Chuck, Chuck, such hostility....... you could hurt yourself................
I've worked on both cars and yes they're as fixable as any other. I have a 6.3 for sale here right now that I did a lot of work on and I've done several others. I've only worked on one 6.9 but I didn't find it as hard to work around - kind of similar to a CIS 450SL engine. The 6.3 engine is a different story. It took me all day or longer to R&R the injection pump on this car. It was running very rich with black clouds of smoke out the back so I determined that the pump had a problem. A lot of stuff has to come off before you can even get near the pump but once I did get it off, I realised that it had been rebuilt and then installed out of time to the engine. I put it back on properly and it never missed a beat after that. The other thing is the air suspension. It's not rocket science but it still scares most people away. Once it's operating properly it's a very nice system. Like all things it needs to be serviced and maintained closely. Neil at Star Motors did all the rebuilds for me although I've fixed some air valves myself. The control lever can go over centre and lose contact with gearing inside. Think of rack and pinion steering - it looks similar to that inside. However, the question is about a 6.9 I've seen a few go through Toronto auction pretty cheap and unless they're nice cars they don't bring too much on the open market. Any low production car will have very specific parts and some pieces will have prices dreamed up by people on drugs. The engines are strong as long as they aren't over heated which happens from pluged rads where the coolant wasn't changed often enough. I don't think there's an oil cooler on these cars, just the big tank in front of the right front wheel filled with 10 litters of oil. It runs very close to the tire and I suppose the air flow aids in cooling. I still have the rad from the one I did here and it was completely clogged. The head gaskets blew out and so the top end had to be done. Can't say how much that was - it was done at another shop in Toronto. The struts are probably the biggest expense if they go bad. I imagine there's an accumulator nearby that can go bad as well and cause a harsh ride, but that would be less costly. Very smooth powerful cars as I remember. I know there's a M100 Group for 6.3, 600 and 6.9 but I don't know the URL. Maybe someone does. I'm sure we can help this guy out , right gang? ( As for our esteemed friend around here, well I don't know. People say that he can speak for and defend himself but I never see that happen. With all these followers speaking for him, hey, why would he ever need to ~) Even on the 113 list where I suppose I might be called some sort of guru ( I hate that though ) people take me to task if they think I'm wrong. I don't mind, it keeps me sharp and honest. Some of my best learning has been from mistakes I've made - no one is perfect. Frankly, I believe it's a real mistake to elevate anyone to such a level that no one is ever allowed to openly debate ideas and differences with them. I welcome debate and all of you should too. I came from a family where you got things off your chest and the next day everyone was friendly again. regards to all, Dan
