5.7 Diesel is a good engine. Run the engine for 5-10 minutes before a run and change oil and filter every 1500 miles. I have a 1980 Cadillac Seville diesel (D-block). Never any nonsense and always starts. A neighbor had Olds Delta 88 in 22 years with 500,000 original engine miles, even in a mountain country like Norway where the 5.7 diesel is underpowered and must work 100% to not fall behind. Changed oil every 1500 miles and used the block heater in summer and winter was his advice!
Could not agree more, there are many Oldsmobiles still be driven till this day eight years after their final demise. I have a 78 and a 96 Olds, they are wonderful cars! As long as regular maintenance is performed they will keep going for a very long time.
Fantastic engine. Plenty of low end torque at stupid low revs, and adequate power above 40MPH. This engine comes into it's own on the highway. 29.5MPG at 60 MPH, and 27MPG at 70 MPH, in a 4200 pound car with the A/C on. That might seem low, but the damn car is a rolling living room. Beats the hell out of a modern plasticar, especially a Honda.
Yeah, the old 5.7s were perhaps the most under-appreciated engine in history for the masses, but those that ~did~ appreciate 'em, loved 'em. Take care of it, it'll last forever. Their reputation went to hell primarily because of driver habits and mechanic habits. Always let the engine warm up a bit before putting and demanding load on it, and never re-use head-bolts. The hardcore 5.7L guys tell me to use grade-9 (yes, NINE) aircraft studs, and dual exhaust, and never look back again.
Not meaning to be unkind as I am a huge Oldsmobile fan, I own two Oldsmobiles, in general I think Oldsmobiles were well built. But this engine has always had a poor reputation, and I don't think it was just a lack of maintenance that caused it. This engine ruined Oldsmobile's and GM's reputations because of early failures, especially because it had been considered a good brand. I have heard they did not design the top end correctly to deal with the compression pressures in the cylinders.
I've got a 1981 impala with a dx block 135,000 miles and it runs like a champ. Two transmissions and a injector pump gave up but it's still a daily driver at 30 yrs old. Just take care of it (realize diesels are much different from gas) and there's no issues. The engines demise came from stupid people mistreating them
Damn, I love these diesel cars. These engines started out too weak & they blew too easy. GM got all the bugs out by the '85 year, but by then people were burnt out on them. I discovered my first GM diesel in 1995. It was an '82 Chevy Caprice with the DX diesel engine factory replacement. I wish I had a barn full of these great diesel powered cars.
@sabbath7081 Odds are pretty good your speakers have their own volume control - I can't access them from here. If you read further on the description, you'll see that there's not much I can do about the audio quality. The laserdisc player required for these discs was apparantly dealership specific, and the only one I could find to even play them ended up with this audio. Which irritates me as well. :-/
@bmtimv Ours got 37 MPG a 2 door 1980 Cutlas Calais, today you have to buy a crackerbox hybrid to get that, ours was on the hwy a lot, good thing we had it, or times would have been tougher due to the cost of fuel with dad having to get a job so far away. .
Great video! Thanks for posting, a real blast from the past! Still got a working Lazerdisc player, break it out once in a while to compare and admire my BlueRay.Got a runing 1983 GMC Caballero (rebadged chevy ElCamino) with the original 5.7L diesel.Most people find it pretty wierd.Intrested in what people are doing with these engines today?
@alief54 Although the perverse quirk of any diesel is if you add any kind of forced induction i.e. turbo or supercharger, you get MORE fuel economy and power
If you actually know how to treat and drive a diesel maybe. The Oldsmobile gasser smallblocks (260, 307, and 350) were just about bulletproof with regular maintenance. The 403 was ok but not much more power than the 350 and weaker main bearings.
I worked in an Olds dealer in 83-85. The pumps broke by the hundreds. Yet we would see a few that would never break. I installed Targetmasters by 25 week. But for the time they were kewl to drive. Roosamaster!!
@oldsmagnet then they'd fail again prematurely because the headbolts were stretched out and could not hold proper torque. I've heard recommendations to find aircraft grade-9 studs to replace the stock headbolts. couple that with a decent flowing exhaust, and you'll get a pretty bulletproof setup.
LoL, at 16 years old, I had no respect for moms Cutlass, it had absolutely no problem spinning the tires, hung corners great too, took dad some time to figure out why the sidewalls were wearing, was taken in for quite a few alignments. I drove that car like I stole it, so I'd have to say they were very durable, the only thing it ever needed was injection pumps, bad fuel will destroy their governor weight, in 160,000 miles I went through 2 rebuilds. Wish I had one now.
If I may reply, though a year old, there was nothing inherently wrong with the design of the engine itself; like you said, they could last a long time. It was mostly a problem with the fuel system; GM had omitted a water separator on the fuel line, at a time when poor-quality (I.e., water-laden) diesel fuel hit the market. That was the main cause for the engine failure, because water won't compress the same way as a diesel/air mix, putting WAY too much stress on the cylinder head.
Pretty cool there olds magnet. Didnt realize they had such technology as they did for diesels back then. One thing i do know i am sure there are probably some original 80' diesel olds models still floating around out there somewhere because as most people that are car knowledge nuts(so to speak) know as long as they are taken care of diesels will last a LONG time...with some having mileage into the 250,000 to 300,000 mile range. cool video :)
These cars may have been unreliable but they were ground braking. Until then it was impossible to get 20 mpg in these cars much less 30 some on the highway.
So how reliable are these engines? I found a 81 Cutlass coupe that had a 5.7 diesel ford 2500 dollars, but my dad said to stay away from them. And what kinda of fuel economy and acceleration?
I don't know why GM didn't do a better job in terms of compensating customers fairly when their diesel engines died, which seems to have been a big problem. It became a public relations problem for GM, and a lot of people switched to imports after owning one of these. That said, the idea behind the engine was a good one- to produce full size cars that got good fuel economy. I happen to really like this generation of the Delta 88. They were better cars with gas engines, though.
@Motorfordtoyota Totally depends on how they're taken care of - if they're started, allowed to warm up before getting a load put on 'em, they last a LONG time - but if started and hammerred on cold, well they die much too soon. Economy was great, 30 was not an uncommon number. Performance? Well, let's just skip that question, shall we? LOL -- Biggest trouble with these was head gaskets - they'd fail, presumably from putting too much load on a cold engine, and techs would not replace headbolts
The thing to do on these is get a water fuel seperator filter, head-studs, change oil every 2000 miles, and you're good to go. Oh, and if you plan oh putting a turbo on these, i don't think your engine life will last as expected
can i ask you something about the performance,coz 5.7 litre engine its big one but only produce 105hp thats so ridiculous,can this engine goes faster by changing parts by parts,or bring a turbocharger
Its really sad GM dropped Oldsmobile along with Pontiac. They were such great cars back in the days. Alot of people still own oldsmobile's. I see a ton of these cars on the road today. Even if GM dropped Oldsmobile, Oldsmobile will still be around forever to come.
Even though you have no spark plugs, no carb, and no distributor, you still have a very complex injection pump. Never forget that. I own a diesel myself (7.3 IDI) and I would know.
@Motorfordtoyota Should you buy a 350 diesel, you should be able to repair diesel engines. They require some maintenance, oil change after 1,500 miles and changing the coolant at least once a year. Always allow the engine to warm up before you put load on the engine block. If they are well taken care of is this a good engine with very little error. Acceleration is unfortunately poor, but the torque is okay. Consumption is good! Biggest problem was headgasket, this is solved with ARP head bolts.
If only Oldsmobile had put more thought into how the engines and transmission were put together. The GM diesel cars would've worked well for American drivers. One should never, EVER, cut corners under any circumstances. You never know when a person's life might depend on a car starting and making it to the destination.
these engines in the hands of diesel mechanics could be made to run great , but not owned by grandma going to church when its cold outside and getting her fuel from the local gas station down the road that didnt sell alot of diesel fuel, in the early eighties that is.
Nobody says the biggest problem with all early diesels in the US was the fuel. Our fuel sucked compared to Europe untill 2007 when we went to ultra low sulpher diesel ( USLD )
The engine and the cars it was placed in ruined the passenger car diesel market in the United States to where people think diesel cars are slow, sooty, and unreliable, and the only affordable diesel cars for sale currently are VW's.
@Motorfordtoyota One of the worst engines ever to come out of Detroit. This is what happens when you take a gasoline engine and try to convert it to diesel. Instead GM should have designed a diesel from the ground up. My buddy used to work as a mechanic at an Olds dealership. He told me as long as Olds sells cars with diesel engines, he'll never be without a job!
Too bad they didnt test it out properly before it hit the market. The last 5,7 DX engines were OK. And forget the nonsense about problems "because it is derived from a gas engine". I know for sure that also VW, Peugeot and Nissan did the same and those engines are dead reliable. I had a Nissan LD20 in my Datsun Bluebird, same block as the gas engines. You can even interchange parts, a popular modification on 2,8 liter L series engine is to use the crank of a 2,8 diesel for its longer stroke.
This was a great idea but a poor execution. If these engines would've held up as good as the Mercedes diesels things might be different in the car market in America.
Just one more of GM failed engines. Who would dedicate to GM diesels in the first place??? I like the Duramax but that’s about it for me. Oh, just so you know GM decided that a V5 (yes V5) diesel would work just as well ,but to save themselves further embarrassment, It never seen a production line. Just visit the Buick museum if its still open.
What is with all the people praising this complete POS engine? If you're going to praise a 1980s diesel, then look no further than the Mercedes OM617, it made just as much power and got better mileage with HALF the displacement. Just another example of America trying to copy Germany's ingenuity... and failing miserably.
Had the fuel pump been equipped with a water filter, ALL of those break down stories wouldn't have existed.. It also scarred the reputations of the 6.2 and 6.5 Detroits.. To date I have NEVER actually seen or even heard of a 6.2L having blown heads, even with increased fuel delivery. Too bad, Imagine an America with (rather than Chevy Sonics and prissy little economy fwd 4cyls) We could've had Diesel rat-rods prowling the street! oh well.. Guess that'll never happen
I miss those big comfortable Oldsmobiles.
New Oldsmobiles are in early this year.
Oh my god turn down that volume! I almost had a heart attack! Great commercial , I love the break down of the 5.7 idi.
They had 21 models!? Those are some pretty sweet looking cars though!
5.7 Diesel is a good engine. Run the engine for 5-10 minutes before a run and change oil and filter every 1500 miles. I have a 1980 Cadillac Seville diesel (D-block). Never any nonsense and always starts. A neighbor had Olds Delta 88 in 22 years with 500,000 original engine miles, even in a mountain country like Norway where the 5.7 diesel is underpowered and must work 100% to not fall behind. Changed oil every 1500 miles and used the block heater in summer and winter was his advice!
Could not agree more, there are many Oldsmobiles still be driven till this day eight years after their final demise. I have a 78 and a 96 Olds, they are wonderful cars! As long as regular maintenance is performed they will keep going for a very long time.
Fantastic engine. Plenty of low end torque at stupid low revs, and adequate power above 40MPH. This engine comes into it's own on the highway. 29.5MPG at 60 MPH, and 27MPG at 70 MPH, in a 4200 pound car with the A/C on. That might seem low, but the damn car is a rolling living room. Beats the hell out of a modern plasticar, especially a Honda.
Yeah, the old 5.7s were perhaps the most under-appreciated engine in history for the masses, but those that ~did~ appreciate 'em, loved 'em. Take care of it, it'll last forever. Their reputation went to hell primarily because of driver habits and mechanic habits. Always let the engine warm up a bit before putting and demanding load on it, and never re-use head-bolts. The hardcore 5.7L guys tell me to use grade-9 (yes, NINE) aircraft studs, and dual exhaust, and never look back again.
Not meaning to be unkind as I am a huge Oldsmobile fan, I own two Oldsmobiles, in general I think Oldsmobiles were well built. But this engine has always had a poor reputation, and I don't think it was just a lack of maintenance that caused it. This engine ruined Oldsmobile's and GM's reputations because of early failures, especially because it had been considered a good brand. I have heard they did not design the top end correctly to deal with the compression pressures in the cylinders.
I've got a 1981 impala with a dx block 135,000 miles and it runs like a champ. Two transmissions and a injector pump gave up but it's still a daily driver at 30 yrs old. Just take care of it (realize diesels are much different from gas) and there's no issues. The engines demise came from stupid people mistreating them
How Cool is the Classic 80's Music!!!
Damn, I love these diesel cars. These engines started out too weak & they blew too easy. GM got all the bugs out by the '85 year, but by then people were burnt out on them. I discovered my first GM diesel in 1995. It was an '82 Chevy Caprice with the DX diesel engine factory replacement. I wish I had a barn full of these great diesel powered cars.
@sabbath7081 Odds are pretty good your speakers have their own volume control - I can't access them from here. If you read further on the description, you'll see that there's not much I can do about the audio quality. The laserdisc player required for these discs was apparantly dealership specific, and the only one I could find to even play them ended up with this audio. Which irritates me as well. :-/
Indifferent build quality, these cars wore out pretty fast. As for the engine, one of the most underengineered ever to come out of Detroit.
You'll be impressed by the mileage you'll get hooked up to the back of a tow truck.
Do I get it wrong or are they seriously showing a rusty oil pan on a supposedly brand new diesel engine at 1:43 ?
the later dx block engines were improved, but their bad reputation and lower gas prices put the ax to them.
Neat video. This was a cool time era for cars oldsmobiles best times!
@bmtimv Ours got 37 MPG a 2 door 1980 Cutlas Calais, today you have to buy a crackerbox hybrid to get that, ours was on the hwy a lot, good thing we had it, or times would have been tougher due to the cost of fuel with dad having to get a job so far away. .
Great video! Thanks for posting, a real blast from the past! Still got a working Lazerdisc player, break it out once in a while to compare and admire my BlueRay.Got a runing 1983 GMC Caballero (rebadged chevy ElCamino) with the original 5.7L diesel.Most people find it pretty wierd.Intrested in what people are doing with these engines today?
@alief54 Although the perverse quirk of any diesel is if you add any kind of forced induction i.e. turbo or supercharger, you get MORE fuel economy and power
If you actually know how to treat and drive a diesel maybe. The Oldsmobile gasser smallblocks (260, 307, and 350) were just about bulletproof with regular maintenance. The 403 was ok but not much more power than the 350 and weaker main bearings.
I worked in an Olds dealer in 83-85. The pumps broke by the hundreds. Yet we would see a few that would never break. I installed Targetmasters by 25 week. But for the time they were kewl to drive. Roosamaster!!
@oldsmagnet then they'd fail again prematurely because the headbolts were stretched out and could not hold proper torque. I've heard recommendations to find aircraft grade-9 studs to replace the stock headbolts. couple that with a decent flowing exhaust, and you'll get a pretty bulletproof setup.
LoL, at 16 years old, I had no respect for moms Cutlass, it had absolutely no problem spinning the tires, hung corners great too, took dad some time to figure out why the sidewalls were wearing, was taken in for quite a few alignments. I drove that car like I stole it, so I'd have to say they were very durable, the only thing it ever needed was injection pumps, bad fuel will destroy their governor weight, in 160,000 miles I went through 2 rebuilds. Wish I had one now.
If I may reply, though a year old, there was nothing inherently wrong with the design of the engine itself; like you said, they could last a long time. It was mostly a problem with the fuel system; GM had omitted a water separator on the fuel line, at a time when poor-quality (I.e., water-laden) diesel fuel hit the market. That was the main cause for the engine failure, because water won't compress the same way as a diesel/air mix, putting WAY too much stress on the cylinder head.
Pretty cool there olds magnet. Didnt realize they had such technology as they did for diesels back then. One thing i do know i am sure there are probably some original 80' diesel olds models still floating around out there somewhere because as most people that are car knowledge nuts(so to speak) know as long as they are taken care of diesels will last a LONG time...with some having mileage into the 250,000 to 300,000 mile range. cool video :)
These cars may have been unreliable but they were ground braking. Until then it was impossible to get 20 mpg in these cars much less 30 some on the highway.
So how reliable are these engines? I found a 81 Cutlass coupe that had a 5.7 diesel ford 2500 dollars, but my dad said to stay away from them. And what kinda of fuel economy and acceleration?
I don't know why GM didn't do a better job in terms of compensating customers fairly when their diesel engines died, which seems to have been a big problem. It became a public relations problem for GM, and a lot of people switched to imports after owning one of these. That said, the idea behind the engine was a good one- to produce full size cars that got good fuel economy. I happen to really like this generation of the Delta 88. They were better cars with gas engines, though.
I totally would have bought one of these new.
@Motorfordtoyota Totally depends on how they're taken care of - if they're started, allowed to warm up before getting a load put on 'em, they last a LONG time - but if started and hammerred on cold, well they die much too soon. Economy was great, 30 was not an uncommon number. Performance? Well, let's just skip that question, shall we? LOL -- Biggest trouble with these was head gaskets - they'd fail, presumably from putting too much load on a cold engine, and techs would not replace headbolts
@alief54 It may have only 105hp, but diesels have much more torque than gas engines, and torque is what makes you go.
The thing to do on these is get a water fuel seperator filter, head-studs, change oil every 2000 miles, and you're good to go. Oh, and if you plan oh putting a turbo on these, i don't think your engine life will last as expected
Those engines were not too big to fail. They made great boat anchors for small sea going vessels.
can i ask you something about the performance,coz 5.7 litre engine its big one but only produce 105hp thats so ridiculous,can this engine goes faster by changing parts by parts,or bring a turbocharger
great cars! instant collectibles!
Its really sad GM dropped Oldsmobile along with Pontiac. They were such great cars back in the days. Alot of people still own oldsmobile's. I see a ton of these cars on the road today. Even if GM dropped Oldsmobile, Oldsmobile will still be around forever to come.
Even though you have no spark plugs, no carb, and no distributor, you still have a very complex injection pump. Never forget that. I own a diesel myself (7.3 IDI) and I would know.
@Motorfordtoyota Should you buy a 350 diesel, you should be able to repair diesel engines. They require some maintenance, oil change after 1,500 miles and changing the coolant at least once a year. Always allow the engine to warm up before you put load on the engine block. If they are well taken care of is this a good engine with very little error. Acceleration is unfortunately poor, but the torque is okay. Consumption is good! Biggest problem was headgasket, this is solved with ARP head bolts.
Don't see how anyone can't like it except for high diesel prices and nvh, otherwise its alright.
If only Oldsmobile had put more thought into how the engines and transmission were put together. The GM diesel cars would've worked well for American drivers. One should never, EVER, cut corners under any circumstances. You never know when a person's life might depend on a car starting and making it to the destination.
@oldsmagnet Reminds me soo much of the northstars engine problems head gaskets.
these engines in the hands of diesel mechanics could be made to run great , but not owned by grandma going to church when its cold outside and getting her fuel from the local gas station down the road that didnt sell alot of diesel fuel, in the early eighties that is.
Nobody says the biggest problem with all early diesels in the US was the fuel. Our fuel sucked compared to Europe untill 2007 when we went to ultra low sulpher diesel ( USLD )
The engine and the cars it was placed in ruined the passenger car diesel market in the United States to where people think diesel cars are slow, sooty, and unreliable, and the only affordable diesel cars for sale currently are VW's.
Visit the site gm-diesel
Select non-turbo-charged-diesels
Select the Sticky: the 5.7 and 4.3 Olds Diesel FAQ thread
@Motorfordtoyota One of the worst engines ever to come out of Detroit. This is what happens when you take a gasoline engine and try to convert it to diesel. Instead GM should have designed a diesel from the ground up. My buddy used to work as a mechanic at an Olds dealership. He told me as long as Olds sells cars with diesel engines, he'll never be without a job!
Too bad they didnt test it out properly before it hit the market. The last 5,7 DX engines were OK. And forget the nonsense about problems "because it is derived from a gas engine". I know for sure that also VW, Peugeot and Nissan did the same and those engines are dead reliable. I had a Nissan LD20 in my Datsun Bluebird, same block as the gas engines. You can even interchange parts, a popular modification on 2,8 liter L series engine is to use the crank of a 2,8 diesel for its longer stroke.
This was a great idea but a poor execution. If these engines would've held up as good as the Mercedes diesels things might be different in the car market in America.
Good
man them things was just a gas engine set up by some yahoo to burn diesel that would blow a head befor you got to 30,000 right out the show room
Just one more of GM failed engines. Who would dedicate to GM diesels in the first place??? I like the Duramax but that’s about it for me.
Oh, just so you know GM decided that a V5 (yes V5) diesel would work just as well ,but to save themselves further embarrassment, It never seen a production line. Just visit the Buick museum if its still open.
Geez, Olds. Play some Journey or something. This music was dated then!
What is with all the people praising this complete POS engine? If you're going to praise a 1980s diesel, then look no further than the Mercedes OM617, it made just as much power and got better mileage with HALF the displacement. Just another example of America trying to copy Germany's ingenuity... and failing miserably.
Had the fuel pump been equipped with a water filter, ALL of those break down stories wouldn't have existed.. It also scarred the reputations of the 6.2 and 6.5 Detroits.. To date I have NEVER actually seen or even heard of a 6.2L having blown heads, even with increased fuel delivery. Too bad, Imagine an America with (rather than Chevy Sonics and prissy little economy fwd 4cyls) We could've had Diesel rat-rods prowling the street! oh well.. Guess that'll never happen