# Thinking About Buying 1999 Chevy 6.5lt Diesel Pickup



## Snow Bandit (Jan 11, 2010)

Found a great deal on a 1999 6.5lt Turbo Diesel Pickup, It Needs A little Work, but it will still come in way below Book Value. The Machanic Says It will need an Injection Pump. Im just curious if anyone else has had this trouble or any other trouble with these trucks and how they are on fuel. Im not sure if i'll keep it as a Personal truck or use it as a Plow truck. Sure Would make a Great Plow Truck!


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## silvercity (Jan 10, 2009)

They will nickle and dime you. My 95 has 68k miles on it and i am always fixing or replacing something. I just did the crossover pipe this weekend as well as sway bar links. Injector pump is a easy 1k to 1500. How many miles on it? One of our other truck is a 97 F350 gas job with 141000 on it and it starts and plows every storm and i really don't do anthing with it other then oil changes.


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## Detroitdan (Aug 15, 2005)

I'd be willing to bet it doesn't need an injector pump, that is the most commonly misdiagnosed thing with a 6.5, and it came right from the dealer. What usually fails is the pump mounted driver (PMD). GM warranteed them for 11 years or 110,000 miles. Problem was that back in the 90s when the trucks would go back to the dealer they could replace the $450 PMD or replace the $2500 injector pump, and be reimbursed by GM. So which do you think they did? This led to the common misconception that all the 6.5 injector pumps were junk. 
The PMDs are junk, because of a design flaw that mounted them on the pump, the reason being that the 500 watt capacitors created heat, and the fuel flowing through the pump was supposed to remove that heat. The problem was that every time you shut the motor off, you get heat soak that leads to premature PMD failure. The solution is to mount the new PMD on a heat sink outside the engine compartment and they last indefinitely.
I've replaced a lot of parts on mine too, such as the crossover pipe once, the exhaust twice, glowplugs and injectors once, glowplug control module once, bunch of little things but so far nothing real major driveline-wise. Swaybar links once, inner tierods and brakes. I don't really consider it nickel and diming to replace normal wear items. Exhaust pieces such as crossover pipes rust out, seriously how long do you expect exhaust components to last on a plow truck, 20 years? I've had to do front wheelbearings a couple times because my 810 combined with the weight of the diesel is a little much.
Mines a 97, has 173k hard miles on it. I've been plowing with a heavy Blizzard for years, I haul sand/salt mix in the bed and generally beat the crap out of the truck. It's been the best truck I've ever owned, and I've owned dozens. First truck I ever kept more than 3 years in fact. I have never had a more capable plowtruck. It really is a tank. I plow stuff off road that guys in their pretty new trucks can only dream about.
It is not the powerhouse that a Duramax is, but with the right mods and not a huge outlay of cash you can make them go pretty respectable.


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## Snow Bandit (Jan 11, 2010)

I belive there is only about 100,000 miles on the pick-up.Very well taken care of. Only thing im a bit worried about is the Injector pump thing. The only Other issue is only minor surface rust along the bottoms of the doors, a real quick fix. I really don't mind the little things. They are things any back yard machanic can take care of.


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## Detroitdan (Aug 15, 2005)

What are the symptoms that lead them to believe it's the IP? PMD failure can be cutting out of the engine at random, then it will usually restart and be fine for a while. Eventually it will not start but will cranks and show fuel pressure fine. PMDs have come down a lot, you can get the new and improved DiPaco style ones for around $200 brand new nowadays, in fact I've got an extra one. 
If you had the truck and a spare PMD you could unplug the old PMD, pull the harness up a couple inches and try it with the new one. Whatever you do, don't ever put a new PMD back on the pump, get a harness and put it in the bumper. I'll PM you some websites where you can learn all you want to know and more about the 6.5.


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## Snow Bandit (Jan 11, 2010)

The Machanic Belives its the Injector pump because she will start fine sometimes and other times she will just turn over with no fire. I don't want to take the chance on buying it unless im certain its not the pump. My Machanic is the one who informed me about the truck and is also good friends with the owner.


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## Detroitdan (Aug 15, 2005)

I don't know if it would work sometimes with a bad injector pump, but the PMD would cause it to do that. I wish you could get hold of a spare PMD to try, you don't even need to remove the old one, just unplug it and plug the new one in and lay it next to it. Ask that question at the truckstop.us, there are some 6.5 gurus there. There is also a checklist cut and paste that you can use so people can help you diagnose problems. It's really helpful. Might even be a truckstop member right in your town that could help you out with a spare PMD. I'd help you if I were in the neighborhood.


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## augerandblade (Jan 17, 2009)

when my PMD broke down the truck would start fine, you could idle it or rev it for a while, all is OKAY, walk away from it , it runs and runs, then quits on its own, wont start till ya leave it for a while (cools down) (To try to hook a spare beside it and test it, Im not so sure the wiring will allow that. ) I got a new one ran the wire through the firewall and mounted it on the bottom/side of my bucket seat. Makes a excellant heat sink, plus its not open to the elements . When they are malfunctioning you would think it ran out of fuel.. Another trick is when it quits is to pour cold water on the PMD to cool it down. If it is still in half decent shape it will allow the truck to start. Before my PMD bit the dust that was its habit, so using the truck for long haul if I did happen to shut it off and try to restart it 15 minutes later I would have to resort to that trick. However that onlylasted for a year then I had to shell out to repair the problem


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## Detroitdan (Aug 15, 2005)

not sure I'd want it under the seat, they get pretty hot. Not only a risk of fire, but you probably dont have a lot of airflow to cool it. I put mine inside the bumper nostril, with the pmd side facing backward, so any weather is hitting the back of the cooler not the pmd. Actually only a little of the cooler is sticking out from inside the bumper, so it catches the cold air but stays out of the weather. Had it under the hood on the fenderwell but that wasn't enough airflow for it.
Mine usually went like yours, occasionally dying while driving. But I think failing to start could be pmd related too, if its been ignored a long time.


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## augerandblade (Jan 17, 2009)

Yeah I agree with you Detroit Dan, however Im using that truck for summer hauling up in Northern Ontario in deer/moose country. All kinds of critters running across the roads, purplebou... Back to using the bucket seat as a heat sink. It works great. About 6 inches away on the metal , its just warm. In the summer the A C is on , but Im gonna add a small fan to help circulate. Lets say the block is 195F , I can see the PMD over heat. It never gets a chance to cool, however near ,,the floor its possibly 80F at most with the air on, maybe cooler. Its hot at the PMD I might even check it. I put 25000K/15000miles on it situated there,brings a whole new meaning to "sitting on the hot seat"


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## Detroitdan (Aug 15, 2005)

augerandblade;976777 said:


> Lets say the block is 195F , I can see the PMD over heat. It never gets a chance to cool, however near ,,the floor its possibly 80F at most with the air on, maybe cooler.


It isn't the 195F block heat making the PMD hot, it makes it's own heat because of two 500 watt capacitors. But, if it's been working for you then it's obviously cool enough under the seat, and the heat is being removed from the sink.


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## heather lawn spray (Mar 11, 2003)

Our '96 (rest in pieces 1996-2009) had the same symptoms but injector was replace under warranty. It's sister '93 went 1993 to 2005, under a much harder duty cycle. It's seriously a 12 year cycle for use. Ours were born plow trucks and died plow trucks. No sittin' around basking in the sun for them. A '99 can have some life left in it if it wasn't hauling or plowed.


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## Snow Bandit (Jan 11, 2010)

This Truck Never Seen a Plow in its life. All It was used for was going back and forth to work, roughy a mile or so, and to haul the travel trailer to the RV Park and to haul a small boat to the wharf. Owner just bought a new truck. Im going today to take another look at it and talk to my machanic. Is there anyway you can tell if its the Pump or PMD without Replacing them?


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## BillyRgn (Jan 28, 2004)

I would buy it good pump or bad as long as the price is reasonable. I have had one since 2003 it is a 1998. I bought it with 80000 miles and it now has about 160000 miles on it. I have replaced the pmd on my own when I first got it, and the pump got done about 20 miles before the 110000 mile warranty expired. Other than oil changes, tires and brakes all I have had to do was wheel bearings, ball joints and tie rods, which I would consider normal for a truck. Mine is a gmc 2500 extended cab that has the 6.5. I put an 8ft fisher mm1 with a snowfoil and timbrens on it when I bought the truck (never had a plow before), it is a little heavy but is absolutely fine. It has the g80 locker rear end on it and by far this is the best truck I ever drove in the snow, never gets stuck, slides or spins as long as you have decent tires. One season, before I got my dump, I put an 8 ft stainless steel henderson on it, kept the tailgate on in the down position and it was a perfect fit. I loaded it with 2 yards sometimes and it handled it fine! Don't get me wrong, it was heavy and probably not a great idea but it did fine. The 6.5's are work horses, they are not quite the race car like their younger brother duramax, but it is PLENTY fast and power full enough. I have pulled a 5 ton excavator and it did just fine and does excellent pulling a tandem axle landscape trailer with 3 mowers everyday. If I were to buy it I would defiantly buy an alternative mount for the pmd, and maybe a basic chip. O and by the way, you do not have any ware near the trouble starting a 6.5 in cold weather as you do a power stroke. I very rarely plug it in and it has never had to be plugged in to start even at 10 below. Bottom line, they are great work trucks.


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