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I hope the 6.5L fleet does not revolt....

GM Guy

GM Guy

Manual Trans. 2WD Enthusiast
Messages
4,838
Reaction score
846
Location
NW Kansas and SC Idaho
Hey all,

I figured I would give you guys the update, got me an 06 LLY ZF6.

https://www.purplewave.com/auction/160428/item/L2185

She has been rode hard, but company policy is air and fuel filter every oil change, which was every 4-5K.

Oilfield outfit pulling goosenecks hauling backhoes around jobs. Foreman said they love 2wds, because they get stuck easy and the guys dont hurt anything, they just give up and wait for a tow. 4wds they just get buried axle deep and tear shit up. :)

I will get the history on it, the guy in charge of service records was out for the day. They didnt think it has ever had injectors, but there is a good chance it has a SMF and clutch in it.
 
LOL. Good luck with it. Welcome to the 21st Century. LOL

154K. Just getting broken in.

Just need a couple of new seats.
 
Rare find with a MT that is.

Forman hasn't seen Bakersfield, where they manage to snap axles on 2WD 4.3L V6 1/2t oilfield trucks when it rains and turns to mud. Gov-Bomb rearends and all.

Rant:
I'll take my modded 1993 6.2 turbo ANY day over a fing LLY! I sincerely hope you don't run into the known overheating problems they have. The slower 6.2 would out run my LLY as the LLY was sitting on the side of the road in Death Valley with the gauges in the red, windows down and heater on high in 121 degree weather. Only reason It didn't alarm was the mods done to it and it still ran extremely hot. I would try and go slow and the turbo whistle was a dead giveaway it was part of the problem being commanded to high boost and high CAC temps. I don't think anyone really knows WTF else is wrong with the LLY.

AFE Mouthpiece, stack seal, tune, new GM fan clutch, sealed air cleaner to fender and bigger air holes to fender. I got tired of chasing it, but, an auxiliary radiator and better trans cooler would have been the next step to try...

The touchy throttle was the final nail in GM's coffin for an otherwise pretty damn nice truck. It was enough to blead my GM orange blood completely out and I bought a Dodge.
 
You have to make sure you specify the year LLY. As 2006 had both LLY and LBZ. Only the 2004.5/2005 LLY's were overheaters. ;)

2006 LLY's are very stout! No issues whatsoever.
 
Plus, comma, does everyone that bought an LLY have to be assured that they bought a POS lemon every time WW though it wasn't that big of a percentage and just because those who did have trouble were vocal about it while the many thousands who had no trouble with them (a majority including me) didn't bother to report their satisfaction. Again, WTF!?
Give it a rest, huh?
 
Never had issues in our 05 LLY, although if we tow heavy, it usually isn't far, and if we tow far, it isn't usually heavy. So, idk...

GL with the purchase! Sure does look pretty rough for 154k miles, but I guess that's 10 years in the oil-fields...
 
06 LLY is a detuned LBZ, and the manual trans 06 was labled as an LLY since the manual trans trucks were only offerred with the detuned version(they NEVER made a ZF6 LBZ if you go by the VIN or RPO breakdown). And even the 04.5-05 LLY's do not all overheat. Many have proven that the ones that do overheat can be helped if not fixxed with the correct intake upgrades, EGR block, exhaust, and a tune(and I'm not just talking anybodies tune as there is several tuners out there that say they can fix them, but when you see there "fix" in the tune, it is going to make it worse). For the few that cannot stop the overheating, a few have swapped heads, and stopped there overheating. The theory is that some heads had thin spots in them where the injector tubes got cast into the LLY where they were seperate on the LB7. And yes, the LLY overheat hysteria is getting old. Theres THOUSANDS of them out there running around that do not overheat, many that never overheated, and then those that were fixxed and stopped overheating. If you're concerned about overheating, then don't buy a 6.5L either. I bet tehres a higher percentage of stock 6.5's that overheat than stock LLY's.
 
And in case anyone is worried, the 6.5L fleet is here to stay...well maybe the automatic one will leave... :) Dad is half owner in the 99, so we whipped a deal that he pays for all the new parts I put on last summer, and that will count as my share and the truck will be 100 percent his.

There is no such thing as the perfect truck, but there is such a thing as the perfect fleet, and the 6.5Ls are an integral part of that equation.

@WarWagon that is why I got wound up on this rig, 06 LLY is mechanically identical to the LBZ, just the lighter computer tune to keep the ZF6 alive to my understanding. I would buy a LB7 before a 04-5-05 LLY, IDK which one I would choose first, a 06 LLY or a LB7, both have their pros and cons.

Right now all I can afford is maintenance and a pair of front tires, so the upgrades will wait. :) I need to start looking into what it will take to delete the EGR, either just functionally, or in its entirely. otherwise, I dont think it will need much.

Also, amazingly, the truck looks better in person. Not often that happens on an online auction. :)
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
06 LLY is a detuned LBZ, and the manual trans 06 was labled as an LLY since the manual trans trucks were only offerred with the detuned version(they NEVER made a ZF6 LBZ if you go by the VIN or RPO breakdown). And even the 04.5-05 LLY's do not all overheat. Many have proven that the ones that do overheat can be helped if not fixxed with the correct intake upgrades, EGR block, exhaust, and a tune(and I'm not just talking anybodies tune as there is several tuners out there that say they can fix them, but when you see there "fix" in the tune, it is going to make it worse). For the few that cannot stop the overheating, a few have swapped heads, and stopped there overheating. The theory is that some heads had thin spots in them where the injector tubes got cast into the LLY where they were seperate on the LB7. And yes, the LLY overheat hysteria is getting old. Theres THOUSANDS of them out there running around that do not overheat, many that never overheated, and then those that were fixxed and stopped overheating. If you're concerned about overheating, then don't buy a 6.5L either. I bet tehres a higher percentage of stock 6.5's that overheat than stock LLY's.
Click to expand...

Neither of the vehicles I mentioned were stock and that should be pretty clear by now. From all the 'hysteria' I thought it could be cured. Standing on the side of the road in a "survival situation" is just that NOT 'hysteria'. With all the things adding up stock any that LLY didn't overheat simply wasn't given the chance. Modded ones, well, how deep are your pockets to keep trying "quack" cures or theories that everyone says works than doesn't? The difference is the 6.5, although slower, can be cured to run full tilt with the AC on high towing in 121 degrees. No theory to the 6.5: just flat cured period.

Like a best mod list for the 6.5 an LLY should have one. It is the ONLY production engine to have this big of a performance gain by only changing the intake to aftermarket aka remove 4psi restriction before the turbo. The aFe Bladerunner Turbo Inlet Manifold increases performance to your Duramax by 23hp and 57lbs x ft. torque while increasing air flow 73% over the factory turbo inlet. The link has the dyno chart.
 
WarWagon said:
Neither of the vehicles I mentioned were stock and that should be pretty clear by now. From all the 'hysteria' I thought it could be cured. Standing on the side of the road in a "survival situation" is just that NOT 'hysteria'. With all the things adding up stock any that LLY didn't overheat simply wasn't given the chance. Modded ones, well, how deep are your pockets to keep trying "quack" cures or theories that everyone says works than doesn't? The difference is the 6.5, although slower, can be cured to run full tilt with the AC on high towing in 121 degrees. No theory to the 6.5: just flat cured period.

Like a best mod list for the 6.5 an LLY should have one. It is the ONLY production engine to have this big of a performance gain by only changing the intake to aftermarket aka remove 4psi restriction before the turbo. The aFe Bladerunner Turbo Inlet Manifold increases performance to your Duramax by 23hp and 57lbs x ft. torque while increasing air flow 73% over the factory turbo inlet. The link has the dyno chart.
Click to expand...
Your problem was still a minority. Despite what you think, the majority do not overheat. Theres many lly's out there that don't. The majority of trucks I've tuned locally have been lly's, and not a one overheats. One is a dually on 34's that routinely rolls across the scales at 32k+ pounds, and his issue now is the allison is starting to go at 385k miles. It has an exhaust, egr blocker, and my tuning, thats it. And before you say its not that hot in Florida, he runs horses from Florida to Texas and California with it, so it DOES see extreme heat as well as mountain passes.

There is no reason that I can think of to be scared of an actual LLY. I actually regret NOT getting one for my BURB.
 
A buddy had the ZF and am pretty sure it was an 04 (do not know which motor as he is gone now so I cannot ask anymore). Went to from Maryland to Alaska and back with his RV in tow with no issues (aside from backing over his wife, which is a different topic. She eventually healed and still stayed married to him, but I digress . . .). Towed the RV all over the East coast too. Truck was reported as problem free into the mid 140K's when a tree ate it.
 
Were all just getting tired of the doom and gloom everytime an LLY is brought up. Not all LLY's had trouble, and many of the trouble makers got fixxed, it's a VERY SMALL percentage that overheated after proper updates. But it was still a small percentage that ovetheated in the 1st place. It still amazes me nobody complains about LLY injectors since they have proven in the long run to be as bad or worse than LB7's. Yet all we ever hear is they overheat.
 
GM Guy said:
And in case anyone is worried, the 6.5L fleet is here to stay...well maybe the automatic one will leave... :) Dad is half owner in the 99, so we whipped a deal that he pays for all the new parts I put on last summer, and that will count as my share and the truck will be 100 percent his.

There is no such thing as the perfect truck, but there is such a thing as the perfect fleet, and the 6.5Ls are an integral part of that equation.

@WarWagon that is why I got wound up on this rig, 06 LLY is mechanically identical to the LBZ, just the lighter computer tune to keep the ZF6 alive to my understanding. I would buy a LB7 before a 04-5-05 LLY, IDK which one I would choose first, a 06 LLY or a LB7, both have their pros and cons.

Right now all I can afford is maintenance and a pair of front tires, so the upgrades will wait. :) I need to start looking into what it will take to delete the EGR, either just functionally, or in its entirely. otherwise, I dont think it will need much.

Also, amazingly, the truck looks better in person. Not often that happens on an online auction. :)
Click to expand...

I have my block off plate, Idaho rob tune (dsp5 on autocal) and probably a few other little things if interested. I'd trade the stuff + cash for a truck possibly! Also have a couple power core filters too iirc.

DO NOT but wix or Napa filters. They CAN suck straight through.

Get a lift pump on your dmax!
 
thanks for the info!

Can someone lay out the EGR blockoff solutions available, with rough cost estimates?

Also, where in Idaho is IdahoRob, This Rob(ert) goes to Idaho quite often. So Idaho bound Robert might have to meet IdahoRob. :)

I think HP wise I want to stay stock, but I do want to do some reliability enhancing things like EGR delete and lift pump, maybe a banana pan, since it doesnt leak, possibly amsoil, etc.
 
EGR block off plate is available in several places. Your options are to use a fingers stick (a self contained bit of circuitry named after its creator "Fingers" IINC Jon) or tune it out with EFI. I Have the finger stick and am running a Predator tune that works well but I would do a multi EFI if I had it to do over. I would also suggest a PCV reroute. You might try Dmaxstore or Dirty Hoover diesel to get an idea of what is available. If you are going to run stock you don't really need a lift pump but I think you would be wise to add 50 or so HP to it. Anyhow, good luck and be sure to give all your fluids a change for starters and purge the PS pump. There are several DIY threads here that will give you a quick review to get you started.
 
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