertaining some times to say the least,.

Because i,ve been lazy and/or inattentive/and or to0 busy,. i have run my poor old truck out of fuel probably 5 times in 5 yrs,.it will stutter and stumble on braking and corners, when it finally quits it will rev up by itself momentarily then puke,.

my method to start it is simple, i loosen the plug on the top of my filter, hot wire the fuel pump, wait till i have solid fuel pressure and the foam and air is all out of the filter, tighten the plug, and then put my foot down on the fuel and start cranking,. it usually takes 2- 10 sec cranks and its starting to fire,. i then let it sit for 30 secs to a minute to give the foam a chance to settle then do it again,. 6.5's always start, even with weak lift pumps,.and NO injector lines open which reduces pump pressure. YOUR results might vary ,..

KISS.. works best for me as just like forrest,. i know i'm not a smart man,.

WOW, talk about long drawn out and obbscure posts and methods. BTW, would an electronically activated emergency stop solenoid not be an electrical issue?

[ken93]

Can't we all just get along without someone going off on a tangent, questioning perfect strangers backgrounds and knowledge, and insisting their way is the only way?

While I can agree i have read some absolutely crazy and time consuming methods on here for finding simple fuel issues and i cant help but feel that the above post was an attack directed at me for sharing a simple solution for a common problem that i have encountered hundreds of times in the last 15 years of of working on diesels. not something read from google. I did not mearly post text from a gm srvice manual (which if anyone hasnt figured it out yet is designed to be the longest way possible) remember, they get paid by the hour. I offered a decade and a half of proven experience, military, professional, and recreational.

[ken93]

The ess is there so if the OBD detects a condition that may cause a runaway(like metering issue) it can stop the engine. A good 60% of the time, the ess has gone bad, but if you are in the 40% and the pmd has malfunctioned in such a way as to cause a runaway, and you disable the engines only way of stopping, you just turned a $120 fix into a scattered engine, not to mention possibly killing yourself in the process and/or watching your ride burn down to the hull. This is the single worst advise that I have ever heard. Bottom line. DON'T

[phantom309]

The ess is there so if the OBD detects a condition that may cause a runaway(like metering issue) it can stop the engine. A good 60% of the time, the ess has gone bad, but if you are in the 40% and the pmd has malfunctioned in such a way as to cause a runaway, and you disable the engines only way of stopping, you just turned a $120 fix into a scattered engine, not to mention possibly killing yourself in the process and/or watching your ride burn down to the hull. This is the single worst advise that I have ever heard. Bottom line. DON'T

Well your narcissistic tendencies just came to the fore front,.

My post wasn't directed at you at all really,. but seeing as you want it that way,.

Nobody on this forum is advocating running full time with the fuel shutoff solenoid decommissioned,.as for the" single most worst advice"
I take umbridge with that,. Too much drama in your posts for me,.

You having single handedly been responsible for servicing 400 electronic 6.5 turbo diesel fleet vehicles makes you the resident oracle regarding all things 6.5,.( or were they just 6.2 mechanical humvee powerplants?)

The rest of us can all just sit back and let you answer all posts,. no need for anyone else to post really,.

None of my fixes or methods are obscure or long and drawn out either,.it just takes a bit to explain them,.and they work,. my old junk is still clattering along,.

I,m done.

[ken93]

You seem not to be able to grasp the concept, it would not matter if your intention was to drive a million miles or just diagnose a problem, if your pmd shut your ess due to an issue with the pmd and you manipulate the ess, that is a runaway. Not a month from now, not next tuesday, NOW. You talk of frustrations felt by owners from being put through the wringer, imagine how the poor guy who blows his truck up over a $120 part feels.

YOU went on about all the long drawn out process people offer for troubleshooting. At least their methods didnt risk danger to persons/property.

I don't claim to be an expert, and while I started with 6.2/6.5 n/a engines in the service. My 400 vehicles were 95-97 6.5 turbo C-30 van platforms, and yes while I had 30 guys under me taking care of regular maintenance, some of which were ASE Certified Diesel Technicians,I was the only ASE Certified Master Diesel Technician, and the regional maintenance supervisor. I was on-site for rebuilds, swaps, heads, basically anything above an external bolt-on. And trust me when I say, 190 hp pushing a vehicle with 15000lb plates, we had plenty.

If you want a cookie because you can do an in-frame rebuilt on a tractor, have at. You want to do stupid things because you've been doing stupid things your whole life and gotten away with it, have at. I'm saying that I have alot of experience working with the exact engine in question, and my training, my experience and common sense all say, BAD IDEA.

in closing, let me clarify before we all have to deal with another big winded response, that the above mentioned titles were given by the corporation I was working for. My official certificate awarded by the Institute of automotive service excellence reads MASTER MEDIUM/HEAVY TRUCK TECHNICIAN.

[ccc]

Thanks Phantom and Ken. I know you are both trying to help. I did put on a fuel shut off solenoid of which I removed the plunger, just to make sure it wasn't that. I also sent my PMD to a friend that has the exact same truck (actually I sent three of which only one worked.) I also ran a continuity test on the remote harness. Many of the other things I did were probably not necessary but I'm not much of a mechanic and frankly it just wore me out. At this point I would throw a few bucks to a real mechanic to wrench on it but most likely it will be sold or crushed - cool truck it just needs a better mechanic than me. Thanks to all, sorry if I started something or offended anyone.