Hey guys... been lurking a bit and see a lot of good info here. I just picked up a '96 6.5 Suburban 2500 4WD and am pretty happy with it. I did a little research (mostly on here as well as YouTube), put in a new PMD and relocated it with a aluminum heat sink. I changed the oil (nasty) to synthetic, been keeping an eye on fluids, so far so good. Oil pressue seemed to drop a tad with the new oil.. but at hot idle, it's about 25, 40 at cruise speeds. Blowby is minimal, when it's hot, there's a little steam coming from the oil filler, but not much. So is there anything I should be keeping an eye on with these things? I don't want to do any real mods, just want to keep it reliable. I may throw some new DieselRX glow plugs in it before winter hits (alaska). I'm curious what i'm going to get as far as mileage goes, so far i've used 1/4 tank and have gone quite a ways.. It runs and sounds normal (like the other 6.5 I have at work), other than a weird pump sound somewhere from the engine. I guess these have a vacuum pump, maybe it's that, no idea. It's not a tick, knock or metallic sound, but the sound of a pump and seems to have gotten louder over the week. Anyhow i'll continue lurking and look forward to learning more.

 

No point in running synthetic if it hasn't been used since day one. I run shell rotella. I get about 18-22 mpg.

Sounds like a vacuum pump, your best bet is to throw it in the trash and get a turbo master or make your own

 

x2. the vacuum pump operates the wastegate. with it leaking, the turbo will not build boost correctly and that would be why it is lurking a bit

 

doesn't lurk, or do anything weird, except for the pump noise. cruises quite nicely, but i'll get it checked out.

 

i must have misread it. i thought you meant the engine has been lurking a bit. my bad

 

Yea the pump is prolly bad same thing happened to me