Under the Hood
It's a diesel
This sucks!
The initial condition of the van for me was non-functional cruise control, dash air diverters didn't work and a turbo valve error. I had purchased a set of GM manuals for this van and did they ever pay off! The TS section took me right to the culprit. A bad vacuum pump. Since it is a diesel it needs a seperate pump to make vacuum which is used for the tubo valve, HVAC and cruise control! Once replaced everything was cool again.
Getting cranky
This issue was dicovered by Curt's tech while it was in for the vacuum pump work. Their techs really know their stuff. A damaged crankshaft pulley / dampener had to be replaced. It turns out a whole lot of the noise that we had been getting when the van was started up, excessive clattering , was actually a bad/broken crankshaft dampener. And I didn't know because I have never had a diesel before. But the tech did! And it turns out that this is all to common on the 6.5. That and the FDM module issue. With the new one installed it is a whole lot quieter on start-up. Nice!
PMD Relocation
This Pump Mounted Driver Module is a long time known problem causer. Mainly because of it's location. Which is bolted to the side of the injection unit which is in the middle of the motor under the intake. Not the greatest of locations for an electronic unit. Hot! Hot! Hot! And when it gets silly the vehicle won't start. Or worse yet it can shut down while driving. Not good!
The solution is a relocation of the module off the motor to a cooler location. Initially I had purchased the Dorman package with the intentions of relocating it myself. But after some research I determined it was more than a bit of work to do. So I set it aside for another day. Then in the course of daily events the van got silly and had to be sent to the shop. Since it was already there and this module was the culprit they did the relocation for me. The added plus to replacing the failed module was an updated module, which is improved over the factory unit, was installed. But they did the whole project well and it is now relocated to the front grill area. Problem solved. Plenty of cooling there.
Possible PMD Failure - 01.07.23
With the PMD relocated to the front grille it has worked since its relocation and replacement. Until a few weeks back when the diesel went into a no start. So after some quick online research the prices have gone up dramticly. it varies between $200 and $300 ish. But since I an no really 100% positive it is the culprit I discovered that on Ebay there are some PMD relocation kits that come with the relocation kit (extension cable, heat sink and mounting kit) AND a new PMD. All for less than $50! So I ordered a kit and as soon as it comes in I am simply going to swap the PMD's to validate that the unit is bad. Stay tuned!
Front Blower Motor Not Working - 12.29.20
Blower Motor Resistor Harness Burned - I had a failure of the blower motor resistor. As in a burned connector. So no front blower for heat or cool. This is apparently a common problem on this generation of vans and trucks. This failure is so common that they market kits for the fix. Some are a new resistor and a new connector. Others have those plus a new blower motor. I have opted for the later complete with the blower motor. The only problem is that it is January and it is cold outside. So I will have to bide my time for a suitable work day.
The resistor (2 screws) and the blower motor (3 screws) are pretty easy and very accessable. The hard part will be the harness connector repair. Since only one wire was damaged a friend just gave me a quick fix. Go to the salwage yard (Parts Galore) and get a good connector and pigtail. Then simply transfer the good connector pins from the van connector to the new one and just sub in the pigtail wire for the burned one. Then you only have to spice one wire, not all six!