Diesel Advice

[paulk68]

I need some help, I have been looking for a good weekend truck for a little while now and have recently found a 88 gmc 3500, my concern is that it is a 6.2 liter DIESEL. I have never owned a diesel or worked on a diesel so it is a little intimidating. The truck will be used to haul brush, pick up topsoil/stone for my driveway, runs to home depot, and occasionally driven 75 miles round trip to work in bad snow storms. Should I be intimidated by owning a diesel? need some good advice. thank you

[surnufz]

I'm not sure about the 88 6.2 Diesel. Does it have a turbo? I own a 02 Silveraldo 2500 HD with the Duramax. It is by far the best pickup truck I've ever owned. It runs great and will pull what ever I put behind it. The only way I would ever part with it would be to get a newer model. The only negative that I can think of is that diesel fuel is more expensive than gas right now.

[Randy67]

The 6.2L is probably not turbo, but is a decent diesel. Friend had one for many years, towed with it and drove it daily. They tend to get better mileage than a gas engine (especially big blocks) so the higher fuel price evens out to some extent.

No need to be afraid of a diesel, you may even get hooked on them and then like Bobby said, you will want a newer Duramax. I wish my current truck was a diesel, but the price was right. I may repower it with a diesel down the road for the fun of it, or just buy a newer truck.

[TheJDMan]

I have an 07 2500HD Silverado Duramax/Allison. It is hands down the best pickup I have ever owned! If you are looking for the best trucks, you really want to look at an 05 or newer Duramax w/6 speed Allison. The diesel technology is light years ahead of what it was in 88. In general, diesel is nothing to be afraid of. While diesel prices tend to run about the same as premium gas, my 07 will get 22mpg hiway all day long.

[jbake]

The only problem u MIGHT have is on the really cold winter mornings. Make sure the glow plugs r good and DON'T try n start it till the glow plug light goes off. They warm the block/head to temp where diesel burns. Diesel engines run on compression so there's no spark plugs, wires, dist, etc. Nothing to be worried bout, I had that same engine in my 88 k3500. Pull anything u could hook to, used less than a quart between oil changes when I remembered. Wish I never sold that truck.

[sik68]

I have a '90 Cummins D250 (5.9L) ...and get 20mpg WHILE towing 3000lb car + 2000lb flatbed. Tows like a champ and won't go a tick past 63mph. Don't know much about the GMC's, but I bet the MPG will surprise you and the quirks with old trucks become rather cool. Well built, reliable, simple vehicles to work on. I'd definitely recommend looking more into diesel forums or something.

[Blown73]

The 6.2 diesel is a pig, but it's a good motor. Just don't expect to win many drag races.

Diesel trucks are expensive. They cost more to drive, register, and fix. Just keep that in mind when you are looking at it.

If the truck is currently in Connecticut, I would bet that it has a block warmer for the cold nights. If the block warmer is plugged in, you should not have any trouble starting it.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

As everyone else said, dont be afraid of diesels...I dont have much exprience, but with my newest project, ive done a fair amount of research and have become hooked because of their reliability and simplicity. From my research i did for my project the 6.2/6.5 GM are a decent engine, cheap-ish to repair and are fairly durable. If you plan on ever wanting more power though id keep looking, they cant handle much boost and have basically no aftermarket support. The only problems ive seen on stock setups in my searches though are blown head gaskets (also a trend w/ first gen duramax's). The Fords (IDI's) seem to be a bit more durable, and have a bit more aftermarket support with them. I didnt do much research on Ford because it wasnt going to work with my application (theres also a reason FORD offers Cummins as an option in the F450's and up).
Finally, where my research led me to: Cummins! So im bias, but they are stupid simple (pre 98.5 need little more than a heater and starter circuit to run), can handle big power on stock internals, run massive amounts of boost (come w/ ~25psi stock), and if you look around enough they can be just as cheap as the aforementioned. Cummins trucks can easily run 400,000 miles with little issues. I just filled up today averaging 22mpg mix hwy/city for a 6000lb truck with 280,000mi all stock.

[70cuda]

Dieselplace.com is an awesome site. You'll find tons of great stuff there.

[JEFFTATE]

It's getting harder and harder to get parts for the old 6.2 diesel ..
Keep that on mind ..

[ALLstrokedOUT]

It's getting harder and harder to get parts for the old 6.2 diesel ..
Keep that on mind ..

Thats true, and made me think of another point: I went to two u-pull-it yards within the last couple months, ive seen a few 6.5 turbo powered GMs almost completely intact, but the one time a wrecked dodge ram cummins came up on the inventory list online it was picked clean within a week of being there. Kind of shows the desirability for the CTD's vs 6.2/6.5's...

[Motorcitydak]

Are the 80's chevy military trucks (blazers and P/U) CUCV's powered with this same 6.2 diesel? Maybe look into one of those trucks or you could use one as a parts trucks if necessary some day. Seems like they can be had for relatively cheap and you get a Dana 60 front axle and 5/4 ton capacity

[nekkidhillbilly]

well 6.2 parts arent hard to come by and 6.5 parts pretty much swap on them. they are tough motors and good on gas but thats about it. they have little to no power and most dont have a od trans so your tapped out about 75 mph in one. all the cucvs have the same exact diesel just have deeper gears so there pegged at 65. you can retrofit a turbo on one. as for the duramax it didnt get a 6 speed till 06. any after mid year 04 are great(no injector issues). all the cummins trucks are great and the ford 7.3 trucks are.

[nathanr15]

with a 6.2 you wont be winning any speed race but they desent on fuel i think banks power makes a turbo system if you think you need more . i own an 2003 chevy duramax and i can get 23 mpg and still have 650 rwhp on tap with some major support mods it is amazing what they can do nowdays.