6.5 vs 6.2

[Acadianlion]

I am thinking about buying my first GM diesel. I have a lot of experience with diesels in general, having had numberous VW diesels, and five Mercedes diesels, and basically, I am a "diesel believer". But the GM diesel is an unknown animal to me, aside from the negative things that I have heard.

Right now, I am seriously smitten with the idea of buying a vehicle that has a 6.2 litre diesel engine that had a Banks turbocharger conversion done early in life. This vehicle will be a replacement for my Ford Bronco, which is going to be sold later this month. The Bronco is very, very nice, but the heavy rear gate rules it out for my wife to handle, and we would prefer to buy a 2door Tahoe/Yukon with barn doors, but that will be a 6.5 litre, and I am all too familiar with failing fuel pumps on those engines.

So the question that I am posing to this list, is which engine, and under what circumstances can I buy one, and fee "safe" in doing so, for at least a while, before having to do things like replacing fuel pumps or crankshaft balancers?

Any comments will be most appreciated.

Oh, the use of the vehicle will be general, light personal use, with occasional light trailer towing.

Many thanks for any information you can share!

Roger

[hoke]

You can not compare Mercedes diesel's engines or even VW diesel's with GM diesels engines. I own & drive all 3. Engine work preformed since new. My 300 SD Mercedes 190k miles, 1 set glow plugs at 140k miles. VW 141K miles, clutch at 125K miles & 1 front wheel bearing. Chev 3500 diesel 6.5 before 125K miles, replace injectors, replace glow plugs, replace vacum pump, replace altenator, replace lift pump, replace leaking oil lines, trannie is now getting weak.
Frame & body on all of them have been good. The big decision you hsve to make is are you buying a vehicle with a engine you can trust & how much money you are going to put into it to keep it running? Good luck
hoke

[Acadianlion]

This is very good information. The Mercedes and VW diesel engine longevity is legendary....I have had both with well over 150k on them, and no sign of giving up. My GMC 2500 pickup has just rolled passed 50,000 miles, and with it's 454 gas V8, will pull almost anything, and strangely, fuel mileage isn't terrible...or at least as bad as one might imagine.

I am thinking seriously about adding a Tahoe/Yukon to the "fleet", IF I can find a diesel in good shape with "barn doors". Unfortunately, it is beginning to seem as though the cost of maintenance will far exceed the intrinsic virtues of diesel over gas for relatively light use. Most of the Yukon/Tahoe diesels that I see advertised all have at least 150k on them, so it would appear that they are all ready for some serious after-purchase work, which could double the cost of the vehicle.

Is the 6.5 litre turbodiesel THAT unreliable?

[jspringator]

I have used mine to tow a 7,000 lb trailer to Florida three times since November 02. With the mods I made, I am very happy with it. Towing performance without the mods was pretty dismal. Of course, a lot of has to do with my purchase price of $16,000 (with 120,000 miles last July). New ones are so expensive, it is MUCH cheaper to mod and repair this one.

[oldmansax]

I hope I am wrong but the 6.5 turbos have not impressed me so far. I have owned a lot of the GMs since back in the 70's starting with the 5.7 which was a piece of junk. I have had very good service from the 6.2s, NOT modified. I used a lot of them in service trucks. The worst problem I had was with belts. I had an '82 Suburban I used for my personal vehicle. Sold it with over 400,000 on it. It used 2 injection pumps, 3 starters, 2 alternators, 3 sets of glow plugs & 1 water pump. I always used Amsoil in everything. AND I drove it like a rented mule. It's STILL running with no major engine repairs. 500K+ miles Most of the service trucks I sold or traded are still running too. BUT, the '99 6.5 I have has been problematic since day one. I do tow a trailer but I'm not near as hard on this one as I was on the '82. So far, with 199,596 miles, I've replaced the turbo, rear main seal, base gasket, glow plugs, & thermostats...And I am having trouble with no power & over heating. Just this week end the low coolant light has started coming on even though there is no loss of coolant. I hope mine is just a fluke because if not, I am going to consider a Cummins even though I don't like the truck.

[tswartos]

hmmm...good question...money is the answer...u will fix either one...how much and how often is hard to tell. I too have owned the german diesels...i bought my current truck as I decided not to keep my S350TD, baby coming. Had a heck of a time getting used to the slop in the steering in the truck got spoiled. VW ..hard not to want that 40+mpg in another car.

Anyways, the 6.2 isnt all that bad either... neither was the 5.7, in fact by the end of the 1980s we were running twin turbo 5.7s with high speed gearings. As long as u switched out the oil pump every 30k or so they ran great. Set the cruise at a 120mph and relax in the land yacht. 6.2 is the same way once u understand what needs attention, it'll be a good engine for you. Take a gander over to the 6.2 forum or ask the same question in Dr Lee's forum...they may have some good info as well.

good luck

[catmandoo]

i too like the old 5.7 i still drive one as a matter of fact the only problems i've encountered was head bolt breakage or stretching then taking out the head gasket the early ones were known for crank breakage but if you got an early pre 80 with the updated short block those things can roast the tires.and in the last 12 years i've had and still have 3 6.2s and other than 1 waterpump and 1 rear main seal 1 set of glow plugs and 1 set of injectors that wasn't the problem (bad fuel) that is all i've done to them. i love em.