New addition to the "family". Rust repair? Some tricky spots...

[cdoggwsu]

So a buddy of mine has had this old '84 6.2 Burb collecting dust on his property for the last couple of years. He bought it for the rear A/C setup and never got around to swapping it out. A few months ago he asked me if I'd be interested in messing around with it since it was just taking up space at his place.

Would I!?!?

Fast forward to three weeks ago. He was planning a trip to Montana with his woman and offered to drop it off on a trailer if I'd stow the setup while he was camping. He had planned to leave early on a Thursday morning and figured he would be out here by mid afternoon. I hadn't heard from him all day so I assumed I'd be seeing him shortly after I got off work at 5. About two hours later he calls to let me know the trailer was giving him some problems and that he had stopped in Ellensburg (about 200 miles out and it's a 300 mile trip) and was going to stay the night and check the trailer in the morning. Friday around noon I hear from him again saying that the trailer is having some serious control issues, he can't go any faster than 45 so he's going to head back to Ellensburg to look it over again.

I don't hear from him again until mid morning on Saturday saying he's done everything he can and he's getting here hell or high water. About 2AM Sunday morning he calls from the hotel in town...drove the last 200 miles at 25mph. Sunday morning we get up and take the Burb on the trailer out to my GF's dad's shop to drop it off so he can head on to Montana.

While we're unloading he mentions his leg has been hurting where he thought he got bit by a flea or something, but shrugs it off and we head back to town. Since it was pretty late in the day and Helena is another 6 hours from here he decides to stay another night and leave in the morning. Monday I get up and head to work as usual. I get a call from his GF saying that his leg had swollen up that night and they went to the local ER to get it checked out.

Turns out his "bug bite" was a staph infection that got serious pretty quick. A few hours after the hospital admitted him he spiked a 105* temp and was seriously dehydrated. 3 days later they discharged him pumped full of saline and antibiotics.

He's doing fine now, but needless to say the "vacation" was cut a little short.

 

[cdoggwsu]

Now onto the truck. This thing definitely needs a little love.

When he parked it 3 years ago it was summertime, so naturally he left all 4 windows cracked a little. Unfortunately he promptly lost the keys and let it sit that way through all of western Washington's glorious weather.

Surprisingly there is only a marginal amount of rust bubbles, no cancer that I've found yet but I haven't pulled the carpet back so we'll see. The interior fared the weather pretty well but there is a bit of mildew on the plastic surfaces and the headliner is completely shot.

All 8 glow plugs were dead. I was able to replace 5 of them but 3 are swollen so I'll have to tackle that in the near future. The A/C pump is shot and the alt belt stretched to the point of barely hanging on but it runs strong. There's some piddly stuff...dash lights are mostly out, turn signals don't work, fuel gauge is non operational. But hey, it was FREE. Oh almost forgot...transfer case was smacked at some point so the front drive shaft is missing. The TC and tranny (208/700R4) are leaking from various places so I'm not sure where to start there. My buddy has another 208 that I can have so we'll see.

Well, tonight was the maiden voyage...30 miles from the shop to my driveway. A few things I noticed:

1) This thing is beyond gutless. Seriously, I was scared to get on the highway. Flat ground is fine but any slight grade and it's 35mph max. I've driven a 6.2 burb before and I don't remember it being quite this bad. It might have something to do with the tranny but it doesn't appear to be burning fluid or anything. The truck just runs out of power. I'm seeing a j-code swap for sure in my near future.

2) It's smoking like CRAZY past about 50% throttle. I know diesels smoke, but this is like some 007 smoke screen action. Even fully warmed up it's relentless. The air filter is filthy, might this have something to do with it? Or could it be the 3 year old fuel and the half bottle of Lucas injector cleaner I dumped in?

3) Sooooo freakin' comfortable. I could drive this thing for hours. The bench seat is just soft enough to cushion but cradles you just right and the leg and pedal position is perfect for me.

This is my first diesel (and my first automatic for that matter). I've been reading up on every 6.2 page and forum I can find but I'll probably have some Q's about this soon. First and foremost, what does a regular tune up consist of? So far I've got the stuff for an oil change, tranny fluid/filter change, air filter and a good once over of oil cooler and tranny cooler systems, radiator fluid, belts, etc. Is there anything else I should address? The high idle solenoid and cold advance systems don't appear to be functioning. I've already bypassed the glow plug controller as it doesn't work (and the old plugs were burned out anyway). The heater works, but only on the highest fan setting - that's a dead fan relay/controller, correct?

Sorry for the lack of pics, it was too dark for good ones by the time I got home. I'll try tomorrow.

I think I'm going to name it "Iron Turtle"...or "Iron Tortoise"...which one sounds better?

 

[BoondocK5]

I say Iron Turtle...My fingers tried to type tortoise, so maybe that should be your guide...

 

[jt512]

Cool score on the rig
I have never owned a 6.2 truck, only ever driven 1, so I don't know much at all about them, but in this months issue of "Diesel Power" magazine they have power recipes for the 6.2/6.5 diesels. It may not be up on the web yet but will be soon. They give you the recommended mods and who makes them for a couple of different budgets and what kind of power you can expect from the combos.

 

[tRustyK5]

2) It's smoking like CRAZY past about 50% throttle. I know diesels smoke, but this is like some 007 smoke screen action. Even fully warmed up it's relentless. The air filter is filthy, might this have something to do with it? Or could it be the 3 year old fuel and the half bottle of Lucas injector cleaner I dumped in?

The filthy air filter could be most of that issue. It's crucial to keep a good flowing clean air filter on that engine for best performance, and least smoke. Could easily be winter fuel too (lower cetane), and being 3 years old doesn't help any.

3) Sooooo freakin' comfortable. I could drive this thing for hours. The bench seat is just soft enough to cushion but cradles you just right and the leg and pedal position is perfect for me.

This is my first diesel (and my first automatic for that matter). I've been reading up on every 6.2 page and forum I can find but I'll probably have some Q's about this soon. First and foremost, what does a regular tune up consist of? So far I've got the stuff for an oil change, tranny fluid/filter change, air filter and a good once over of oil cooler and tranny cooler systems, radiator fluid, belts, etc. Is there anything else I should address? The high idle solenoid and cold advance systems don't appear to be functioning. I've already bypassed the glow plug controller as it doesn't work (and the old plugs were burned out anyway). The heater works, but only on the highest fan setting - that's a dead fan relay/controller, correct?

Sorry for the lack of pics, it was too dark for good ones by the time I got home. I'll try tomorrow.

I think I'm going to name it "Iron Turtle"...or "Iron Tortoise"...which one sounds better?

Iron turtle...

Rene

 

[KansasTwister]

agree iron turtle and pics needed.

 

[cdoggwsu]

Pics will be up tonight.

I put a new air filter in today, helped a little with the smoking and lack of power but it still feels weaker than it should be. Unfortunately the tank was completely full when it was parked so I've got a lot of old fuel to burn before I can put in a full tank of fresh stuff.

 

[cdoggwsu]

Pics

Here's the beast. As you can see the tranny is leaking a little.

Interior. You can see some of the mildew in the last one.

A few rusty spots.

A little surprise. Opened up the back and found some goodies. Two sets of heads, an injection pump, misc push rods/valvetrain stuff, valve covers and an intake manifold. Is that a dual-plane j-code?

There was a random pair of seats in the back that have seen better days...not sure what they're from.

 

[chevyman98]

looks pretty good for sitting in a pastutre for 3 yrs good luck with it

 

[tRustyK5]

Yup, that's a 'J' code dual plane intake. Something i did that i felt helped quite a bit with my 'J' code was this: i used the new gasket set to "gasket match" the intake ports.

First I laid the new gaskets on the heads and found they gasket and head ports matched really good. Next I laid the same gaskets on the intake and was stunned at how poor the factory intake casting was in comparison to the gasket. There were quite a few ports that were over 1/4" smaller than the gasket. I scribed the areas that need opening up, and using a aluminum specific carbide burr on a die grinder i opened up the intake ports...then blended back into the port to blend and polish. I also blended and knife edged the upper section. The right foot dyno said "success".

Next thing is find out what gearing you have. Most 1/2 tons got sh!t gearing for economy reasons, which can make even a decent running 6.2 seem much worse than it really is.

The low down on 6.2 stuff: max fuel economy, aim for 1800 rpm at 65 mph. Whatever gears/tires you need to get that will work. Approximately every 100 rpm above that magic number will lose you 1 mpg on the highway, but will gain you power. How much you're willing to give up on the economy side of things is up to you of course. Unfortunately the 'burb is a bit of a heavy pig, so you might want to give up a little more economy for the sake of power than someone else might in a pick-up or K5.

Rene

 

[cdoggwsu]

Yup, that's a 'J' code dual plane intake. Something i did that i felt helped quite a bit with my 'J' code was this: i used the new gasket set to "gasket match" the intake ports.

First I laid the new gaskets on the heads and found they gasket and head ports matched really good. Next I laid the same gaskets on the intake and was stunned at how poor the factory intake casting was in comparison to the gasket. There were quite a few ports that were over 1/4" smaller than the gasket. I scribed the areas that need opening up, and using a aluminum specific carbide burr on a die grinder i opened up the intake ports...then blended back into the port to blend and polish. I also blended and knife edged the upper section. The right foot dyno said "success".

Next thing is find out what gearing you have. Most 1/2 tons got sh!t gearing for economy reasons, which can make even a decent running 6.2 seem much worse than it really is.

The low down on 6.2 stuff: max fuel economy, aim for 1800 rpm at 65 mph. Whatever gears/tires you need to get that will work. Approximately every 100 rpm above that magic number will lose you 1 mpg on the highway, but will gain you power. How much you're willing to give up on the economy side of things is up to you of course. Unfortunately the 'burb is a bit of a heavy pig, so you might want to give up a little more economy for the sake of power than someone else might in a pick-up or K5.

Rene

Thanks for the feedback, Rene! I did read about your port matching project somewhere in the Diesel section. Is there anything gained/lost between a single or dual plane manifold?

According to the GPO sticker it's got 3.73's. Again I'm sort of a 700R4 newb but I've got 3.73's in the Blazer with an SM465 and it's nowhere near this bad.

My other thought was the weight of all of the parts in the back could be contributing, but that's way less than a utility trailer or a boat and I've heard a number of guys talk about towing with 6.2 burbs.

It really is strange, the engine isn't lugging it just simply runs out of power. Give it more gas and it'll start smoking like crazy, the trans may even upshift but it really just has nothing behind it. Before jumping to any conclusions, though, I'm gonna run a few tanks of new fuel through it, give it some new oil and trans fluid, a new fuel filter and give it some time to "wake up". Heck, when I left the shop last night none of the dash lights worked...two came on during the drive home and a few others came back when I was driving today.

 

[bradshawtech]

Not sure what it is called but on the side of the injection pump there is a lever that advances your pump with throttle position. Mine was broken and I had the same drivability problems that you are describing so you might look at that as well.
I was able to change the lever on mine from an extra pump that I have and man the difference was huge. I was acceleraing up hills while loaded pretty heavy and was getting 18 MPG on the trip from CO. to CA. in december.

 

[cdoggwsu]

Cool score on the rig
I have never owned a 6.2 truck, only ever driven 1, so I don't know much at all about them, but in this months issue of "Diesel Power" magazine they have power recipes for the 6.2/6.5 diesels. It may not be up on the web yet but will be soon. They give you the recommended mods and who makes them for a couple of different budgets and what kind of power you can expect from the combos.

I did pick up that issue of Diesel Power a few weeks ago after seeing the 6.2 mods section while I was thumbing through it at the store. Good info, a little out of my price range for the time being.

Did the oil and trans fluid today. Tossed in a bottle of lucas trans helper and it's a night and day difference in the trans. Smoothed out the shifts and they seem to hold a little better under power. It's still a smoking dog up hills. Oh and I discovered the cruise control still works.

Iron Turtle it is.

 

[cdoggwsu]

Not sure what it is called but on the side of the injection pump there is a lever that advances your pump with throttle position. Mine was broken and I had the same drivability problems that you are describing so you might look at that as well.
I was able to change the lever on mine from an extra pump that I have and man the difference was huge. I was acceleraing up hills while loaded pretty heavy and was getting 18 MPG on the trip from CO. to CA. in december.

Hmm I'll have to look a little closer tomorrow. I tried to peek in there today but between the air cleaner and the cruise control module it's tough to see from the side.

Also, where is the TV cable on these?

 

[bftank]

didn't see it mentioned. changing your fuel filter is part of the tune up process. especially with the old diesel in there. i think it is just the biodiesel that can grow the micro organisms to kill fuel injectors lines etc. make sure all the injector and fuel lines are leak free. air in the fuel lines is a bad thing in a diesel.

we had an 84 diesel sub when we lived in moscow back in the early 90's, ran real good. adding a glow plug controller can extend the life of your glowplugs. we typically got 18-20 mpg in the 1/2 ton sub with 3.73's, 700r4 and 31" tires.

 

[cdoggwsu]

didn't see it mentioned. changing your fuel filter is part of the tune up process. especially with the old diesel in there. i think it is just the biodiesel that can grow the micro organisms to kill fuel injectors lines etc. make sure all the injector and fuel lines are leak free. air in the fuel lines is a bad thing in a diesel.

we had an 84 diesel sub when we lived in moscow back in the early 90's, ran real good. adding a glow plug controller can extend the life of your glowplugs. we typically got 18-20 mpg in the 1/2 ton sub with 3.73's, 700r4 and 31" tires.

I do have a new fuel filter, just haven't gotten around to putting it in yet.

My glow plug controller wasn't working so I put in some 60G's and wired a manual switch.

 

[cdoggwsu]

So I'm beginning to wonder if this problem is more of an issue with the trans than the motor. On flat ground it seems to shift normally although I'd like it to hold the gears a tad bit longer before downshifting. The problem seems to come on steeper grades. When you get deeper into the pedal where maybe a healthy trans would upshift this thing just kinda wallows. I came across an old posting of Can Can's where he mentioned a shop fiddling with his TPS and the TV cable and I'm wondering if I should look into that.

I found the TV bracket but I haven't attempted to adjust it yet. If it's out of whack could that explain the drive-ability issues I've been experiencing?

I checked the IP advance lever that bradshawtech mentioned and everything appears to be functioning correctly.

 

[KansasTwister]

So I'm beginning to wonder if this problem is more of an issue with the trans than the motor. On flat ground it seems to shift normally although I'd like it to hold the gears a tad bit longer before downshifting. The problem seems to come on steeper grades. When you get deeper into the pedal where maybe a healthy trans would upshift this thing just kinda wallows. I came across an old posting of Can Can's where he mentioned a shop fiddling with his TPS and the TV cable and I'm wondering if I should look into that.

I found the TV bracket but I haven't attempted to adjust it yet. If it's out of whack could that explain the drive-ability issues I've been experiencing?

I checked the IP advance lever that bradshawtech mentioned and everything appears to be functioning correctly.

the 700r4 in my 83 acts the same way, sometimes it pulls really hard, but it hates to downshift, so your not alone. Ill keep watching this to see if theres anything wrong with mine as well, i just figured it was the dog of a 305

 

[80' 427]

I will tell you if your engine is underpowered the trans will shift alot more trying to keep it in the power. I don't know how many vehicles we have worked on that the driver said it had a transmission problem and it was really a low power problem causing the irratic shifting. Change the fuel filter.

 

[shoudabinacowboy]

I miss the wheat fields. I need to get back over there for a weekend... Haven't been since 2005.

And nice score on the Burb.