So I found a guy that wants to swap a complete '95 6.5 TD for the 454 thats in my K30, which is what I kinda had in mind anyway. But I was hoping to find a '93. I do not like the early electronic injection they put on the 6.5. I know that the '94 were plagued with injection pump and IP driver probs and I have doubts that those issues were resolved in the '95. What I'm wondering is what the common failures are on the '95. I'm having serious reservations about putting that electronic crap in my '85 K30. Please educate me on these '95's. Thank you in advance.

Well, I've had a '96 with EGR, got it with 100000km and drove it until 210k or so. At 180k, I got the feeling it's brought in. You need to take care of the PMD, i. e. take it off of the pump and mount it remotely on a cooler, preferably not under the hood. The PMD itself doesn't generate very much heat, but it doesn't like to be toasted by the heat it gets from the engine and will fail if it's toasted.

I've had bad wires on the vacuum solenoid that controls the wastegate, but the vacuum setup sucks anyway and is better replaced by a mechanical wastegate controller (Heath sells one). With that, you can get rid of the vacuum pump, though you'll need some vacuum for the heating/cooling system for the cabin. I've had a PMD failing, a broken vacuum pump when I got the truck, a stuck coolant thermostat, the bad solenoid wiring and needed a new glow plug controller. I also put on a new balancer at some time. I went through three alternators (the CS130D has extremely weak bearings) and had to replace the lift pump. The A/C compressor went out, some time later its bearing also failed, and I replaced it with a dummy pulley. I've had overheating problems until I removed the AC condenser, probably because a lot of leaves and dirt gather up between condenser and radiator and block the airflow on the newer trucks.

However, the turbo adds a lot of heat, so they can overheat more easily than a 6.2. You can upgrade the cooling system to what they came up with in '97.

They use oil pressure switches for the electrical lift pump that can burn out because the pump draws more current than the switch can handle: use a relay.

You'll need a computer to run the engine, unless you install a mechanical pump. The DB4 has some sort of built in optical sensor that can eventually go bad, and a crankshaft position sensor that can also fail, but that's not likely.

If you really want to get rid of the 454 for a Diesel, the swap is probably a good deal. Then if you swap on a mechanical pump and a mechanical wastegate controller, you don't need the PCM and don't have problems with the electronics. You'll need a boost pressure and an EGT gauge.

But I'm curious, isn't a 454 fun to drive? Some more power than a 6.2 or 6.5? Or is the mileage so horrible that it's getting too expensive?

Obviously its easier to wire up a mech ip than transfer a computer to the truck and wiring.

But if it was me, id use what was given. If the 95 pump and pmd work, use it. It wouldnt be cost effective to throw it away and then buy a mech pump. The used pump and pmd arent worth anything, cause no one wants a used pmd.

You will also need new injection lines to go with the mech pump as the ds4 are different length and position.

From what ive seen the 94 wasnt really problematic, they just used two different pumps and pmds i believe in one year which confused people.

You may have cooling problems if your going to tow anyway, the radiator in the 85 im pretty sure is smaller than the 93+. The one i pulled out of my 93 is HUGE

The computer controlled waste gate will get you better milage than a turbomaster. Some claim the opposite but i think thats because their vacuum actuator was shot.

So, if it was me, id throw all the 95 stuff in the truck, including the ds4 and the vacuum pump so you have vacuum for your hvac and brakes(if its not hydro setup with the 454)

If you want to use the vacuum controlled wastegate, you need the computer. With the turbo not working because I didn't have vacuum, I didn't see any difference in mileage compared to it working with vacuum.

But the big disadvantage of the vacuum setup is that the PCM cuts off the boost pressure to 0 once it reaches a threshold (at about 7 PSI) and leaves it cut off until you slow down considerably. That means you get no boost when you need it the most (i. e. under load, like accelerating or when towing), and EGTs start climbing rapidly and get to dangerous levels. A mechanical controller can be set to hold the boost pressure --- maybe mileage goes down with that because you can burn more fuel, but you get more power and keep the EGTs down.

If you plan to work the truck, you're better off with the mechanical wastegate. For unloaded driving, the vacuum setup works ok, but I'd always go for the mechanical control because that's more reliable.

The vacuum setup is supposed to automatically compensate for ambient air pressure, like at high altitudes. But I don't see how that matters because boost pressure is boost pressure, and when less air goes through the engine, there will be less force pushing the wastegate open: the mechanical control should adapt itself by design.

Hey bbbadboy, try putting this in the 6.5 area ;), you'll get better responses than with these old dinosaurs :p: (hey hey hey...I have both...I'm allowed to say that ;) ).

Hey bbbadboy, try putting this in the 6.5 area ;), you'll get better responses than with these old dinosaurs :p: (hey hey hey...I have both...I'm allowed to say that ;) ).
I probably would have tried the 6.5 section, but I figured since we have so many transmission posts here in the 6.2 section...I wasn't too far out of line...besides that, there are people in this section that I have some respect for as being knowledgeable. I'm not going have any confidence in an authors post who'm I have no previous exchange with. So...can it blueburby..lol. Gratz on the green BTW.:D

Lol thanx bbbadyboy, and very true, I used to have a great rapport over here, then i got my new truck and hey look at what happens...

i should come and visit you guys more often