Anyone know much about a Suburban diesel? They have a 6.5 Turbo Diesel engine. I was looking at a 1999 3/4 ton 4X4 that had the engine in it and I haven't heard anything about this engine.

 

Engine bad. Ive only known 1 person who owned that engine that was happy with it. Quite unreliable, and extremely underpowered. Better off with a gas small block.

 

I'm looking at pulling a toybox so it would be the diesel or a big block

 

The one weak point in the engine is the fuel pump but if they have trouble it usually happened early on and gm fixed them under warranty. Mechanically it a good motor that runs quiet lasts a long time and is cheap to repair . That cant be said for the IH /powerstroke . Weve got a fleet with both engines and I spend 90percent of my time fixing the powerstrokes.

 

wistech, the friend of mine that had a good experience with the diesel had a 99 C3500 crew cab dually. When did they make the upgrades to the engine? Its possible that he had the updates and none of my other references have.

 

We never had any updates needed for ours . There was a recal on a fuel line bracket that could develope a crack in it. I did have one that had a water pump leak at around 5000 miles but it was covered under warranty. The oil cooler lines weep oil around the crimps but gm has had this problem forever. I had one with a ruptured tranny cooler dumping atf into the coolant.

Our fords and 444e's on the other hand have gone through countless glow plug controllers,cam sensors,loose bolts on the turbo housings,blown turbo crossover tubes,many corroded wiring terminals,oil pressure sensors,fuel lines in valley rubbing through,abs sensors ,many premature brake pad wear,calipers freezing,high pressure oil plug o rings fail,idler pulleys,icpr sensors,valve cover wiring comming disconnected ,under cover,icpr failures,warmup device leaking oil ,backpressure sensors plugging, dipstick adapters leaking ,oil pump suction o rings blowing out, injector orings blowing,idler pulleys,warped manufolds and manifold bolts, this list can go on and on and on and on.

I do all warranty work myself so I am intimatly familiar with the fords and 444e engines but our 6.5 turbos just dont come in my workbay enough to know much about them. They just get oil changes and go back out the door. I think if we had more of them I could tell more about the commom troubles with them. We run IH medium duty,ford e450 e350 super duty one tons and chevy one tons.

 

If you want something strong to tow, look at the Excursion diesel. I had a 98 gas Suburban and it was a dog. I bought the Excursion with the Diesel and I never wish I had more power. It has plenty to spare.
I towed my Trailer from Cali to Alaska last winter with no problems at all. The truck and trailer weighed in at 17k.

Doug

 

I am a diesel mechanic for a living......Run from that engine!!!!!!!!!! I am a die hard Chevy guy but GM has never had a diesel worth a crap (except for the new duramax){which is an Isuzu}. If you are pulling light weight go with the gas. Car manufactures are not good at making diesels. {Ford has a International in it}{Dodge has a Cummins in it}

 

Ya, I have seen many posts about that engine and they weren't too positive. I have to go with the big block

 

Stay a way from the 6.5 it has more problems than any I have ever had. A 350 gas will out pull the 6.5 all day long. It was hard to go back to gm for a diesel after that one. But glad I did duramax best pulling rig I have ever seen.