• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

6.5L Newbie

Will L. said:
There are a couple vendors here to talk to about a new optimizer instead of bostic.
if only some blow by, could be a lot of life left in it
Click to expand...
Based on all the info here I am gonna drive this thing till it drops! But in the meantime save myself a ton of money. Thanks everybody.
 
Good catch on the starter bracket.

Did the PO tell you the mileage on the injectors?

Mine has plenty of blow by and still has the same power as it did before it ran hot on me. I’d just run it like your saying and not worry to much about it.
Replace the harmonic balancer and crank pulley and if money permits replace the oil cooler lines at the same time. The fuel filter housing o-ring rebuild kits are pretty cheap. Leroy Diesel has them.

I’d check the valve covers for part of your oil leaks. They are notorious for leaking. Mine leaks enough that I check the fuel and fill up with oil at the gas stations. Just ain’t had enough time to fix them yet.

If I remember right Bostic Motors sells Chinese blocks as the updated version.
 
Last edited:
Yup- bostic is like the name of the year, and will be changed again as soon as enough people learn who they are.

LeroyDiesel.com and TwistedSteelPerformance.comare good options for new engines.

Spend a descent amount of time reading the stickies here-tons of free info that will save time and money.
 
Teds sells military surplus used engines, sometimes you can save money by doing a quick freshening of those, other tines it cost more than a new optimizer by the time its all tallied up.

Replace the oil cooler lines if they are wet with oil, you can reseal the 4x4 oil filter adapter at the same time or relocate it, also order a set of seals for the ffm (fuel filter housing). All of that is available through leroydiesel iirc. He also sells alot of other parts you will eventually want.

You will want to run new fuel lines from the ffm to IP while you are there, its pretty easy and can be done with intake on.

The intake has to come off for IP replacement, these engines get a bad rep from their pmd causing premature IP replacement. If the intake has been pulled off frequently it can develope cracks. My 95 k1500 had a cracked lower intake from a previos IP replacement getting a wire harness between the manifold and head. Luckily I was doing a vin F swap when i found it.
 
Jaryd said:
Good catch on the starter bracket.

Did the PO tell you the mileage on the injectors?

Mine has plenty of blow by and still has the same power as it did before it ran hot on me. I’d just run it like your saying and not worry to much about it.
Replace the harmonic balancer and crank pulley and if money permits replace the oil cooler lines at the same time. The fuel filter housing o-ring rebuild kits are pretty cheap. Leroy Diesel has them.

I’d check the valve covers for part of your oil leaks. They are notorious for leaking. Mine leaks enough that I check the fuel and fill up with oil at the gas stations. Just ain’t had enough time to fix them yet.

If I remember right Bostic Motors sells Chinese blocks as the updated version.
Click to expand...

I don't know any of the history of this truck. PO? Is there something to look for on the harmonic balancer? Also I have seen multiple posts about people saying to go to a manual adjust for the turbo and ditch the vacuum. I have no idea what that means. Any ideas?
 
PO is previous owner. Generally when the harmonic balancer starts to go the rubber in it starts to bulge. But...... The one on my 99 looked fine but the outer ring had shifted about 20*. As far as the turbo goes it depends on what your plans are for the truck. The stock system is mpg king.
 
Remcd44 said:
Thank you, as a Newbie some of the abbreviations leave me a bit perplexed!
Click to expand...

Ask away, questions are courteously answered.

Remcd44 said:
I don't know any of the history of this truck. PO? Is there something to look for on the harmonic balancer? Also I have seen multiple posts about people saying to go to a manual adjust for the turbo and ditch the vacuum. I have no idea what that means. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
If You have a boost gauge and a pyrometer, You will know right away if the turbo system is functioning as it should. Some people install a spring loaded waste gate actuator in place of the vacuum actuated unit, the trade off is fewer MPGs with the turbo master but higher boost pressures can be obtained.
I did run a turbo master that I built until I could get all the faults with the ECM-Vacuum controlled turbo system figured out. It turned out that the vacuum pump had took a dump right after I had tested it, replaced the vacuum pump and the original vacuum system has worked flawlessly for a lot of miles now.
Another gauge that is mighty nice is a fuel pressure gauge, I got a real cheap gauge from Mr. Gasket and also purchased one of Leroy Diesels fuel gauge adapters, that takes out the question if the lift pump is working as it should, at a glance. I also installed Leroys lift pump and relay harness kit at the same time, that too is a mighty nice investment.
Welcome to the truck stop.
 
I took out all the piping from the turbo to the air filter..ran a piece of hose from the e.g.r. valve out the bottom of the truck..and ran a 3" pipe (Spectra brand) from the turbo in to the air box (looks kinda like a horse shoe) and put a k&n cone style high performance air filter with 3" inlet on the end of the pipe... Major power gain and the turbo spools real nice...just make sure you remove the fender snorkel and and make sure you keep air box cover on...and you've probably heard this before but keep a couple of extra pmd's in the truck you're going to need them..
 
Stoney said:
I took out all the piping from the turbo to the air filter..ran a piece of hose from the e.g.r. valve out the bottom of the truck..and ran a 3" pipe (Spectra brand) from the turbo in to the air box (looks kinda like a horse shoe) and put a k&n cone style high performance air filter with 3" inlet on the end of the pipe... Major power gain and the turbo spools real nice...just make sure you remove the fender snorkel and and make sure you keep air box cover on...and you've probably heard this before but keep a couple of extra pmd's in the truck you're going to need them..
Click to expand...

Save you some money here and get the same results: Return the K&N air filter (or oiled clone of the krap filter) for a refund and just run without an air filter. Your rings will eat just as much dirt, no worries of the K&N quickly clogging up with what little dirt it does stop, and no worries about K&N refusing to warranty anything because it's your fault not only for using an inferior air filter, but, clearly no one has ever serviced or maintained a K&N air filter properly according to K&N's claims department. Once you dust the rings from poor filtration, holes or cracks in the intake plumbing, it's game over no matter what filter you run afterwards. One aspirin sized tablet of dirt is said to be the equivalent of 75,000 miles of wear.
 
WarWagon said:
Save you some money here and get the same results: Return the K&N air filter (or oiled clone of the krap filter) for a refund and just run without an air filter. Your rings will eat just as much dirt, no worries of the K&N quickly clogging up with what little dirt it does stop, and no worries about K&N refusing to warranty anything because it's your fault not only for using an inferior air filter, but, clearly no one has ever serviced or maintained a K&N air filter properly according to K&N's claims department. Once you dust the rings from poor filtration, holes or cracks in the intake plumbing, it's game over no matter what filter you run afterwards. One aspirin sized tablet of dirt is said to be the equivalent of 75,000 miles of wear.
Click to expand...
That's weird.. I've never had a prob with them on other trucks...what kind of filter you suggest?
 
If you can find the OE heavy duty system (known by its RPO code of K47), that is the easiest to drop-in and works great. If you can get all the plumbing up to the compressor, that is a bonus. But at a minimum get the box and connector to the fender (so that you get cold air).

S&B is known for working well with the 6.5 as well and IIRC Leroy sells them.


Toward K&N, briefly moved my vehicles over to their oiled filters. The gassers saw no noticeable change from their OE paper filters. The DI diesel got ~2 mpg instant benefit, but my mechanic pointed out where the filter had creases from where it collapsed under heavy load.

Now I run paper filters. In the Burb, I used the cylindrical NAPA Gold one in a K47 box.
 
Stoney said:
That's weird.. I've never had a prob with them on other trucks...what kind of filter you suggest?
Click to expand...

Long story short: Running K&N I have had enough dirt go through the filter to make a build up of dirt on the Idle Air Control valve. This caused the valve to be thicker than the ECM thought and resulted in attempted idle at 450 RPM. It stalled several times and simply wouldn't idle. Seen several other trucks including Ford with the same problem. On my past love of a Jet boat - boats run flame arrestors only - the oil would drain to the bottom of the K&N filter and leave the top white. Aka a flame arrestor did a better job with less mess.

Problem isn't defined by total engine failure alone, but, the grit going by shortens its life.

We can argue oil all day long. The real diffence is the best filters. Oil failure can take an engine out. So can a filter failure.
 
Which sucks because with that filter and that pipe it's the best the truck has ran since I've owned it ...spools up loud.... Tons of power.... And better fuel mileage.... But if it's going to tear my engine up then I guess it's got to come back out...cuz if I blow that engine whole trucks got to go to the scrap yard cuz I can afford a new engine..lol
 
I assume you're a fan of non washable filters... I just thought they would be a money saver... But judging by your profile you have a lot more experience at this than I do.... BTW how do I get to the area to put all the information about my truck cuz a lot of times I read where are you guys tell people to put their truck information in their profile but the only section I found is where it says to tell you about myself in three separate one for the truck?
 
I just filled out all the info hopefully people will have some suggestions for how I can spend more money on it LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top