8.2L GMC engine questions

I am looking at a mid 80s GMC 5 yrd dump truck that has a 8.2l GM diesel engine. I am assuming that this is a rebadged Detroit, but am not sure. Any opinions (either good or bad) on this engine. The truck has low miles (less than 50,000) and would mostly be used on our timber property.

They are so-so little engines, Ive owned 4 of them. 1 non turbo and 3 turboed, none were powerhouses. 3 were in service trucks, one was a small Ford dump. As long as you dont go much over 26,000 gross weight they seem to be ok. 2 of mine liked to leak a bit of antifreeeze into the oil, however a touch of Bars-leak cured that. I suspect head gasket issues. Otherwise they did their jobs without much trouble.

What hp engine is it? I really love mine in a bucket truck, it's excellent on fuel runs out good too. I honestly think they got a bad reputation from the head gasket issues they had early in the 80s. Their powerhouse but weren't designed to be they were designed to be a fuel pincher. Did I say they were very slow?

They only have 4 head bolts per cylinder, I think only 1/2 inch diameter too. That is marginal at best and lends one to believe that they were never meant to turbo. Despite their design flaws, myself and most people that I know that have ran them agree that when you have a good one, they are hard to beat. Mine has been down once in 9 years due to a bad lift pump, a $90 fix. It's a lead sled slow boat to China engine that starts EVERY time, even in the cold weather. I have seen 11mpg with it in my C70 dump and it sips fuel better than a 1500 when plowing snow. I would most likely ditch it however if a major breakdown occurred as there are many better engines to choose from in my opinion. I hope this makes at least a bit of sense, lol. Good luck with your decision.

Guys!

I can't believe anyone is still using this engine. Mine is in boom truck that gets very little use. We are running it now and I changed fuel filters and it is running horrible. The injectors are under the valve covers, etc. Where do you bleed the air out? One guy said the air will work its way out. That's not happened yet.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Tom

You can crack the line open by the turbo and bleed it. I've never had a problem changing filters. Did you overflow them with fuel before you installed them?

We filled both fuel filters to the top.
What is odd about this problem is that before the filters only one cylinder/injector seemed to miss. After the new filters were installed its running horribly. Thanks

Leave an old oring on? I've had that happen

Yikes... the guy that was doing this may very well have done just that. We'll check it first thing in the morning.

Thank you sir.

Whatever you do don't mess with the injectors because they take a special setup tool peculiar to this engine which almost no one has any more or knows how to use. My opinion is that these engines are to run until major failure and then junk because they are so special and nobody remembers them any more.

The tool isnt a big deal, its just a dial type injector height guage... But, if you cant read the injector specs on the phony laminated sticker on the rocker cover, youre a bit screwed because each injector set at a different height. Apparently Detroit couldnt match crank throws with the cam lobes?