Daryl,
I say fix it.

If you are willing to pay the amount to fix it to get another truck just
like it...why not fix the one you have?

You already HAVE it and you already know its quirks.  Availability of diesel
vehicles is below demand.

Unless there is more that is wrong with it?

On 2/1/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I was riding in the passenger seat as my son was driving my 1990 Chev
Cheyenne on Tuesday morning.  It has the GM 6.2 litre diesel engine.
It was a cold day (-22 C), but the truck started easily (block heater
had been used).  We were about 4 km out when I heard a new top end
racket as he accelerated out of a curve.  The check gauges light came
on, and the oil pressure was reading zero.  I had him pull over and
shut down, hoping we were quick enough to avoid damage.

Yesterday, I got the preliminary report from the mechanic.  The oil
pump failed, so the engine was not being lubricated.  It is not seized
(the engine never got up to temperature on the trip), but there are a
lot of ugly noises, even at idle.  I trust this shop, and have for
years.  They figure a bottom-end rebuild is in order, but question the
value of proceeding on an 18-year-old truck.  The rebuild estimate is
approximately what I paid for the truck a year and a half ago.

Ironically, this occurred while I was on my way to a funeral.  (I made
it, but I was late.  The tow truck driver dropped us off at the church
on the way to the garage.  We're on a first name basis.  My son thinks
that's funny.)

I have been running B20 for the past year.  I don't think that has
anything to do with the oil pump going.  Just posting this as a
warning to others that this is something to watch out for in the GM
engines of this vintage.

The truck doesn't get a lot of use, as a rule, but I figure it paid
for itself in the time I had it.  It carried and pulled a lot in the
times it was used.

I have started looking for a replacement, but there isn't much to
choose from in the low end of the market in terms of diesels.  There
are some large cube vans available at the top end of my price range
(up to Cdn$4500), but they would present an issue in terms of parking.
  I need something that can pull up to 3500 pounds (Class 2), and
carry "ugly" cargo (compost, scrap metal, used construction material).
  Pretty doesn't matter - in fact ugly has proven advantageous in
terms or reducing requests to borrow the last vehicle.  Robust and
reliable does matter, as others drive the vehicle more often than I
do.  I'm thinking either pickup truck or full-size van.  Any other
thoughts?  It took me more than a year to find a diesel the last time,
and I don't have the luxury of that much time now.  Suggestions?

--
Darryl McMahon
It's your planet.  If you won't look after it, who will?



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--
Thanks,
PC

He's the kind of a guy who lights up a room just by flicking a switch

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a
very narrow field. - Niels Bohr  (1885 - 1962)
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