Hi everyone, i am very new at this forum and to the whole diesel field. But i do know one thing, dont give a whoo what people say, Chevy is the only choice.:) Well im trying to decide what year 6.5TD to get because i plan on putting upgrades in it. I could also use your advise on something else, i found a 97' truck i really like, but it is located in New Mexico and i live in Florida, the person says its in great condition and it only has 110K miles on it so its still a youngen. I would like to know your advise, if usally these are still in tiptop shape at that age and all. Thanks and i look foward in a response. :help2:

My advice is to never buy one of these trucks with a 6.5 in it that you can't test drive and physically examine.

See what you can find locally, I know the low mileage will be hard to find now. But, if my memory serves me, I see quite a few 6.5 trucks selling in Florida in general when getting on ebay.

If you find a few locally, go test drive them, and get to know these engines better, they all sound a little differerent, some of them make some kind of odd noise, it's getting an ear for them to determine a good one.

Sorry for wandering around the direct question, I don't really know how to buy a good 6.5, or whether different year models really matter, because I still manage to tear em up.

Good luck!

Lots of discussion on Purchasing your first diesel in the FAQ sticky at the top of the 6.5 Forum Page.

If you have specific questions related, glad to be of help.

We've all made the jump to being "owners" here. It's like anything mechanical, it has it's pitfalls. Understand it, keep it up, and as long as the first guy did it too, hopefully you won't have to frequent the board with a bunch of repairs, and hang out a be chatty with the rest of us. ;)

Thanks, and i feel the same way about test drive befor you buy, i guess im preaty much asking if there is anything i can do before i travel 1000+ miles to look at this truck, because i know just about nothing about these diesels except some reading ive been doin lately. i also never though to look on ebay so im diff. going to try that. -Steve

Run the VIN number if available. This forum and one other has tools here for doing that. You could see the warranty history and see what all's been done to it.

I live in New Mexico and I had to fly to Mississippi to pick up my truck when I found it. I had already paid for it, the dealer offered a full refund minus the flight out if it wasn't everything he said it was.

One thing to watch out for on '97 it is the first year of piston oil spray which weakend the block esspecially when modified this weakness lasted till '00, and even after that they didn't get all the cracking problem figured out. You would do well to factor this in the price.