Oldsmobile Diesel Discussion

Some people have said the Oldsmobile diesels made in the late '70s and early-mid '80s were some of the worst engines GM ever made? Do you agree or disagree?  

The V8 Olds diesels were - many issues including not enough bolts around each cylinder for a diesel.  The 4.3 litre Olds V6 was actually a decent engine - it had more bolts around the cylinders.  There were three Olds diesels: 5.7 and 4.3 litre V8s and the 4.3 litre V6.  

I cant bash them, diesels were just coming into the seen for dailey drivers and pickup trucks.I wouldnt want one though,they had a lot of problems.  
A real toy for big boys.I installed a 5.9-B Cummins, P-7100 inline stage one pump,  banks cooler,5in exh,removable air bags for towing, 1in body lift,2in hanger lift,2 12in elect fans, customized mounting,(eng mounts,intake piping,trans adapter etc) Runs on home made bio-fuel at 70 cents a Gal.

I have a 1979 Cadillac Eldorado with the 5.7 Olds Diesel, & I am going to make it reliable - there are mods available for these engines, such as ARP head studs, copper head gaskets, ETC.  
The pic in my avatar is NOT my car anymore. I sold it & got an Eldorado Diesel, but can't find pics of it at the moment...

Got any advice, Esanchez?  
The pic in my avatar is NOT my car anymore. I sold it & got an Eldorado Diesel, but can't find pics of it at the moment...

I got a chuckle about this post.  The 5.7 Olds was one of, if not the worst, diesel engines ever made.  My dad ran 3 trucks with them, and if something went wrong we had motors on stand-by ready for swaps.  We got so good we could swap out an engine and be rolling again in under 9 hours.  Then we'd take apart the swapped out engine, fix it, test it, and place it back in queue for the next truck that went down.

Gutless, smoke beltching behemoths that could get decent mileage if the engine was right .... and that wasn't too often.



Kris  
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 QC 5.9L - No Mods Yet
2008 Dodge Ram 3500 QC 6.7L - Titan Fuel Tank Owner

dj, sorry for the delay in responding to you. I have heard of a few guys swapping in the 6.2 and 6.5 diesels into the Olds. I don't know what all is involved in this, and whether or not it's hard or easy. There's certainly a lot more power potential (relatively-speaking) for the 6.2 and the 6.5 than for the 4.3 and 5.7. Those engines had enough trouble without any boost. I can only imagine what a few pounds of pressure would do to them!  

There are a few obscure Olds diesel sites out there with some tuning an maintenance tips, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. I'll see if I can do some digging and come up with something for you.  

Hey, this is (or was) djphillips1985, I inadvertently deleted myself, so now I am back as 79Eldo350.  
This car is not mine, but looks almost exactly like it, and proudly sports the Diesel badges!

Here's one of them, I am a member under the same username as here on DP...
http://forums.delphiforums.com/350Diesel  
This car is not mine, but looks almost exactly like it, and proudly sports the Diesel badges!