Used 6.5 or Duramax... What to do, what to do?

[Husker Fan]

I'm in need of some information. We

[dmaxalliTech]

I have to wonder if the Kodiak you looking at uses the 6.6 Duramax or the inline 6 version of it thats used in Med and Hvy duty trucks. You will for sure safe some money with the used, I think a properly maintained 6.5 will be just fine..

[a64pilot]

Get ahold of John or someone to do whatever mods are necessary to cool the PSD I think it's called or be prepared to spend alot of money every 50,000 miles or so replacing injection pumps. That's about as long as I could get out of My 95's injection pumps. It was the biggest reason I got rid of the truck. I didn't know there was a fix for it until after I bought the Dmax.
IIRC it would cost me in the neighborhood of a couple of thousand dollars every 50,000 miles or so. Truck would stall in the middle of an intersection at times.

[Husker Fan]

No, the engine on the Kodiak does use the 6.6 Litre Duramax with the Allison 1000 transmission, at least on the 4500 and 5500 series that we're looking at. When you get into the larger units, then they go to the Duramax inline 6 or the Cat.

What kind of mileage does the 6.5 get?

[drthv8r]

There's a nice write up on the Kodiak C4500 in the latest Truck Trends Mag. It has the Dura/Ali in it.

They sure didn't give the Duramax a lot of credit against the Ford 6.0 in an article they did comparing the two in the same mag though. Looks like Ford bought them off or something...

[Lawnboy]

Caution, a lot of those "Bread Trucks" use N/A 6.5's. Just about a gutless wonder in a truck that is as aerodynamic as a billboard! A turbo could easily be added though!

[a64pilot]

My 95 K3500 6.5 TD got about 15.5 mpg or so or about 1.5 to 2 mpg less than a Dmax. IIRC the turbo only had about 5 or 6 psi boost with no intercooler, not much but the 6.5 needed all it could get. IMHO the 6.5 is not nearly the truck the Dmax is. I think the tranny is a 4L60, at 16,000 all of the time it will do it but keep it serviced because that is about all the weight it can handle on a continous basis. I think the 6.5 was only 165 hp, but I could be wrong.

[LanceW]

hey, watch it- that's 190hp... don't shortchange us...

Husker, at 16,000 lbs the 6.5TD is capable, but there's definitely a load on there. Your milage will be better with the d/max (maybe as much a 5mpg? just a guess), but you would have to burn a hell of a lot of fuel to make up the difference in price. The 6.5 will be a lot cheaper, BUT... it's nowhere near the motor that the Dmax is. If you can live with less performance I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 6.5. Hey, it's a bread truck, and if you can stand it accelerating like a bread truck you will be fine. Short local trips should be no sweat... long interstate hauls and spending a lot of time on the road (cross-country, etc) might be a different story.

When our 94 3500 dually blew up, we decided to put a reman 6.5 in it instead of buying a new truck. We only pull a medium sized horse trailer 10 or 12 times a year, we can live with it. If I were putting 50 or 60,000 miles on with a heavier load, I wouldn't be able to stand being patient all the time.

[Lawnboy]

If its the N/A 6.5 its only 120 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. So there's a LOT of change for ya LanceW!

[LanceW]

Whoops, meant to specify turbo, sorry... beyond that, I still say that if you can live with Barney Rubble, you don't need to pay for George Jetson. (speaking of pocket change)

[Husker Fan]

Thank you for all the input.

I've decided against the 6.5. They sent me the records, and it was towed 5 times, went through 5 alternators, 3 condensers, 3 a/c compressors, a new oil pump (no word on what happened to the engine), misc. other problems, and some body work. I've heard the GM alternators were bad during these years, I didn't realize how bad! No thanks.