buy a 6.9 diesel or not?? need to know

[seawalkersee]

I will chime in on this. My box had a T O N miles on it when I lost oil pressure. Prior to that, it was getting an average of 18mpgs. I was beating the heck out of it trying to get it tuned.

When I say a ton of miles, the rings had "O's" on them from spinning under the rockers. The bearings were worn OUT. My fuel pump eccentric has a groove worn into it that would no doubt cause fuel problems.

THAT being said, the guy who did the machine work said there was less than .006" of wear on them. I am reusing the same pistons. Thats right, honed the block and put new rings on the old pistons and the clearance was good. Not sure what he was talking about, but I have a strange feeling there was one instance he saw. I will venture to say if there was a piston problem, it may have been boosted with a blocked oil cooler or a N/A with a ton of blowby with a turned up pump. Just spitballing, but I think with the small group of guys here that own these, its pretty easy to see that there are good things about these engines.

I think the worst part is the special crap needed to these things, the weak head bolts, the crappy head castings (****** are restrictive), and the cost of the IPs.

I would own more than a few of these it I had the time, space, and money needed to swap them into vehicles of my choice. Sure, they are not fast, but cheap economic, and solid power are completely worth it.

SWS

 

[seawalkersee]

And on this note, I went to the recycling center today and there was an ex-cab long bed 4x4 sitting in front of one of the bins. I got out and hear that distinct sound of the diesel running...the OLD diesel running. I could not see the front so I asked the old boy unloading it "69 or 73?" He looked at me like I was crazy, looked over his shoulder to see if I was talking to someone else and then looked back and said "Me? 73..." I asked him how many miles were on it and he said "Oh.....a bazillion"

Now, that was just some random guy who I met today and thought I should add it to this thread (in order to save one more)...BUT there is more. I asked him if there was any major work done to id and he said "No...wait, I had the transmission rebuilt just after I got it but thats it....they just keep on running." I talked with him for a few more seconds and we parted ways.

Lots of miles and no major problems. This guy said he used it for work and just kept driving it rather than spend (get this) $30k on a new one. Thats what it's all about.

SWS