MOAGGIE

I am going to look at a 1983 Chevy 4x4 Suburban that has @60,000 miles, runs no problems. What should I look for? Problems or Concerns? I can get it bought for @$600.00 I'm just looking for an extra truck to have around and for hunting/fishing, thanks for any help and info.

linetrash75

Buy it up if it runs good and when it pops a headgasket bring it to your local auto recycler, or if the burb is not a complete basket case swap a 4bt in it, out of bread van direct bolt up as they had chevy bolt pattern.
Jed

smokin05

What is a 4bt...are you referring to swapping the smoky slow diesel out for a small block 350 4 bolt main? ...cause I think all Chevy 4.3L v6 to a 454v8 all have the same pattern on the tranny.....but I don’t know about the diesel seems like you might also need the tranny from a gasser? Even if it did line up due to the raitos?

MOAGGIE

That was kind of what I was wondering about switching it to a 350. I figured if it runs right now I'll buy it and change it later if I need to. I am not familar enough with the GM diesels so I was wanting to know what I should look for or be worried about?

IA_James

Might ask if he has any of his maintenance records, the 6.2's if carefully maintained will run a long time. If poorly maintained they will not. Stuff to worry about is head gaskets and crank failure. Also injector pump around 100k miles. If it's running good, $600 for a 4x4 it's tough to go too far wrong.

DieselDaze

The 4bt is a smaller version Cummins diesel. I believe it to be found in many delivery trucks.
Swapping out to a 4bt (or any Cummins) will require a tranny change as a gasser transmission is just not designed to work with a diesel.

Rich

catmandoo

see how it starts after setting all night when it's good and cold,if it fires right up after the glow cycle and doesn't miss,it will probably be a pretty good one.if it takes a little cranking the pumps probably getting weak,they show up on a cold pump thats sat for 10-12 hours,mine was that way,it would take awhile to get running first thing in the morning but once started for the day,it would fire the first cyl over

bkrukow

Te 4bt is a 4 cylinder 3.9 liter cummins. It is in a lot of small delivery trucks and bread trucks. If I remember corectly the ones in the bread trucks had a GM tranie behind them so they will bolt rite up to the tranie in the Suberban or any other GM tranie for that matter. As far as the 6.2 is conserned if it has been taken care of and not beaten on it may be fine for a long time. My dad has had his 84 Chevy 4x4 6.2 diesel sence new. He has always taken care of it and it is still going stong getting 19+ mpg. He has 250,000 miles on the truck and no real major repairs to the engine other than 1 new injection pump at around 100k. The tranie(actualy the tourque converter) died at 140K. It had a few glow plugs replaiced under warenty and that is it.

csramsey640

I had a 89 r3500 6.2 chevy dually that I bought from a state auction. It has glow plugs and a controller. Check to see the length of the Wait To Start Light (center of dash-orange square) or listen for the controller to kick. If they dont heat up long enough, or heat up too long, it may need controller/glow plug work, but neither are very expensive, gp's are about 6 bucks a piece, controller was in the 40's.

They do cycle just like our grids do, so thats ok. I would physically check the crank balancer for looseness. That is usually how the cranks broke in them. The rubber type balancers were easier on cranks, than the full steel.

Dont push her hard, and take care of it. Many out there have went 300k with only minor work. Mine had 198k and it ran pretty good for the short time I owned it.

The tranny will also be a BOP pattern(Buick, Olds, Pontiac) so you cant swap a Chevy 350 directly into it, as Chevy has its own bolt pattern. Otherwise I wouldnt be scared of one for a driver, but there are better engines out there for heavy towing work.

Stay with 15w40 oil, as most dont run the 30 wt anymore in them.

Oh yeah, they also usually get 20+ MPG.

catmandoo

last i knew the trans was chevy only,not (bop)

MOAGGIE

Ok I got to finally talk to the owner, it has new radiator,hoses, etc.., says it starts good and no problems but has no records to support maintenance. It has a little more rust than I originally thought! Straight body, tires good, alumnium rims, auto. So I guess I am going to try and buy it but might try to knock a little more off if I can I am a little concerned why he is pushing hard for me to buy it and pick it up ASAP. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be back here asking more questions once I have my hands on it.

catmandoo

try over on the diesel page!

suzukiZrider

try over at www.thedieselgarage.com we got a few 6.2/6.5 people over there as well as cummins duramax and powerstroke people

TORQUE

Check for glow plug controller cycling(only can do properly when cold), see how it starts. Check glow plugs for resistance(key on). They like to eat glow plugs(makes it hard to start when cold), and Injection pumps, unless you used Stanadyne with them all the time(then a 50/50 chance).

Most 6.2 's I worked on burned oil, and knocked from bottom end, also check for oil in rad(head gasket issues also). We used to end up swapping most of them out, and putting in gas pot 350's, we had less issues with gassers. Price sounds pretty darn cheap though.

Rauschbo

I bought my '82 Jimmy with the 6.2 - it had 261K on it, had the engine rebuilt at 249k-ish (bought from the original owner, had all the records). Ran great, even better when I put the Banks turbo kit on it.....not worth the money, though, $1800 and many hours installing it.

Never had an issue with it; It had the 700R4 tranny with 20K on a rebuild.

Glow plugs worked great....