1.9 TDI SWAP

[Will L.]

It saves on fuel- and only in some engines. Same thing in pickups. You can and should turn that feature off if anyone here has it. Those dead cylinders wear out at a different rate and they end up with blow by in some cylinders, amongst other problems. GM keeps changing the name of the feature for marketing purposes. I’m sure others here are aware of it. On the 5.3 and 5.7 iirc.
What was that title again? Oh yeah- IDIOTS.

 

[Husker6.5]

The reason why they stopped putting diesels in the Suburban/Tahoe platform had nothing to do with GM bean counters. Had everything to do with emissions standards and platform rating. Same reason why 2005 was the last year Ford had a diesel Excursion. When GM went from the GMT-400 to the GMT-800 platform, the new Suburban/Tahoe/1500 version of the GMT-800 platform was considered a Light Duty truck platform because of the GVWR and thus didn't "qualify" for the D-Max Medium Duty diesel used in the HD 2500/3500 version of the GMT-800.

Same thing with the Excursion, when Ferd updated their Super Duty F250/350 platform, they just plain dropped the Excursion from the line because it too would have been technically rated as a Light Duty truck and ineligible to run the 6.4 Powerstroke/6.7 Scorpion diesels in it as they are Medium Duty engines.

 

[Will L.]

So the 2001 gm 2500 2 door 2wd pickup with duramax is rated as class 2b at 8501+ or class3 at 10,001+ ,, but my 2001 2500 4wd which had actual weight of (8700 btw if that helps) was not rated heavy enough for the duramax engine by emissions standards?


Take away the engine and transmission from both and the suburban outweighs 1 ton(class 3) 2 door pickups. Tahoe, maybe.

Excursion- my ford driving sister owned and her husband had the extra cab f250, bought both the same day from dealer. Same problem, excursion was heavier. Both gas engines. She had street tires and 2wd, he had 4wd and bf Goodrich AT- and he still got better mpg.

If Gm ABSOLUTELY HAD to drop it why with the 01 and Ford the 05?

The ford engine was 7.3 powerstroke from 94.5 to 2003. Then the 6.0 from 2003.5- 2007. The 6.4 was 2008-2010 and the 6.7 started 2011. The years dont match. They completely dumped it in 05 except sold as 06 in Mexico because their sells regardless of engine, they were in the dirt. And the Mexican government bought most of them in a package deal so Ford could get out from u der the loss. They closed the plant over it for the excursion, not just diesel.

Then the other problem. The EPA set limits but emissions testing are state to state. But neither says your engine is a specific size. Duramax is used class 2b (vans) through 6. They can stick a duramax in a car the size of a smart car, it just has to pass emmisions levels- which btw read the specs. The duramax passed them down to class 1.
The EPA listed law doesn’t even separate the test. Couple more pics.

 

[Husker6.5]

That was my understanding of the reasons from an article in DieselPower, the decisions were based off of vehicle weight class and usage, the Burb and Excursion were designated as passenger vehicles, not cargo/utility trucks like the ¾ and 1T HD pickups. The Excursion came with the 7.3 and then later 6.0 diesels on that chassis, but when the platform design was changed, the new rules kicked in so no diesel was offered and Ford killed the Excursion anyway for their own reasons.

@THEFERMANATOR pretty much showed that the D-Max was initially intended for the GMT-400 platform (with minor modifications to the platform) when he did his Duraburb retrofit, until the decision was made to design an all new platform for the Duramax with an Allison tranny backing it - the GMT-800 and later platforms.

We all know that up until about 5 years ago or so, there was a thriving aftermarket dropping D-Maxes w/Allisons - essentially plug/bolt-in and play - into 2,000's model years Suburbans and H-2s because none ever came that way factory from GM for whatever reasons.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

The reason why they stopped putting diesels in the Suburban/Tahoe platform had nothing to do with GM bean counters. Had everything to do with emissions standards and platform rating. Same reason why 2005 was the last year Ford had a diesel Excursion. When GM went from the GMT-400 to the GMT-800 platform, the new Suburban/Tahoe/1500 version of the GMT-800 platform was considered a Light Duty truck platform because of the GVWR and thus didn't "qualify" for the D-Max Medium Duty diesel used in the HD 2500/3500 version of the GMT-800.

Same thing with the Excursion, when Ferd updated their Super Duty F250/350 platform, they just plain dropped the Excursion from the line because it too would have been technically rated as a Light Duty truck and ineligible to run the 6.4 Powerstroke/6.7 Scorpion diesels in it as they are Medium Duty engines.

They stopped selling diesel's in SUV's because nobody was buying them, plain and simple. If the demand was there, they would have kept building them. You hear alot of people say they wanted one, but when it came time to buy, there wallets just weren't there for it. This is clearly evidenced by how few there are out there for sale today.

And Ford didn't just stop making diesel Excursion's, they dropped the Excursion all together because there "build it bigger" mentality sized it out of the markets desire. An Excursion wouldn't fit in the average garage whereas a Suburban would. So they dropped the Excursion that was built using the super duty chassis and went to the expedition xl built on the half ton chassis so soccer moms would buy them. Emissions didn't help, but it was by no means the reason behind there demise.

And GM had the Duramax built with every intention of it going into the gmt800, they just made adjustments to them so they could use the current gmt400 as test mules for them. By the time GM comissioned the Duramax, the gmt400 was already long in the tooth, and going into it's final years of production. The gmt800 1500/2500 came out a year after GM partnered with Isuzu to build the 1st engine.

 

[Will L.]

Not enough suburban diesel sales? I mean that does make the most sense as to why they would quit buying them, but out here I was still playing fleet mechanics back at the end of the gmt and the sales people in Vegas said they still had a lot of folks asking for them when I asked for a test drive of one. Ended up getting an 01 2500 4wd with the 6.0 LS. Don’t get me wrong I was happy with it but really wanted the dmax. I prefer a bumper pull camp trailer.

I know I am stealing one of War Wagon’s chants here but I think people were just over the top sick of the 6.5 fiasco. All the dealership guys that I spoke to knew 6.5 fixes like remote pmd and custom exhaust but weren’t allowed to do them. How many “accidentally” left some research info in customers car occurs with names of other shops on it that would do it.

The first duramax that I drove was the first duramax shipped to the Vegas area. It was a service truck that was in the sema show. I knew the basic engine from the whisperwatt generators. We actually stole some parts out or a generator once when a truck was down and in a hurry to get back in service at the fleet. I knew with the power of that duramax I wanted one in a suburban for the wife’s daily driver and for us to go camping with. Tried hard to get her to go with homemade or us buying a shop made duraburb but she seen issues of other projects go wrong like the buick 231 v6 into the dodge d50 I did years before. Fun truck but she thought the radiator in the bed was too much. Haha. Had to remove not just radiator but most the radiator core for the pulleys and fan belt. The gearing it that thing for the weak 4cyl - man that thing was 0-60 instant but couldn’t do 75mph HAHA.