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Somewhat interesting article

Well, that guy was real bent on telling us how bad our blocks are. Im not sure he knew the difference between the 97+ and earlier blocks. The ones we have that aint broke yet, are good foundations. But if your operating environment is a 120F temp desert and driving low speeds with heavy loads of armor weapons and people then its gonna bust it.
 
Does anyone know if any of our esteemed vendors actually carry Optimizer 6.5 blocks?

-Rob :)
 
Kennedy Diesel sells engines with the gep blocks. Not shure if they are all new or just the blocks. New engines are available through Am General/gep
 
bk95td said:
Kennedy Diesel sells engines with the gep blocks. Not shure if they are all new or just the blocks. New engines are available through Am General/gep
Click to expand...

Thanks.... but how does one order through AM General/GEP?

-Rob :)
 
Ok accurate but agree it was biased to say the GM blocks were junk without any real statistics of the number of broken vs still running. I am probably biased towards the 6.5 too but ... It is real hard to tell the full story of the 6.5 in just one article (needs a short to medium book). Its has had a lot of changes. And there are a lot of interactions or compounding circumstances that cause issues. Most of these type articles can't cover them all. There are a fair number of shops that now claim they specialize in the engine and this author really believed one of his sources. Should have mentioned the enthusaists out there that have had good luck with building inexpensive gems when knowing the limitations and truely understanding most all the issues with these engines.
 
He could have done alot more research,hence the "somewhat". I also found much 6.5 mis information on some forums too.
 
yeah....... I was told I would blow the crank shaft in half before i got home from the dealership. I was told the IP would fail as soon as I got on the freeway. I was told all this BS about the 6.5 was common....... so far what I see is the most common is 250,000 mile trouble free engines (PMD problems excluded) .......
 
Well in 2000 when I bought my 98 GMC with 37K on it I was told I was looking forward to catastrophic failure around 100K as I had the worst of the worst a "oil squirter" block, the 98 Chevy burb bought at 130K in 06 is about 160K now, and the 98 truck at 192K guess I'm riding on borrowed time. My personal opinion is so long as it has never been overheated they won't fail I'm 2 for 2 with that theory.
 
The thing with rebuilders is all they see is the worst of the worst. Mechanics only see the ones that break down.Not really alot of data on the ones that don't have problems. There is obviously a demand for the engines that the chineese are counterfitting the blocks and heads. Not too many other engines that I've heard that about.
I checked the co that he said was doing a good job with the aftermarket blocks. They have no listings for anything 6.5. The article was from june of 07.
 
buddy said:
Well, that guy was real bent on telling us how bad our blocks are. Im not sure he knew the difference between the 97+ and earlier blocks. The ones we have that aint broke yet, are good foundations. But if your operating environment is a 120F temp desert and driving low speeds with heavy loads of armor weapons and people then its gonna bust it.
Click to expand...

Then there are members amongs ourselves that continually give the 97 block a bad rep too...

And there are other members amongs ourselves that continally run their 97 blocks day in and day out without issue.

Temp control is key. 260 is too hot.
 
Im don't know what kind of block is in my 95 but it's beyond 327,000 miles and still ticking.
 
Anybody else note that part about flywheel bolts requiring sealant & over-torquing the flywheel bolts could distort the crank end enough to cause rear main seal leaks?

Am I interpreting what the article is trying to say correctly? Never heard of anything like this before.

My truck's fresh engine rear main leaks a little oil. My guess was I missed a small nick on the crank surface or the previous seal wasn't set at the same depth as I set the new seal upon reassembly. Still think that theory seems the most likely, but couldn't help but notice that text about sealant on the flywheel bolts.
 
Yeah, I read the article back when building my 6.5 & on the first read, I only comprehended the "sealant on flywheel bolts" comment. At the time, I dimissed it as nonsense knowing the flywheel bolt holes in the end of the crank were blind holes.

Now, upon re-reading the article, I wonder if they mean over-tightening could distort the outer shape of the crank surface the rear main seal rides on - from perfectly round as machined, into slightly hexagonal with six bolts under strain pulling on the material.

It could just be nonsense. But at seeing the article brought up on the forum, thought I'd point it out & see what others thought?
 
If that were the case, then wouldn't the pulling against the bolts [torque converter or flywheel] distort the seal area of the crank also?:confused::eek: I'd have to say BS to that one.:icon_bs: Throw it in the pile of ALL blocks are scrap.:nonod::rolleyes5::sad:
 
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