What is the life of a 6.5 TD?

[jeffreydmet]

How many miles can you expect to get out of a well maintained 6.5 TD before you have to rebuild it?

I understand that you can only expect about 100K out of the Injection pump.

[patrick m.]

my clock shows 182k and counting. It runs absolutely great.
no leaks (since i replaced oil cooler lines 2 yrs ago). uses a little over a quart fo oil between changes.
seems i did the t-chain just in time.
i dont hear too many people going much over 200k with out replaceing the eng. we'll see.

[pannhead]

i'm at 230,000......no rebuild needed yet, its all about watching the pyro smile.gif

[Randee of the Redwoods]

Mine came from Ebay of all places. 184k miles and still going strong.

[Jolie]

Ours is at 150k and runs great. Original engine, not very well maintained either. Leaks a little bit of oil.....about a quart every 3k or so. Strong truck.

[richard7]

Mine is at 45000km (28K miles), and is fine running. :D I expect doing more than 10 times that mileage.

[Tough Guy]

I have 126,000 miles on mine...
I change the oil every 3000 with Mobil Delvac 1.
Fuel/Air filter every 15,000.
Front/rear diff/tranny fluid every 20,000.
Power Service fuel additive every tank...

Runs/starts like a top.

Cheers

[dstoops]

Mine only made it to 170,000. I changed oil and filter religiously. Actually a head gasket failed damaging the mating surface on the block. I suppose I could be faulted for only changing the coolant once during that time but I doubt if that contributed to the cracks in the main webs that we found. Otherwise the "innards" looked very clean...no sludge and very little cylinder wear.
Dean 95 K2500 +0.030,18:1, '97 cooling,K+N, BD chip, Pinnacle 4" exhaust.

[DAVE FERENCZ]

I had to rebuild at 260,000 k. The guys who did it just do 6.5. They haven't done one that made it over 300,000 k If the injectors aren't serviced reg. they cause pin hole in pistons esp. 1st one to firewall on passenger side. And the core is always cracked.

[jeffreydmet]

Dave
What needs to be serviced on the injectors?
Any body know other things need to be taken care of before they cause major problems.

You guys scare me. I am used to getting way over 200K on all of my gas vehicles that I have had without doing anything other than fuel pumps, alternators etc. I had a 2.5L Citation that I drove 235K miles before it died. If I had known that it had a plastic timing gear that needed replaced I could have probably made 300k. I currently have a 4.3 GMC Jimmy with over 220k still going strong.

[Johnny B.]

With 229,000 miles its still going strong. I expect my crew cab to die from cancer before the engine goes. I primarily use my crew cab to tow our travel trailer around th USA.

[gwaidman]

My 94 has 286,000km on it and it runs as good as my buddies with 97,000km. She pulls strong, gets 18mpg without thinking and starts right away. I have to agree with the EGT comment, just treat her good, change the filters and fluids, and drive it like a diesel. Save the 3500 redline shifts for a gas pot.

[markz]

My 95 has 280,000 km. I just blew the passenager side head gasget at the front of the engine.(cause: coolant cavitation) I changed both head gasgets, the bottom end looks good but there was some cracks in the heads. New ones where too expense so we said a prayer and put her back together. I'm hoping for another 200,000 Km.
I'll let you know.

Mark

[cruzer]

Jeffreydmet, Maintain your cooling system also. Clean the bugs out of the radiator and condenser. Spray them out from back to front.Heat is a major problem w/these engines. You have to keep em cool.

[curmudge1]

225,000 miles -- 1994 K1500 Blazer w/ 6.5TD, still runs fine.

Jardine Downpipe & muffler, plus 3-inch exhaust (still have cat, though). 3-gauge pkg from Camping World (good deals, including installs, in the off-season, like January).

DS4 pumps: 65K miles (warranty) & ~195K miles.

[ucdavis]

Jeffrey,
Timing chain @ ~150K miles & harmonic balancer @ ~90K seem to be important PM issues. Agree w/coolant service comments; lack of those seems to be #1 cause of premature death.

[C.K. Piquup]

`92 K3500srw GMC has 230,000mi.w/belt tensioner,fuel heater element,and alternator(200,000mi.)are only repairs.Oh yeah,oil cooler lines twice.Original I/P,injectors,and glow-plugs.Yes,they`re swelled.Yes,I/P and injectors need replacement.

[dhherrmann]

1994 1 Ton 4X4 6.5L Turbo Diesel Vin. F with 315,000. Repairs: 2 Injector pumps, 4 FSD's, 1 Waste gate solenoid, 1 Water pump, 4 coolent nipples, 1 Harmonic Balancer, 1 Crankshaft pulley, 1 A/C Clutch, 1 A/C Compressor and clutch, 1 Vacuum pump, 2 Alternaters, 1 Oil pressure sensor and about to put on another. Bad ground at drivers side wheel well. And I might as well mention the damage caused by certified GM techs while they installed the new injection pumps and FSD's, 2 broken transmission filler tubes, 1 fuel filter housing (shorted wires caused dash fuse to blow), 1 damaged wire to Waste gate solinoid (thought I lost another Waste gate solenoid) and 2 bad reconnection of wires to the glow plug relay (causing them to be intermittent).
Modifications: Gutted catylitic converter, Hypertech chip, B&M Shift Plus and about to put in Trans-go up grade shift kit for cold up shift problems.