Chev Diesel V8 6.5l stops for no known reason!!

[Kiwi Bill]

I posted this in "After sales problems" but having read some of the items here thought that maybe it would reach a different audience, just in case there are other suggestions out there.

We are running a 2003(?) Chev diesel, 6.5l, V8 with turbo on a Workhorse Chassis.

Hi, We were traveling around Australia and suddenly experienced the motor shutting down (as if turned off) while moving off from an over-night parking. This could occur 2-3 times before running as usual. This later developed into shutting down while driving along the highway!!!! It occurred only very occasionally and advice received said change fuel filter, this was done.

The problem abated for awhile then resurfaced a few weeks later. It has now changed slightly and has now developed the additional burden of not restarting whereas previously it would restart as if nothing was wrong.

We have had a "TechII" connected but this has not been able to retrieve any fault codes so now we feel as if we are driving a time bomb that could give us terrible grief at any time.

To date no one has any positive probable cause and like most intermittent faults it is difficult to have it occur for demonstration purposes for those who may be able to help.

Has anyone experienced a similar fault with this motor?? The rig is currently in Australia as we have had to return to New Zealand for a short while.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kiwi Bill

[Kiwi Bill]

I posted this in "After sales problems" but having read some of the items here thought that maybe it would reach a different audience, just in case there are other suggestions out there.

We are running a 2003(?) Chev diesel, 6.5l, V8 with turbo on a Workhorse Chassis.

Hi, We were traveling around Australia and suddenly experienced the motor shutting down (as if turned off) while moving off from an over-night parking. This could occur 2-3 times before running as usual. This later developed into shutting down while driving along the highway!!!! It occurred only very occasionally and advice received said change fuel filter, this was done.

The problem abated for awhile then resurfaced a few weeks later. It has now changed slightly and has now developed the additional burden of not restarting whereas previously it would restart as if nothing was wrong.

We have had a "TechII" connected but this has not been able to retrieve any fault codes so now we feel as if we are driving a time bomb that could give us terrible grief at any time.

To date no one has any positive probable cause and like most intermittent faults it is difficult to have it occur for demonstration purposes for those who may be able to help.

Has anyone experienced a similar fault with this motor?? The rig is currently in Australia as we have had to return to New Zealand for a short while.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kiwi Bill

[FleetMan]

Earlier versions of the 6.5L diesel had problems with the ECM module heating up and causing the problem you describe. It was resolved with an improved and I believe, relocated ECM to combat the overheating problem. I had similar problems with a 1993 Chev pickup I owned previously.

[Lorene and John]

Bill

See you are now home in NZ - have a talk to Bunce Motor Co in Glenfield Auckland, 09 4437454 - they are the Chev agents here and were very helpful when we had problems with our Tiffin which had a Chev engine.

Good Luck.

[Kiwi Bill]

Lorene & John

Many thanks for that I will give them a try, I really appreciate you posting the info. It is a real concern which is magnified by needing to do stuff(?) in Oz and not having the contacts and trust etc although there is one person there who is trying to assist. Again my thanks

Bill

[Harry B]

Bill,

I experienced the same symptoms with a different engine (2003 Cummins). It started out very intermittent and became more frequent as time passed but started out being the most troublesome in the morning.

It turned out to be a bad relay (30 amp contactor) that powers the 12 volts to the chassis. I finally isolated the problem by tapping the suspect contactor while it was in a failing situaion. All would work again, until the next time it failed.

You might check to see if you have 12 volts (heavy cables) passed on by the contacts of the relay, while the ignition key which supplies the 12 volts to the coil of the relay.

This relay has been known to fail on varies different brands of motor homes and engines.

[Lorene and John]

Bill

Let us know how you get on - there are a few other people here who may be able to help you with suggestions. Send us an email if you need anything. Always pleased to help.