Well, fellas, my '85 6.2L just might be DOA now

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Yep. For the last couple of years it has nickeled and dimed me quite a bit, but all the fixes were relatively simple and the old workhorse was back on the road again.

Not so this time.

Late this summer it started getting air in the fuel lines somewhere and then the starter mysteriously crapped out. I didn't have the time to fix the darn thing, so it sat for a month or two. Well, I replaced the starter today, expecting it atleast turn over (and whine about the air in the lines), but all I got was an unearthly sound emanating from the starter/ring gear/engine. I turned the ignition off, and the thing kept on trying to turn over with the switch off...but it wasn't turning over very well, it was making that screeching, grinding noise instead, again, with the ignition switch OFF. I fiddle with the keys and finally the thing stops. Not sure if I had anything to do with it shutting down or not, though.

Then the smoke starts billowing from the engine bay. No fire, but a bit of acrid smoke.

Perhaps the day has finally come. I wanted to get one more year out of the thing, too.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[nevrenufhp]

Now what? Stranded? Engine swap? Part it out?

[Wobblin-Goblin]

I went out for a walk tonight to help wind down the day and clear my head some. One possibility I came up with was to swap out the 6.2L V-8 for a Cummins 5.9L I-6. The truck itself is still in very driveable condition, it's what's under the hood that is driving me crazy.

Not sure how to make the Cummins swap work in a Chevy, though. Maybe it's a pipe dream.

That's too bad. I really like this truck (I just put new exhaust and tires on it in the spring, too).

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/vomit.gif[/img]

[trucky]

Sounds like an internal starter melt down. Were there any shims on the old starter when you took it out? Even if there were no shims on the old starter you may still need to shim the new one. The noises coming from the starter and ring gear were probably from the starter bendix gear engaging the ring gear without the proper clearance thus binding the bendix gear onto the flywheel and creating so much resistance that it overheated the starter causing it to stay engaged with the key in the off position.
Let us know what you find.

Good luck, Tim

[CowKiller]

if the engine is toast, drop in a SBC. the engine mounts are the same. we just had a teacher do it here at my school with an old 6.5. reoved and installed a 350

[navistar45]

woblin,if you stick a cummins in it you'll be on a slow boat to china. 4.10 and no od,a cummins would be slow. my vote is to fix the starter/fuel leak,and keep on truckin.. my '02...

[Kaliburz]

How hard would it be to swap in a 6.5L???

[rossman]

A guy can swap in a cummins-seen several on e-bay, even saw one that was a 67 k-20, had it painted hemi orange. That thing was sweet. Dont know how well the tranny would fit but if it were me, i would try to swap it too.