TL;DR
I am supposed to drive my van to Oregon sometime next week and I need to make sure its fixed and will get me safely to my next destination. Taking it to a mechanic is not really an option…way too expensive to pay for it, and if I can pinpoint what is wrong with it I can do the repairs myself. I am looking at replacing the lift pump, possibly the oil pressure sensor, oil cooler lines, and possibly the harmonic balancer if we have the tools for it…
My van stalled on me the other day when I was driving about 20mph. When I started it back up it was struggling a bit so I decided to change the fuel filter on it and I added about 20oz of Seafoam to the full tank. Fuel pump was cheap and would not seal even when twisted all the way down, so it leaked diesel on the trip up to the space, and threw some error codes and caused the engine to downshift for the rest of the trip with the check engine light on. I installed a better fuel filter and no more leaks. Had to jumpstart it to go home, probably from all the fuss of trying to crank it over. Driving home on the highway, when I tried to go highway speeds, it was struggling for power, like it was losing pressure or had a lack of fuel in the line, so I brought it back to the space for the night.
My theory is either that all the fuel filter mess is still having residual effects of on the fuel pressure, I got a tank of crappy diesel (engine was pretty full when it stalled) or my lift pump is operating sporadically. Read about the Lift pump and OPS here: http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/63-gm-diesel-engines/21-6-5l-diesel-engine/53309-6-5l-faqs-master-list-information-6-5-answers.html
this whole forum is great for info pertaining to this type of engine, and has led me to discover that it would be wise to change the oil cooler lines before I leave, and if we have the tools, I would like to change the harmonic balancer as well, but I would prefer help with the balancer if anyone knows anything about that process…
Anyways, I need to get my rig fixed up as safely as I can so I can start at my new job. I already had to tell my new boss that I was being delayed by these car issues and its stressing me out endlessly until its done. Plz halp.