New to 6.5 just a few ??

[12vctd]

I am not new to diesels I farm and have 4 5.9 cummins, a 7.3 powerstroke, and a fed heavier diesels, but I have never had any real experience with the 6.5 other than when I was in the military. We are currently using a 89 Chevy Suburban to tote our 6 kids around, its got a pretty fresh 350 and get around 13.1 to 14mpg on the highway. But the old gal is getting alittle long in the tooth, and well I have been making bio-diesel for almost 4 years now. I sourced all the parts needed to swap in a 5.9 cummins but I think that would really be more expensive in the long haul and be alittle over kill for a family vehicle. So finally after thinkin of many options (such as 5.9 swap, buying a excursion, swaping in a 6.2,) that maybe a 6.5 equiped suburban would be a quicker and easier option and give me all that I am really looking for. All that i really want is the ability to run my B100 and have enough power to pull our small bumper pull 2 horse trailer and accel equal to a 350 powered sub. Not wanting to win any races but the primary driver (my wife) thinks of diesels as slow(guess all those years I made here drive my old ford 350 with a well worn 6.9 made her come to that conclusion).

My questions are have many people had good sucess with B100 in a 6.5? Are there any years that are better suited to the B-100? I have read that the 94 6.5 had the old 6.2 injection pump, and that in 97 they adressed alot of the problems with earlier electronic injection pumps. I am used to a bosch P7100 on a cummins and well its pretty close to bulletproof. I have done a few searches but haven't gotten as much info as I would like. Are there any problematic ares I need to look out for? Just gimme a word to search for so I can begin to learn this beast. Thank you in advance for any help Jesse

[deerefanatic]

You probably want to stay with a mechanical Injection pump or you'll have issues with the (lack of) computer to make it work...... Plus, the electronic units have probs anyway....

You'll have it made there!! :D

[power6.5]

Remember, '94 was the first year of electronic injection. '92 and '93 had mechanical injection like the 6.2's.

[torque454]

There were some oddball 94 mechanical injected ones too werent there? I like my 96 6.5 burb :) Mine doesnt really have the acceleration of a 350 burb ( have a 89 350 burb as well) but then again the vac pump is out of my 96 and thus have no turbo boost and ive only got 3.42 gears. However the milage in my 96 is great, i make 22mpg highway and thats with old worn out injectors. That was also at 80mph on a 100 degree day. lol. It'd probably make 25 or so if the injectors were new and i slowed down a bit ;) Might even do better than that. I'd definantly go for a 6.5 td burb or a 7.3 td excursion. I think i like the excursion better. Not nessecarily the diesel in it, just the luxury of it in general. However i think the burb rides marginally nicer and the burb i think makes better milage but the excursion has more room and i think less issues. I bought my 96 burb from my boss, who stopped drivin it when he bought his 2000 excursion (7.3). He ran it to 165k without any problems then traded it for a gas pickup. Bleh. The burb had a couple injector pumps by then. Either way both are great vehicles and i wouldnt trade one for the other but the excursion is nicer and has more power but is also significantly more expensive.

[deerefanatic]

There were some oddball 94 mechanical injected ones too werent there? I like my 96 6.5 burb :) Mine doesnt really have the acceleration of a 350 burb ( have a 89 350 burb as well) but then again the vac pump is out of my 96 and thus have no turbo boost and ive only got 3.42 gears. However the milage in my 96 is great, i make 22mpg highway and thats with old worn out injectors. That was also at 80mph on a 100 degree day. lol. It'd probably make 25 or so if the injectors were new and i slowed down a bit ;)

I'd agree with the injectors helping mileage, but as for slowing down, that will HURT your mileage.......

Proof: We have a 95 c1500 pickup with a 305 gasser and then there's my grandma's truck with the 6.5. Both are exactly identical otherwise. Both have 3.42 rears...... And both have seen lots of vacations and highway miles.... In every case, the faster you drive, the better the mileage.. The best mileage we've ever gotten with our gasser truck is 22 mpg traveling through Atlanta, GA at an average speed of 86 mph!! :eek: My grandma's diesel I think topped at 21 mpg doing like 78 or 80 through the GA flat lands...... We don't know what the limit is on fuel mileage on our trucks......... We're not brave enough to drive that fast!!! :D

[power6.5]

AFAIK, no mech. injected '94's where ever built. AFAIK, the electronic injection was really pushed due to emissions, so any mech. injected ones where probably not able to meet emissions standards. '94 did have the oddball DS4-5068 HO electronic pump. They have since settled on a different HO pump, don't remember the number off hand.

[torque454]

I'd agree with the injectors helping mileage, but as for slowing down, that will HURT your mileage.......

Proof: We have a 95 c1500 pickup with a 305 gasser and then there's my grandma's truck with the 6.5. Both are exactly identical otherwise. Both have 3.42 rears...... And both have seen lots of vacations and highway miles.... In every case, the faster you drive, the better the mileage.. The best mileage we've ever gotten with our gasser truck is 22 mpg traveling through Atlanta, GA at an average speed of 86 mph!! :eek: My grandma's diesel I think topped at 21 mpg doing like 78 or 80 through the GA flat lands...... We don't know what the limit is on fuel mileage on our trucks......... We're not brave enough to drive that fast!!! :D

That is very believable in fact i have found that to be true on my lil pintos as well. Altho generally its "supposed" to be the other way around. My best milage with the 76 was 27 @ 80mph. Thats with an old engine, with a burnt valve and no overdrive. 80mph is about 3400 rpm on that. :eek: But at 65 or 70 the best i seem to make is about 24.

[deerefanatic]

Yah.... That bull about "slow down, save gas" is not the case with all vehicles..... GM's in particular like to go fast.......

Now, Chryslers on the other hand are a different matter entirely.... :eek:

[Bob Bateman]

I personally think that each truck is different like our children. I had a 1994 Suburban K1500 6.5TD that ran like a jackrabbit pulled any trailer I hooked to it and got over 23 mpg on these hot Mexico highways. The only problem I ever had with it was the injection pump went south about 5 years ago and I bought one from Walt and that was it other than it had well over 700,000 miles on it with 2 motors. I do not count the motors because they were at their mechanical limits when I swapped them out. I sold the Suburban and bought a 95 K1500 suburban with a blown motor and only 121,000 miles on it. I drove all the way to Pennsylvania from Cuidad Victoria, Tamps. Mexico and trailered it back to Mexico after nationalizing the burb I got it to the shop and put a fresh motor in it and was really happy. I had a super clean garage kept truck that became my nightmare. The half ton 8 lug 3.43 geared 4L80E four wheel drive was a dog! 16mpg at its best, and something silly was always wrong with it! After about 6 months of detailing it I finally got it to run right and got the mileage up to 19 with 3 inch body lift and 285 75R 16s and was really happy until a Cement truck smashed into it.:D I guess what I am trying to say is I would go with another suburban in a heartbeat.:cool: The red one is the 94 and the Teal is the 95