My Truck's engine blew on the way to MCACN...

[njsteve]

The shop is actually an authorized GM medium duty repair center and they have been working on 6.5s for several decades so I have been following their advice. They verified that the heads were flat and good to go. They were rather amazed at the condition of the heads and the inside of the engine in general. Their advice was essentially: yeah, you could spend several thousand on new heads but you won't see much of an improvement in performance or reliability so why spend the extra money. Especially since the engine wasn't run and overheated from the blown head gasket, it was shut down immediately.

In addition to the new head gaskets and new head bolts, we are putting on a new water pump, vacuum pump, 2-1/2" crossover exhaust manifold pipe, and one new valve cover. The valve covers have no gaskets and use only silicone sealer - if the flange is bent from prying it off, replace it, especially if it is on the turbo side because it is no fun to chase oil leaks under all that turbo hardware. All the parts being replaced are the original 1995 components so after 18 years they deserve a break.

[Material_Boy]

Hey Steve,

Glad the direction of this ordeal finally went to your favor, and I am sure you are too. Now drive that sucker for another 15 years, but don't paint it or touch it in any way other than normal maintenance. How many people do you know that tow their original unrestored survivor Firebird with their original unrestored survivor Suburban? LOL. Glad it worked out for ya.

Dave

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Back in action.

Good stuff.

Ryan

[67 442]

Sounds like luck is with you Steve.

[njsteve]

The jury is still out on that one until after I see the actual repair bill!

[njsteve]

I was rummaging through the file I have on my truck and found my original window sticker from when I bought her new, back in '95. I ordered the truck with 3.73s but for some stupid reason the dealer changed it to 4.10s without my permission. The fuel mileage would have been a lot better with the 3.73s...

[kwhizz]

When did they stop putting the Diesels in Suburbans...........That's what I wanted when I ordered my DuraMax pick-up in 2006.......the Salesman told me they didn't offer the Diesel option in Suburbans because the engines didn't make enough heat to keep the interior of the Suburban warm in the winter???

[njsteve]

When the Suburban got remodeled in 2000 was when they dropped the diesel engine option. It had nothing to do with heat (that sounds like a typical salesman response, though [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] ) It was about the new Duramax 6.6 and Allison transmission not fitting the floorboard architecture of the new Suburbans.

The 6.5 Detroit Diesel in my truck used the 4L80E heavy duty 4 speed trans.

[Chevy454]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">When the Suburban got remodeled in 2000 was when they dropped the diesel engine option. It had nothing to do with heat (that sounds like a typical salesman response, though [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] ) It was about the new Duramax 6.6 and Allison transmission not fitting the floorboard architecture of the new Suburbans.

The 6.5 Detroit Diesel in my truck used the 4L80E heavy duty 4 speed trans. </div></div>
The Dmax/Ally fits fine, it's the intercooler that is the issue...it's a popular swap among GM/Duramax enthusiasts, and most simply go with a 2 inch &quot;reverse rake&quot; body lift for the extra intercooler clearance or a few have gone with a custom shorter intercooler, but the engine/trans will clear, and everything bolts/wires up pretty straight forward [good thing about the GMs]...DuraBurb converts several a year, as do several guys over at Dieselplace. There's finally starting to be a few guys using the Dmax/4L85e combo out of the vans, which I always thought would be the way to go for a Suburban anyway...still plenty of hp/tq but better economy because of the more conservative tune and less hp robbing trans...the 8.1L/4l85e was a good combo in the Suburban minus the fuel mileage, but the Dmax would help that.

[Material_Boy]

Steve,

Glad to hear it was a lighter hit to the wallet than you originally thought.