Big announcement from GM !!!!!!

[pekabu]

Actual GMC had a diesel in their 1/2 ton pick-up back in 1980.

Dodge also had 1/2 diesel back in the late 70's I beleive. I saw one in the mid 80's in a junkyard. Not sure who made the engine, think it may have been Mitsubishi.

 

[Builder]

Actual GMC had a diesel in their 1/2 ton pick-up back in 1980. What a piece of ****! No other word describes it, it was a half hearted attempt by GM back then where they retrofitted a 350 cubic inch engine and made it a diesel. Nothing but headaches! So it is their second attempt at being first to offer a diesel in the 1/2 ton range.

That was the first attempt.

Then there was a 6.2L detroit Diesel and a 6.5L GM diesel. they were much better. the 350 diesel was a gasser converted to a diesel.

 

[8561]

I'll be ordering one as soon as they hit the street.

 

[bialecki]

Bialecki: I think 77 was the first year. Dad special ordered a 78 Chevy w/ the Olds based diesel. It got 27 mpg from the factory. I really can't say we had much in the way of trouble out of it. We ran it 275,000 w/ only one pump overhaul. And we USED that truck too. This was when we were still farming full time. It stayed overloaded most of its life. We pulled the hay rake w/ it when our JD 2020 was down. Hauled ton after ton of soybean seed to the field. Years later, I built a motor out of spare parts that were stacked up in the corner of the shop to have something to drive to college. It didn't do anything fast, but by the time it started to sag in the middle we had over 425,000 on the chassis. i think GMs biggest mistake was having no techs trained on diesel. Even under warranty we would do any work that needed done.

The 80 that my father-in-law had had issues from the beginning. The Olds block cracked (indeed we are talking about the same engine), service was terrible from GMC. Ultimately he swapped and put a gasoline 350 engine in it after approximately 70k miles. he then ran the truck to over 200k miles. Glad to hear that your's ran well. I also see that Dodge had a 1/2 ton in a diesel as well. Even with all the poor performance of the engine back then I am sure much has changed for today's proposed diesel 1/2 ton truck.

 

[hudr]

Bialecki: Yeah, we ran an Olds gas in the truck while we gathered parts for a rebuild of the diesel. I think expectations were a bit high for that engine when it came out. Same w/ the 6.2 and 6.5 engines. I think a lot of guys stepped out of their 454's and expected those early diesels to run just like the big block gasser. Of course, at that time we were running an OTR Pete w/ a 290hp 855cu Cummins and it was SO much better than the 172hp version that was in it when we got it.

 

[mjncad]

Why it take GM so long to learn I will never know.

I've often asked the same question regarding everything GM does, and I grew up a GM fan, specifically Chevy. However, a 1983 S-10 pickup with the 2.8 liter V6 and terrible service from Chevrolet completely soured me on GM. In retrospect, I would have bought a Toyota in 1983.

I have a 1999 Ford F-250 Super Duty with a V-10 and I'm happy with it.

 

[BTDT]

GM has been in the diesel engine business for a long time. I never understood why they didn't put a Detroit Diesel in their pickups a long time ago. If you build it they will come.

Detroit Diesel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[workinallthetime]

I keep hearing everyone talk about bad service at gm dealerships with the diesel engines. As a gm diesel tech i made alot of money fixing the things, no one in the 50 mile radius wanted to work on 6.5 engines so i made it my specialty and ended up working on those all the time. Its sad to hear you guys rag on the techs and sesrvice departments around the country but i know exactly why you got such horible service and the d-max is just about as hard to find someone who wants to work on them. Gas guys like gas engine repairs because they understand them but actually a diesel is much easier to diag and fix in my book. The old 6.2 i would have to say from 89ish to 92 has got to be the most reliable diesel gm ever put out. the mechanical pump wears out at about 250k and the injectors about the same time. during the day of the 6.5 i might go for a year and only see one of those in the shop. D-max is the same way, you have gas tech who dont want to work on them because they dont understand them and you have very low labor time guides put out by gm for repairs. the combination of the 2 really $ucks. i have said it before in other threads take your diesel to a diesel shop, medium duty dealers know diesel and know how to work on them,for the most part, you might get treated like a truck driver but at least you will get your stuff done faster. Why? mediuim duty dealers did have a manditory overnight shipment of part where light duty is up to a week. You also have to take into consideration that gm REQUIRES aproval by them for most high $$$$ repairs now days, this means the tech has to sit on the phone and explain why your truck needs to have injectors put in it. That might not sound like a big deal to you guys but techs are straigh commision meaning if your injector job pays 8 hours and it does, used to pay 14, and the job takes 8 hours but the tech has to sit on the phone for an hour after spending an hour making sure you actually need injectors he is down 2 hours to start with. so now a job that payed 14 hours was kicked down to 8 hours but the guy has 10 hours in the job but only gets payed for 8.
so ya service $ucks unless you find a guy who knows d-max and can fix the stuff right and quick. same went with the 6.5, i saw pump times go from almost 10 hours down to 6 but that didint matter to me because i could do the entire thing in 45 minutes, plus the phone call to get the pump.

All i am saying is take your diesel to a diesel mechanic not to a guy who is stuck working on them, i suggest you call your dealer and ask if they have a diesel mechanic, if they say ya we have a guy who CAN work on them keep calling, if they say yes we do then go talk to the guy and feel him out.

GM has really got tight with warranty money and you guys are the ones who suffer and I am sorry for this, i really am!! its not right to cut the pay of the guy you are trusting to fix your truck, because in the end you guys are the ones who suffer, the tech has a ride home.

sorry for my rant, I am going back to work at a dealer in a couple weeks and i will do my best to make sure every diesel is fixed to my standards. when i was turning a wrench i had a few customers who would flip me a 20 every now and then, i took special care of them and they always got more than they asked for when i worked on their truck, remember that. There are very little to no tech coming into the dealerships anymore, so when we that know what we are doing are gone its not going to be pretty, but then again there will probably be no oil left by then,lol

 

[hudr]

Workinallthetime:
I did not mean to slight the techs in any way. I see it as a management issue. I would NOT want to keep up w/ all the tech bulletins on every car GM made; I can barely keep up w/ what I need to keep my vehicles running.
But... for the longest time my local dealer did NOT have a diesel mechanic. and the owner (I guess it was his decision) would not get one trained. So nothing against the techs. It seemed to be a "corporate culture" thing. I grew up working on diesels (OTR trucks, farm equip) so yeah, I think they are (or at least were) simpler. I don't blame the techs, I blame the dealers for with holding the training and the company for not having it together on the parts/warranty end.

 

[dgl24087]

Dodge also had 1/2 diesel back in the late 70's I beleive. I saw one in the mid 80's in a junkyard. Not sure who made the engine, think it may have been Mitsubishi.

I remember those, a neighbor who worked for the DOT had one. 243 cid 6cyl. in a full size truck. Not much power, but cheap to operate. They were offered in the 1978 model year. Very few were built, it's hard to find any info on these trucks. Ok, corrected this with most accurate info i can find. The D50 had a 2.3L 4 cyl. diesel for a few years, but the fullsize trucks did offer a 6 cyl., low powered, poor seller.