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Posted by: DuneMe
My 7.3L Turbo Diesel Excursion tows nicely. My buddy with a Suburban gas engine is looking to sell his to get an Excursion.
Excursion is actually shorter than an extended cab short-bed Super Duty PU. So, fits in the garage.
I put the airbags on (that was a pain in the a$$ because there isn't any room to work because it is shorter. But, a 1-day job for me (I am kinda slow!)
I love the fuel tank . . 44 gallons. I can make it quite a long way on a single tank of fuel.
Weird that all short-beds use about a 26 gallon tank.
I think the Durmax / Allison combo is great.
Went with the Excursion because of the size - like all my cars in the garage. Side benefit has been that the wife can lay down in the center row on the long trips to save her back and our daughter can sit in the very back. . . kinda a twisted family I guess. Everyone in their own row
Posted by: maddog56
Engine bad. Ive only known 1 person who owned that engine that was happy with it. Quite unreliable, and extremely underpowered. Better off with a gas small block.
Posted by: maddog56
wistech, the friend of mine that had a good experience with the diesel had a 99 C3500 crew cab dually. When did they make the upgrades to the engine? Its possible that he had the updates and none of my other references have.
Posted by: WISTECH
The one weak point in the engine is the fuel pump but if they have trouble it usually happened early on and gm fixed them under warranty. Mechanically it a good motor that runs quiet lasts a long time and is cheap to repair . That cant be said for the IH /powerstroke . Weve got a fleet with both engines and I spend 90percent of my time fixing the powerstrokes.
Posted by: WISTECH
We never had any updates needed for ours . There was a recal on a fuel line bracket that could develope a crack in it. I did have one that had a water pump leak at around 5000 miles but it was covered under warranty. The oil cooler lines weep oil around the crimps but gm has had this problem forever. I had one with a ruptured tranny cooler dumping atf into the coolant.
Our fords and 444e's on the other hand have gone through countless glow plug controllers,cam sensors,loose bolts on the turbo housings,blown turbo crossover tubes,many corroded wiring terminals,oil pressure sensors,fuel lines in valley rubbing through,abs sensors ,many premature brake pad wear,calipers freezing,high pressure oil plug o rings fail,idler pulleys,icpr sensors,valve cover wiring comming disconnected ,under cover,icpr failures,warmup device leaking oil ,backpressure sensors plugging, dipstick adapters leaking ,oil pump suction o rings blowing out, injector orings blowing,idler pulleys,warped manufolds and manifold bolts, this list can go on and on and on and on.
I do all warranty work myself so I am intimatly familiar with the fords and 444e engines but our 6.5 turbos just dont come in my workbay enough to know much about them. They just get oil changes and go back out the door. I think if we had more of them I could tell more about the commom troubles with them. We run IH medium duty,ford e450 e350 super duty one tons and chevy one tons.
Posted by: ThrashAndCrashUntilItsTrash
I am a diesel mechanic for a living......Run from that engine!!!!!!!!!! I am a die hard Chevy guy but GM has never had a diesel worth a crap (except for the new duramax){which is an Isuzu}. If you are pulling light weight go with the gas. Car manufactures are not good at making diesels. {Ford has a International in it}{Dodge has a Cummins in it}
Posted by: Trasher
Anyone know much about a Suburban diesel? They have a 6.5 Turbo Diesel engine. I was looking at a 1999 3/4 ton 4X4 that had the engine in it and I haven't heard anything about this engine.
Posted by: Trasher
I'm looking at pulling a toybox so it would be the diesel or a big block
Posted by: Trasher
Ya, I have seen many posts about that engine and they weren't too positive. I have to go with the big block
Posted by: Snug
If you want something strong to tow, look at the Excursion diesel. I had a 98 gas Suburban and it was a dog. I bought the Excursion with the Diesel and I never wish I had more power. It has plenty to spare.
I towed my Trailer from Cali to Alaska last winter with no problems at all. The truck and trailer weighed in at 17k.
Doug
Posted by: mybull
Stay a way from the 6.5 it has more problems than any I have ever had. A 350 gas will out pull the 6.5 all day long. It was hard to go back to gm for a diesel after that one. But glad I did duramax best pulling rig I have ever seen.
