[frostylemon]

its looking like i am going to have to take the jeep off the road and do some extensive work to it. now i need another vehicle and am looking for some opinions on gm diesel's form 1992-1999 6.1 or 6.5

[cjb7804]

6.5 started in 1994, gets pretty good milage (15 in town, 20-24 highway) depending on gears. The 6.2 was a good engine, but lacked the power of the 6.5 as for the milage, its pretty close to the 6.5, also the 700r4 auto tranny wasn't as reliable behind the 6.2 as the 4L80 auto is behind the 6.5.
If I was getting a chevy diesel, I would opt for the 6.5 in a 1995 or 1996 truck.

[Indy]

Good lord don't buy the 6.5. There's a few threads in the towing section about gm diesels etc. Read up, off to work and no time to post again.

[Bgeddes]

I drove the 'unreliable' 6.2/700r4 combo for 230,000 miles. My suburban would get about 26mpg in town and right at 30 on the hwy.

[JimenyFKrickets]

Originally Posted by Bgeddes

I drove the 'unreliable' 6.2/700r4 combo for 230,000 miles. My suburban would get about 26mpg in town and right at 30 on the hwy.

I don't think there is a need to prefix a chevy diesel with the word ' unreliable' Sorry

[Millermagic]

Cummins > * for diesels, and I'm a ford man.


I would love to have a diesel suburban though.

[SDDAVE]

Cummins, inline 6, 30% fewer moving parts than the Ford or Chevy diesels, rod bearings are bigger than the others main bearings.

[n3qik]

I would try for a 94-95 6.5L motor. 96-2000 are prone to cracks between the oilers and mains. Upgrades would be a "green tag" injection pump and a FSD relocation kit.

[Elwood]

The 6.2 is a good engine, but lacks a lot of power. The 6.5 will need injectors and a new pump at 100k, just like clockwork. They still are pooches, but not as bad as the 6.2.

I know gas is a killer, but maybe look for a 454? The tranny behind it will be a lot better and they are a very simple and inexpensive engine to work on, and with the repairs that will probly be needed, especially on the 6.5, you can buy a TON of gasoline.

[Wolfman01]

Run. Both engines had serious fuel pump issues. If you want a "good" older diesel, look for an old pre powerstroke Ford 6.9L. These were old Navistar built engines and were just about bulletproof. If you're patient, you may even be able to find an old Dodge when the Cummins was first introduced on the cheap. Those old trucks rode like buckboards, however.

[jeepsgotnutz]

I could care less about what people say about 6.5L TD motors. Most the people that bash a Chevy Diesel never owned or drove one. The 6.5 was introduced in 92 and there will still be plenty of support for a while on it even though it's no longer being used by Chevy. Yes there were some models that had part specific issues. If a 6.5 was going to go, it did it in under 35k miles. Chances are if you hit 35k, you had a keeper. As far as having to have a new Pump and Injectors at 100k, that is pure BS.

1994 did see a pump change which wasnt quite as reliable as the 92-93, but by far not a crappy part.

I've ran 6.5's, and more than one of my friends have run them. No complaints from any of us. My 93 had over 250k on the clock when I sold it. In those 250k miles, I replaced a harmonic balancer/damper and a cheap pot-metal coolant piece that GM uses on all models. That motor with a 4L80 and Corp 14 Bolt was perfect for me. It would easily outpull it's rated load limit. Triple axle GN with a 16k lb Backhoe was easy work. I trusted that truck more than our 03 HD with the 6.0 At 18 mpg average, it was a lot better than our 6 liter as well.

http://www.62-65-dieselpage.com/

thats a good site for info on details and power add-ons ect...

[Elwood]

As far as having to have a new Pump and Injectors at 100k, that is pure BS.

I have had 6 different friends with that engine, different years and every single one of them had pump failures between 98k and 110k miles.

Maybe all the lemons were sent to my county, I don't know. Maybe these guys need to live a better life, I don't know. Maybe these are the only ones that failed, I don't know, but based on MY experience, this is what happened to friends of mine with these engines.

I was just sharing MY experiences with them.

[Indy]

I had a '93 6.5l. And I bash them purely for that reason. And its not really bashing. Because I had one. And the only active forum is post after post of people trying to find a fix for their problems, and 1 or 2 folks that are actually having fun with them.