LOOKING FOR RECOMMENDATIONS..

[KEVIN MUNCASTER]

Hello group ! I'm the new guy and looking for some advice. Winter is coming and my baby is going into hibernation. I'll tell you what I've got and you tell me what you think I should tackle first.

Truck is '86 6.2, C10 700R4, newly installed Banks Stinger Kit (Exhaust, Air intake kit, K&N filter, EGT) 135,000 miles, very clean, drives great, ran 8000 miles this summer. Getting 25 mpg (Canadian), pulls well at 21-22 mpg(I haul boats, under 3500#).

Should I put the timing gear drive set in ?
Pump setting is factory, should I turn it up ?
Has new AC glow plugs, new filters, running Castrol 20w50. What ideas does everyone have that are simple enough and will not harm reliability ?

Stinger kit works great, tows better, sounds nice, although intake roar is a bit much.

Anxious to hear some ideas,

Thanks....

[CleviteKid]

Idea number 1: If that Castrol 20W50 does not have a C-rating, at least CG-4, get it out of there and put in some 15W-40 CH-4 or CI-4 rated oil.

Idea number 2: Yes, by all means install the gear drive.

Idea number 3: If you are not laying down a pretty good smoke screen with the pedal to the metal, and your pyrometer is not showing EGT above 1100F, then turn up the pump about 1/6 of a turn.

Keep us posted on your progress, and save your spare change toward a turbocharger. As I have said many times: "From a thermodynamic perspective EVERY diesel engine should be turbocharged, and if you are towing or hauling heavy loads, your GM diesel should be turbocharged."

Dr. Lee :cool:

[TimK]

Wrangler,

When you installed the Banks exhaust system did you notice any significant drop in engine or exhaust noise?

There are a number of good diesel oils out there. If you do a search on this site you will see some brands that are commonly referred to such as Shell's Rottella T, Chevron Delo, Valvoline Premium Blue and Mobile Delvac. I prefer the Rottella T myself. I can usually get a good price at Wal-mart. Wal-mart sometimes carries the synthetic Rottella T at decent price too. I tend to stay away from the synthetic oil in my 6.2 except for the dead of winter. You will find there are as many opinions about oil on this forum as there are members. Although I think everybody would agree you have to have a diesel rated oil such as CH-4.


TimK

[KEVIN MUNCASTER]

I stand corrected. It is 15w40 Castrol, not 20w50. I have stayed with what the original owner used for 125,000 miles.

Will my engine stand up to the installation of the turbo ? Is the Banks unit the one to go with ?

Will the turbo ruin what is left of my 700R4 ?

Tim: The Banks kit increased the exhaust note considerably, but it is enjoyable. Engine noise, no difference, aside from the pronounced intake roar under hard acceleration. Truck works very well now, much better than stock. From what the Doc says, I can turn my pump up now also, which may help even more...

Thanks fellas !

[catmandoo]

i put a banks on mine at 115,000 and it now has 160,000 and i use maybe a quart to 2500 miles and plenty of power for my needs.

[TimK]

Wrangler,

About the only complete, off the shelf kit you can buy is the Banks Sidewinder kit. ATS use to make them but you would have to find a used one to get the kit. The GMC turbo system won't work on your truck unless you mess with the exhaust manifold or the AC unit on the passenger side. So if you are looking at a complete kit with all the doo-dads then the Banks system is it. If you want to do your own custom unit, the skies the limit although at minumum getting the Banks passenger side exhaust manifold will save you a lot of grief.

I installed the Banks kit on my truck and I think it's great. Can your engine hold up to it? Good question, I don't know if any of us has a crystal ball that good. However, if your engine is healthy, there isn't excessive amounts of blow by past the rings and your rear oil seal isn't leaking like a sieve, then it should work. You already have an EGT guage which is critical in not making too much exhaust heat. Keep in mind the 6.2L piston crowns aren't real thick and I have heard of many instances of folks cracking the piston crowns from either too much heat, bad injectors or bad timing. (This can happend with or without a turbo.)

Getting back to the oil discussion. I believe your year of vehicle called for an API oil rating of CC or CD. More modern oils will have an API rating of CH-4 or CI-4. The key here is the "C" rating. The oils I mentioned earlier in the post are specifically formulated for diesel engines. Diesel engines create their own havoc to the oil the gasoline engines don't such as the creation of large amounts of soot. The diesel engine oils are better formulated to handle the soot build up in the oil.

It may be very hard to see the difference in the performance between two different oils unless you start doing some oil testing. Who's to say that if you were to run the Castrol for 250K miles in the truck before it needed a rebuild that by running another brand of oil you could have run 275K before reaching the same wear point. Who's to say? There are so many different opinions on oil, it could justify it's own web forum.

My opinion (amongst thousands) is this. You should run the engine oil wieght and type that the engine manufacturer reccommends. Change your oil at the manufacturer recommended intervals. Newer diesel oils are better formulated to handle soot then the older oils or are better in dealing with the contaminates created by today's fuel formulations. If you are really curoius about how your oil is doing, have it tested. It's pretty easy to buy an oil analysis kit from NAPA or through an AMSOIL representive. You take the sample as you change the oil and mail it in. 2 weeks later you get the results. It costs about $20.00. When I got my VW TDI and it said to change the oil every 10K, I was concerned since all my other vehicles recommend 3K mile oil changes. I tested the oil at 5K and 10K miles and both analysis came back indicating the oil was still good to use at 10K miles. That made me sleep better. ......As I said this is just my opinion.

TimK