Older Domestic Diesel Engines vs. Newer Domestic Diesel Engines 3

[Billyg]

I'm thinking of getting a 1990 GMC 3500 Box Van that has a
6.2 litre diesel engine in it. I was warned by my neighbor that any domestic diesel engine before about 1996 or so had lots of problems. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Billyg

 

[evelrod]

Billyg, this may not be much help, but the company had a 1990 Suburban, 4 wheel drive, 6.2 engine. It was , in the beginning, rather gutless. Problem cured with the installation of a Banks Turbo Kit (circa $3000) . The next thing that came up was it was overly sensitive to water condensation in the fuel. Problem solved with add on water seperator and filter. Aside form that, it performed ok for several years untill the owner traded for a Dodge.



Rod

 

[TQ]

Billyg,

I rebuilt a chev deisel but first looked into all this. Someone rudely suggested to me that GM seem to have a habit of building granades, then progressively improving them to become very good engines. THey did this with the 5.7 which was just rubbish in my humble opinion in 1979 version,but by 1994 was a pretty good engine. Looked the same but numerous modified like the journals, small ends, piston lands, crank, confods, heads. There was a similar thing with the two series in the 6.2. Yu should contact the engine rebuilders. With my late version 5.7 I rebuilt it like I was building a race engine - balanced, line bored, decked, bump heights, check grind and fit on crank, etc etc. It runs like a petrol, totally smooth.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

I concur with Rod. The 6.2 was a stout engine, but it needs a turbo. The normally aspirated ones have no grunt. We used them for service vehicles - empty; okay, loaded or with a trailer; thought someone left the anchor out. I had a '81 Olds - most of the early bugs were gone. It needed a water separator, the first injection pump went at 45,000 (covered by 50k emission warranty), I knew the second would be mine. Started at 0 degrees, ran 32 mpg on the road fully loaded, able to squeal the tires and light up troopers radar. Wife made my sell it after it dropped the turbo 200M transmission all over the street. (See squeal the tires, etc.) Unlike the 5.7, the 6.2 was designed as a diesel, just needs more power (torque).

Blacksmith