On the GMC 6.5 the pmd, or pump mounted driver fails due to heat failure, also failing for no reason in 8 degree temperatures. When it fails there are no signs, warnings just stalling the power steering, power brakes gone. Now put yourself on a 2 mile hill of an insane descent, and yourself behind the steering wheel what would you do" this is insanity that the dealership will only help you if there is less than 100,000 miles on your car, and then all they do is replace the pump, when the pump isn't the problem its the pump mounted driver. I personally have spoken to and been to the manufacturers and they refuse to admit there is a problem, this is the manufacturer! but I don't understand how after 11 years nothing has been done about this problem, only a rip and replace, and if there's to many miles to bad for you. I have tried almost every after market solution out there and these manufacturers too are baffled about this situation. So why if there is no problem are there a dozen business making money off of trying to fix the manufacturers problem? if the manufacturer doesn't have to take the blame than who does? the family of 7 that wrote in" when they die is something going to be done, because its not a matter of if, its a matter of when, and I hope that day never happens. But I hope that more than the family has trouble sleeping because I feel better for trying to avoid this catastrophe. Thank you for you time. Sincerely concerned, jon lamb

- Bolton Landing, NY, USA

We have a 1996 6.5 turbo diesel GMC Suburban. We had severe stalling problems. The dealer replaced the fuel pump at their cost and installed at our cost, new glow plugs, glow plug sensor, battery, and battery cables suspected to be the problem. It continued to stall. We returned to the dealer and they replaced the pump again at their cost, but we had to pay to drop the tank to check for contamination. There was a deteriorated screen we paid to replace. It still stalled. Only this time it stalled when I was going 50 mph and approaching curves along the river. I lost all power steering and brakes. Me and my five young kids almost ended up in the river. Had it been normal winter roads, we would have. All along we've done research and had it rediagnosed by a professional diesel mechanic, so we knew to tell our dealer (automall in brattleboro Vermont) to replace the pump mounted driver (pmd) sometimes called a fuel solenoid driver (fsd). After problems where automall tried to rip us off for a fake $100 deductible, they will install it at no charge tomorrow (1/7/04). We have driven just over 1000 miles total. However, this does not fix the problem. From all the research we've done, weve discovered many people have reported the same dangerous accounts of stalling. Several report having almost had serious accidents like I had two days ago. According to research, pmd failures are the most common part to fail on GM 6.5 diesels. The pmd overheats because of placement near the engine. There is a simple, yet costly fix that consumers should not have to pay to be safe. A pump driver cooler (pdc) can mount on the firewall (not the engine) to move the pmd away from the heat. Please investigate and issue a recall to install pdc's on these engines so we can once again be safe in our vehicles. My family of 7 canT afford another stall, especially during these winter months, and new pdcS alone canT guarantee safety. Thank you.

- Vernon, VT, USA