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[GMCnet] GMC diesel question, but not MH [message #62053] Wed, 28 October 2009 08:22 Go to previous message
tmaki is currently offline  tmaki   United States
Messages: 200
Registered: September 2005
Karma:
Senior Member
I know some on the list are diesel guys, and I've got a
question.

I have a 6.2 in my '84 14' GMC Vandura 3500 cube truck. I
don't run it much - until yesterday it hasn't been on the
road in probably a year and a half or more.

I start and run it for maybe 30 minutes every week or so -
high idle until the glow plug light goes out and the temp
gets about 1/4 of the way on the gauge.

Yesterday, I took it out to move some stuff, get fresh fuel,
and stretch it out a little. Early in the run, I noticed it
was pumping out what looked like a lot of blue smoke. The
blue-ish color might have been the angle of the sun. As the
engine got up to operating temperature on the freeway, the
smoke went away, and I didn't see it the rest of the time I
was running it. I went maybe 40 miles total, some of that at
65-70 on the freeway.

I've heard conflicting opinions about the care and feeding
of diesels. This is the first and only diesel I've ever
owned and I'm not sure what to believe. I've been told to
run it once in a while. Then I've been told to leave it sit
unless I can run it hard and hot.

So, my question is should I be running it occasionally to
keep things limbered up, or is it better to leave it sit and
only start and run it when I need to take it out on the
road? Would the blue-looking smoke that seemed to disappear
after a while be just a build-up of schmootz that never gets
burned off when I start and run it at a fast idle but never
get it up to full operating temperature?

It's a crusty old truck, but it gets the job done when I
need it to. I'm not sure how many miles are left in it. It's
probably gone around two or three times, but it starts and
runs fine. I just don't want to cut short whatever life it
has left.

Thanks for any advice. If there is a difference of opinion,
I'll decide which way to err.




Toby Maki
'73 Glacier 230
Riverside, CA
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