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Your opinion on 6.5 Turbo Motor Home

T

TroutScout

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I am looking at purchasing a 1999 Motorhome, 26' long, with a 6.5 turbo diesel. It has 19,000 miles. The chassis is likely a 1998 as the motor home is usually built on the pervious years chassis. So I'm must be looking at a 1998 6.5 Turbo diesel engine.

Do you have any opinions on the engine? Good, bad, or otherwise.
Are there things I should be aware of?
What is likely to go wrong?
Would you think it's mechanically wise to go with an 11 year old engine with so few miles?
I'd be towing a 2700 pound boat & trailer with the motorhome at hig altitudes.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
TroutScout said:
I am looking at purchasing a 1999 Motorhome, 26' long, with a 6.5 turbo diesel. It has 19,000 miles. The chassis is likely a 1998 as the motor home is usually built on the pervious years chassis. So I'm must be looking at a 1998 6.5 Turbo diesel engine.

Do you have any opinions on the engine? Good, bad, or otherwise.
Are there things I should be aware of?
What is likely to go wrong?
Would you think it's mechanically wise to go with an 11 year old engine with so few miles?
I'd be towing a 2700 pound boat & trailer with the motorhome at hig altitudes.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Click to expand...

How much does the motorhome weigh? Front engine or pusher?

You are at the right place my friend. There is a good 6.5 health checklist to use when buying a 6.5. I'll try to find it for you.

I think these engines are wonderfully reliable, easy and cheap to fix and maintain, and I think the age is a non issue.
 
Vehicle Information:
1999 CHEVROLET P30
VIN: 1GBKP37F4X3307765
MOTORIZED HOME
6.5L V8 FI
REAR WHEEL DRIVE

This info is from carfax. I don't know the weight. It is a class A motor home with no slide outs. A Winnebago Brave.
 
TroutScout said:
Vehicle Information:
1999 CHEVROLET P30
VIN: 1GBKP37F4X3307765
MOTORIZED HOME
6.5L V8 FI
REAR WHEEL DRIVE

This info is from carfax. I don't know the weight. It is a class A motor home with no slide outs. A Winnebago Brave.
Click to expand...

I would find out the weight. I'm still searching for the checklist.... should be in the stickies but its not.

These engines are good, reliable and powerful with some modding, but too heavy of a motorhome with poor wind resistance may make it slow climbing up steep grades on highways. Let me find that engine health checklist, and I'll let others chime in on their opinions.
 
Can't find it....... I'd find the steepest highway grades around your area and test drive it up those a few times. Pay attention to the temp gauge as these engines don't like to see above 210 for Longevity reasons.

You're biggest issue will be weather or not its powerful enough to run that motorhome with room to spare for your trailer.

Many pull 10,000, 15,000 even 20,000lbs+ with little trouble with a few cheap mods, but you really need to testdrive it yourself (if its closeby that is) to see if it will be alright for you in stock form.

If its for a really good price, the mods are cheap and easy too to make it a real champ.

Major benefit of these engines are they are strong, reliable and usually CHEAP. That's it out of me. I'm letting others pipe in.
 
that must be its big brother to the 26' he is looking at, at 35' with the slide outs.

I think the 6.5 will do just fine. If the only issue is power, rest assured there is more in that engine than stock.

you might see what size exhaust is on it. With an RV hopefully 4" pipes all the way.

If it has electronic injection, find out where the PMD/FSD is located, this is the worst reliability part on stock engines. Also figure out what the fuel transfer pump is like, if its just one of our stock type on our trucks that sucks. Easily upgraded though. A nice new larger turbo and you'd have yourself a great efficient machine for less than $5k in mods. Looking at 15mpg too, compared to 7 with the big gassers.

A modded 6.5 will be better for you than a gas 400 or 460 anyday. Enough power and good mileage. The 460 has power but mileage is a joke in an RV.
 
buddy said:
A modded 6.5 will be better for you than a gas 400 or 460 anyday. Enough power and good mileage.
Click to expand...

That sums up the whole thing, TS... you can make a 6.5 more powerful than a 454 or 460, with more torque, at LEAST as good reliability, and much better fuel mileage.

They are cheap and easy to work on and modify, too. I wouldn't be at all scared of this one - 19,000 miles? Mine has 300,000 km and pulled a 9800# 5er for the last 100k. You can add cooling mods, power mods, and reliability mods with very little cost and effort, and you won't find better people to help you than on here. At the very worst, you can buy a REAL hot 6.5 for cheap...

What you need to look at is the rest of the package... MH options, condition, price... if the owner hasn't modded it, you should be able to get it cheap because he likely isn't aware of what he has, and most people he talks to will say the 6.5 is a bad feature.

Good for you, bad for him.

What to look for:

- excessive blow-by from the oil fill tube when engine running. Some is OK, lots is bad. At 19K, probably not an issue.
- make sure the coolant doesn't have bubbles in it when hot and that the upper rad hose doesn't get hard right after a cold start.
- check the coolant tank for oil scum. An oil analysis (if you can get one quick) tells you a lot.
- funny noises like bearings, etc are the same on everything...
- anything else can be fixed. (balancer, pmd, injectors, glowplugs, thermofan, thermostat, rad, etc. I doubt the IP will be an issue at 19K, either
 
Last edited:
It is 26 feet. No slides.

I can call the dealer tomorrow, Mon. and find out the weight.

He is 5 hours drive one way.

I haven't seen the unit in person yet, just the adds.

Thanks for the answers so far.

TS
 
diesels way better on economy and longevity. PMD only major reliability concern if everything else checks ok. the one vw found is in denton, are you in TEXAS? if close to dfw, I wouldn't mind stoppin by to help if needed.

BTW, welcome:smile5:
 
All of your responses are simply wonderful. I can't believe how helpful you all are. Even to the point of offering to help turn a wrench!

Yes, I've bloodied a few knuckles on cars and trucks. I have a Dmax 2002
2500HD, but haven't had to do anything to it except filters and oil.

I can take off and replace parts without to much fuss, some of the time, but what can confuse me is when you start using letter abbreviations for parts instead of thier full names, and when you start saying cross cirucit from A to relay B while cranking the ....I need iinstructions and hopefully pictures to know what your referring to.

I'm in Steamboat Springs, CO.
 
Now it was mentioned to put a bigger turbo on... this 6.5 would be a centermount turbo right? What are the options with a centermount?
 
Matt,

A list of acronyms... a trouble shooting guide... What haven't you guys thought of?

I'd beg you know what my next question will be before I do.

TS
 
TroutScout said:
Matt,

A list of acronyms... a trouble shooting guide... What haven't you guys thought of?

I'd beg you know what my next question will be before I do.

TS
Click to expand...

I'm just paying it forward my friend. The knowledge here is outstanding and so are the group of guys (and gals) that frequent here. I stumbled upon this crowd and they have helped me in every way with my 6.5. My truck is a daily driver, I 've had it for almost 4 years, and absolutely depend on it. It doesn't let me down.

One thing we don't think of often over here are truck payments :) These engines are great, and as mentioned earlier cheap to buy, and more importnant cheap to maintain and fix. Very easily compared to the newer rigs too.

At the end of the day, these trucks do the same job, with the same comfort as the new trucks do.

At the end of the month there is not a 6-700$$ payment to make. EVERY SINGLE MONTH..... Sure things break here and there.... So do vehicles with loans...

Your situation is different, unless you plan to live in your Motorhome and use it as a daily driver too :)

Motorhomes are a luxury, and meant to bring relaxation. Trouble on the road is the last thing you want.

These engines don't need to much to be reliable. Good fuel pressure, clean fuel, CLEAN Electrical GROUNDS (100% IMPORTANT). Clean Air path. And to move the Pump Mounted Driver (little black box mounted to the Injection pump) out of the engine bay.

These Engines got a bad reputation due to the poor placement of teh Pump Mounted Driver (PMD) causing it to fail. GM then replaced the entire Injection Pump under warranty. This resulted in people believing that these vehicles stalled all the time (due to failing PMD), and chewing through Injection Pumps, (Since GM Replaced the entire Injection Pump (IP) and the PMD as they are part of a package made by Stanadyne.

Good news for us, as the banks still evaluate these diesels at top price, but selling price and street price are much lower than the PowerStrokes and Cummings. (Which are much more expensive and harder to DIY fix)

Another important thing to note is since the introduction to ULSD (ultra low sulfer Diesel) it is important to add lubricity to each tank of fuel to replace the natural lubricity that was lost in the sulfur removing process. This keeps teh injection pumps properly lubricating resulting in well over 100k miles for most.

Most of us add either a quart of SAE - 30 NOn deturgent motor oil or a quart of 2-stroke oil per tankful to add the lubricity. This is probably good habit for your Duramax too I would think, but better off asking in the D-Max section before you add.

Thats it.
 
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