6.5L Turbo Diesel Blazer Project

[a5150nut]

Your daughters vested interest in the rig will go far in her taking good care of it too.

[arveetek]

This is a great thing for the young lady......Not that many girls get to this level of understanding of "The ways of the force"
Far too many never get beyond the turn the key and go....

Getting ones hands dirty brings the entire picture into focus....really well.

My 14 year old daughter has become interested in this type of thing, especially after taking a "Life Skills" class at school where they have learned basic auto maintenance. Funny thing is, I've tried to get her to help me in the shop before, but she wasn't interested until a teacher showed her the same stuff? Anyway, she was able to change the oil on my wife's Acadia on Tuesday night; she did most of it herself; I had to help her get the oil filter loose since it's in a really tight spot, but otherwise she did the whole job with only a little supervision.

Casey

[More Power]

Have a look at the harness pointed to in this image. Does it go on top of the fuel injector lines (yet to be installed) or beneath them?



I pre-installed the fuel filter assy and all of the fuel supply/return lines/hoses. I just couldn't remember if the big IP harness lays on top of the steel fuel injector lines or lays in the engine valley beneath the 8 injector lines. Thanks! Jim

[Robyn]

Lays in the valley...

"DOWN IN THE VALLEY"
This one has all the connectors that hook up to the various points on the IP and other stuff close.

I recommend that you strip the wrinkle loom off and check for damage to any of the wires.

I replaced the one on the Dahooooley as the wires were in sad shape from chaffing on the loom.

Any damage can be tapped up or otherwise protected....

[More Power]

"DOWN IN THE VALLEY"
This one has all the connectors that hook up to the various points on the IP and other stuff close.

I recommend that you strip the wrinkle loom off and check for damage to any of the wires.

I replaced the one on the Dahooooley as the wires were in sad shape from chaffing on the loom.

Any damage can be tapped up or otherwise protected....

Thanks, that actually makes it easier. I've done quite a bit of wiring repair, re-taping and general fixup, but I'll take the loom off that big harness to have a look-see.
Jim

[More Power]

Closer... yesterday, I installed the fuel injector lines, fuel filter, oil pressure switch, new glow system harness, and intake manifold.

The intake I'm using here is the HD version from the spare engine I acquired a few weeks ago.

I'll likely leave the top of the intake off so I can prime each cylinder with a wee bit of fuel - to help it get past the inevitable airlock. Of course, I'll not crank it till the engine block heater has been plugged in for a 2-4 hours. I recall that the 1994 models won't cycle the glow plugs after disconnecting the batteries. This "problem" goes away after the first start.

[Robyn]

JUST A HEADS UP ON RAGS STUFFED INTO THE INTAKE.

A few years ago a friend of mine had just finished up a 6.5 for his truck.....Had a small fuel leak so he took the intake off to find it.....

One fuel line was not quite snug enough.....He went to dinner and was so happy with how well the new engine ran....came home and stepped into the garage and hit the key to have one last listen to the new engine..

He had laid some rags over the open intake ports........Sucked a rag into the engine....Rag held the valve open, broke a piston then blew the cylinder wall out...

THE CARNAGE DID NOT STOP THERE.....
ended up bending a rod and messed up the crank too.

Total destruction...in a few seconds.

I make it a point to never lay rags over an engine...especially after its in the rig.

Duct tape is somewhat safer...
A fine screen cut to size with fasteners to hold it over the opening...

GM actually had a set of port covers in the special tools list that were a screen....The engine could be run but nothing could get in past the screens.

[Robyn]

PULL THE GLOW PLUGS OUT.

Make sure there is fuel to the IP

Less than 30 seconds on the starter with zero load and she will be blowing fuel mist out the holes.

Install the plugs and fire it off.

Much much easier on the starter, batteries and the patience.

With zero compression the fuel comes right through easily....

[More Power]

He had laid some rags over the open intake ports........Sucked a rag into the engine....

I've heard of that happening... Once on a 6.2 where the owner placed a towel near the air filter intake hose. It sucked in the small towel which collapsed the air filter element, but luckily it got balled up enough that it couldn't force its way past the top of the intake manifold. I'll be careful...

But, the glow plugs were so easy to install while the engine was on the engine stand... I may take out some of the easy ones. I actually did that back when I first started our 6.5TD Power Project engine, after it had been rebuilt and was at this stage in reassembly.

[Robyn]

The plugs are easy to get out.

On the RH side,...
Remove front tire and the rubber inner fender flap.

Sit on a bucket and reach through the hole in the inner fender.

I do the prime up before the exhaust and turbo go on with a fresh install.

You can easily get all but number 8 plug

[trbankii]

Looking good!

[More Power]

Getting close to the last of the puzzles... one more...

The heavy battery positive cable that runs from the passenger side battery to the starter is paralleled by a +batt power lead that connects to the power lug strip located behind the "T" shaped plastic cover on the firewall (where the lift pump fuse is located). My question is... does that +batt lead run outside the downpipe or inside against the engine block? I don't have a good handle on how to route that wire.

I've gone though my photo archive, but can't find a shot of that area. Thx, Jim

[Dr. Lee]

Robyn said "You can easily get all but number 8 plug"

The number 8 injector is no picnic, either:

lee-diesel.jpg

[Robyn]

I believe the original routing on that cable was along the block.

I have replaced a few over the years and have run the new one right down the inner fender under and around stuff and then into the junction box

That cable has a habit of becoming crappy where the small cable is spliced into the larger one.

I have used the multi post optima batteries and then soldered the eyes on the cables and then used the marine post type terminal that have the threaded rod sticking up on the end opposite the clamp on bolt.....
Very easy to see if you have corrosion and also easy to clean it.

The factory cables are crimped and they do get nasty inside the jacket....

[Robyn]

The only easy fix for easy access to the #8 glow plug, injector and the heater hoses is the addition of the Mouse hole I spoke of earlier.

The mouse hole makes life a lot better....Far less blue air....

[More Power]

Big day yesterday! There were hoots and hollers.

Was a bit cool the evening before (21 degrees F overnight), so I planned on using the engine's block heater... unfortunately, the plug end had a broken wire which prevented it from working. Got that fixed with a new plug from ACE, then let it warm up as daughter filled the cooling system, I installed the new batteries and we poured in 10 gallons of fresh diesel fuel. This was followed by purging the air from the fuel supply side using the Blazer's electric fuel lift pump. We used the lift pump to purge the air from the fuel filter and the fuel supply line to the fuel injection pump. Cracked open the fittings on a couple of injectors, then squirted about a teaspoon of diesel fuel into each intake runner. The engine was warm to the touch, so we let the glow plugs cycle, then cranked it. It immediately fired on the raw fuel, stumbled and then stopped firing. Did that 3 more times before it ran on its own! Less than a minute total cranking time. Daughter was pretty excited. She was a part of it all from start to finish... from the installation of the cam bearings to mixing and pouring in the coolant.

No SES lamp... amazing, just amazing! After 11 years of sitting in a thousand pieces, and all of the wiring disconnected...

However, not being 100% confident a few weeks ago, I didn't install new injectors - wanted to hedge a bit just in case any one of those thousand pieces prevented success. The old injectors unfortunately weren't kept clean when they were removed all those years ago and were just thrown into a box with other engine parts. But, I did clean them as best I could before installing them a couple of weeks ago while the engine was on the stand. In any case, I know it needs a fresh set of injectors, and it'll get them soon. At least one of the injector nozzles is leaking fuel (miss, fuel smoke), which again, doesn't surprise me (had to scrape aluminum off one of them from the melted piston). Besides, I suspect the injectors are original to the engine/vehicle with 187k miles on them.

The Blazer needs to be licensed and insured before we can take it out on the highway, but we did drive it closer to home, on a private road. The brakes need help, before it'll be safe for highway speeds. The 4L80 needed nearly a gallon of ATF to bring it up where the stick says it needs to be. All of the dash gauges appear to work correctly. The fuel gauge was a little reticent at first, but I suppose that sitting for all those years with a nearly empty tank made the sender a little cranky. But, it ran and drove pretty well otherwise. Yay!

[arveetek]

Congrats! You're making much quicker progress on your project than I am! But I'm not terribly far behind....

Casey

[More Power]

Congrats! You're making much quicker progress on your project than I am! But I'm not terribly far behind....

Casey

Just glad I'm not a mechanic. I couldn't make any money as slow as I work.



Here's a shot of how it looked when we finished for the day (Sunday 10/31/2021) - hood back on and everything buttoned up. This is the vehicle I used to produce the very first "FSD Cooler" article/product review (very first on the internet) in the spring of 2000, which launched an entire cottage industry of FSD/PMD coolers and remote mounting kits. Oh, the stories I could tell... I still have that first FSD Cooler (it came with the Blazer when I re-acquired it), but chose to install a new one that Beta Machine sent to me quite a while ago now, with the instructions to install it on the wife's (now daughter's) Blazer on the intake manifold location. So, here it is... New parts!

The prior owner of the Blazer had purchased a new Stanadyne module (a black one), and kept it in a box in the center console. I chose to install that one on the new FSD Cooler along with a #4 resistor that I had on hand. The original FSD mounted to the DS4 had a #4 in it, but what's interesting is that the FSD module that was on the original Cooler (when I reacquired the Blazer) didn't have a resistor in it... The original FSD module musta been replaced sometime by the new owner, who didn't know about the resistor.

The vacuum wastegate actuator had been replaced with a TurboMaster. Not sure how the PCM works with it..., but we'll find out.

We're using a 50/50 solution of Dex-Cool and distilled water (exactly 6 gallons total) instead of the green stuff. I'm a firm believer in Dex, for the 6.2/6.5 as well as the Duramax!

While the engine was warmed up and idling I removed the oil fill cap to check for blow-by. Didn't see any, thankfully. And, after getting the air bleed valve on the thermostat outlet housing tightened down, I didn't see any drips beneath the vehicle.

Looks like injectors from reputable vendors are running about $60 bucks a pop. A little pricey nowadays... Makes me want to experiment with new Bosch nozzles for about $74 a set of 8.

Jim

[arveetek]

Also, the vacuum wastegate actuator had been replaced with a TurboMaster. Not sure how the PCM works with it..., but we'll find out.

I absolutely love my Turbomaster with Kennedy's TD-Max chip. Works together flawlessly and boost is consistent and smooth. With the stock programming, not so much. It would go into limp mode every time I towed.

Casey

[More Power]

I absolutely love my Turbomaster with Kennedy's TD-Max chip. Works together flawlessly and boost is consistent and smooth. With the stock programming, not so much. It would go into limp mode every time I towed.

Casey

As I recall, this Blazer had/has an aftermarket chip. I know when I sold it that both a Kennedy and a Heath chip went with it. I don't know which is installed now. Whichever it was, that chip was in it when it was pushed to a point of melted pistons. The melted piston was the driver's fault, not necessarily the chip's.