Posted by Chris Lube Lublin on Thursday, January 17, 2002 at 1:42AM :
In Reply to: 6.2/5 diesels? Lot of talk of big electric posted by Tim on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 at 10:32PM :
I used to work as a diesel tech for a local diesel repair shop. One of the accounts we had was maintaining a fleet of GMC 1 ton van chassis busses with the 6.2 diesel. There are also a few guys in my area, who really love the 6.2 and they try and retrofit them into just about anything. I plan to sometime soon put a 6.2 diesel into my '78 Chevy K-20. The truck I have now has a blown up 350 a SM465 4 speed and a 205 case running 4.56 gears in the diffs. I will leave the stick shift (I WONT mess with automatics..NO WAY!) but I plan to change the gears out from 4.56 to 3.73. Here is some info I have acquired from some of the research I have done on these 6.2-6,5 GM diesels:
The 6.2 Diesel Came out in either late 1981 or 1982. It was GM's light trucks 2nd attempt at a diesel for their pickups. The first attempt was converting the Olds 350 Gas into a 5.7 diesel, but the Olds 350 Diesel was a major flop! Well anyhow, I have been told that the 6.2 Diesel was a Converted Gas Chevy big block engine..I am not sure how true this is. But it does take the standard Chevy pattern bellhousing. The 6.2 and 6.5 were availible in 1/2-1 ton trucks AND it has been said that some of the larger high line GM cars of the 80's could be special orderd with 6.2s I have not seen one of these cars as of yet. Also for a couple years in the early 90's you could get either a 6.2 or 6.5 or 6.5 Turbo during that time. The civlian 6.2-6.5s have a 24 Volt starter, take 2 12 volt batteries in the system, the glow plugs run on 6 volts. The Military versions use a whole 24 volt system, including 24 volt glow plugs. These engines are not known for performance, but after 1984, with the exception of glow plugs and injector pumps, they are fairly reliable and efficent. The early 6.2s and turbo 6.5s were known for craking heads tho. THey are a decent engine and if setup with good gearing and manual transmissions, they get wonderfull fuel milage. when these engines are behind automatics they are very very sluggish, but behind a manual they are hard to beat.
The main problems are glow plugs going bad, but also the glow plug controler-resistor goes out quite frequently too. GM diesels do not handle well when you start them on either...Also, the injector pumps tend to start leaking too. THe injector pumps are very miserable to replace. Also early 6.2s and the 6.5 turbos cracked heads alot too. the Earlier 6.2s go thru headgaskets too.
Good luck!
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