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New 6.5 TD Owner (with some questions)

Kap270

Kap270

New Member
Messages
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Location
Grand Forks, ND
Howdy. A new 6.5 TD owner from ND joining. I recently picked up a 1994 6.5 TD suburban this fall and found this site. My 94' TD has 280k miles and the transmission has been rebuilt at 150k. It has maintenance logs that go back to 94' which is neat and seems to be relatively well maintained. My first truck was a 2000 suburban with the 5.3 and I loved it. I also had a 96' suburban with the 350 that sadly got killed by a wreck earlier this year. I got the 6.5 earlier this year and am about to put it through my first winter, but i've got a couple of concerns. I'm leaking a healthy amount of oil. About a quart of oil a month. I've tracked it to right above the oil pan. Has anyone else seen this before? I've also heard high temperature can be a real concern with the 6.5. Luckily, the PMD has already been relocated. However, my temp seems to sit right around 200 degrees going 75mph to 80mph down the highway. Never above 210. I'm a little wary to start upgrades when the engine has lasted so long. Plus it won't be long before ND hits below zero temps. We've already had one blizzard. It has a block heater, and an oil pan heater so hopefully it will continue to start just fine. Anyways, any comments, questions, or suggestions would be welcome. I'll upload pictures if anyone wants to see them.
 
Things you'll want to do. Glow plug override button, Lift pump relay with a prime while the glow plugs are on feature. They make a 1000w block heater for this vs the stock 600w one. Check your harmonic balancer very closely for signs of failure as they'll break the crank otherwise. Hopefully your PMD is located out of the engine bay. Keeping the 6.5 cool is an absolute necessity. The best system IMO is the upgrade to the 99+ spin on water pump and then use the electroviscous fan clutch which you control with a fan controller. This allows it to be adjustable and to activate based on water temp vs hot air thru the radiator. Getting the 6.5 too hot will crack heads crack cylinders and make the rings lose tension
 
Kap270 said:
I'm leaking a healthy amount of oil. About a quart of oil a month. I've tracked it to right above the oil pan. Has anyone else seen this before?
Click to expand...

What side of the oil pan?

Driver's side rear being "critical" oil cooler lines, oil filter housing O rings or Passenger side turbo drain.

Both sides would be the usual leaks at the valve covers. Nasty job valve covers be means oil is cheap and ignore it... Just getting the injection lines out of the way is the nasty part. Turbo and intake come off..

At 75 MPH this engine is getting a workout and may be sucking the oil through the CDR. Towing I used a quart every 500 miles with no oil leaks. Even with oil leaks that kind of "normal" oil use the leaks don't matter.

Make sure all your glow plugs are good. Get self limiting glow plugs like 60G's before you follow @ak diesel driver advice to override them. He forgot most likely, but, never assume they are all the newer self limiting glow plugs. Verify they are... Best damn thing ever made was to finally make the FN engine killing glow plugs in a self limiting design.

Quick and dirty Glow plug test on a cold engine: Get a IR temp gun (Look at the labor to do it any other way and go buy one if you don't have one.)

Measure and write down the temps on the head by all 8 glow plugs. You will measure the same spots.
Cycle the glow plugs without starting the engine.
Be quick about it and measure the temps again and write them down.
Cycle them after taking measurements if you have some that didn't get warmer.

Any "cold" spots that didn't warm up like the other indicates a bad glow plug. Say a five degree increase by one when all the rest went up ten degrees. Weak and dead glow plugs show up this way including any wiring problems.
 
Welcome to TTS.. if your going to change the glow plugs be prepared.. some coming out easy others don't..I'm about to tackle same job soon as temps are getting bad here in upstate NY... One of our vendors (Leroy diesel) has a tool for getting the problem plugs out. And I believe you can rent it from him but not 💯 on that. As for high temps.. easiest thing first.. clean your cooling stack.. make sure air can get through there
 
Plug your block heater in for a couple hours before you start .

You can ohm test the glow plugs while they're in orcas you take them out. Just so you know. I always check new glow plugs for continuity before installing
 
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