Starting The 350 Olds Diesel in My 1981 Caprice

[automotiveDIY]

would love to have one of those motors to swap into my 97 1500

[moparmania74]

do you still have the engine? if so i am looking for one to rebuild and convert to run on vegtable oil...

[kiarra00]

@moparmania74 No, I sold it before I took it out

[Gibson299]

i woulda kept the Diesel for the Gas mileage.

[kiarra00]

@Gibson299 I did put a diesel in it.... 6,2 from Suburban... Roughly the same mpg, much faster (almost as fast as 350gas) And much more reliable than the 350 diesel.. Check out my video of the 6,2 running in this car. :)

[BuBoNiCcHrOnIc91]

damn it was smokin

[mrspivvy]

The idea was sound...the fuel shortages of the '70s were still fresh in everyones mind, and GM was trying to get compact MPG from a full size car. sadly this engine was awful, stretching head bolts and blowing HGs for a hobby along with a weak bottom end. I owned a caddy seville with this motor, a lovely car spoilt by the engine

[MarkPalmer1000]

I was a GM mechanic in the early '80's, and we would cringe every time one of those Olds diesels came in on the back of a tow truck- and it seemed like it was every single one made for a time. 9 times out of 10 the engines had to be replaced, with either a new diesel or we converted the car to a gas engine. The 350 diesel engine was overweight, underpowered, and unreliable. Mercedes knew how to build an automotive diesel at the time- but GM did not.

[DaBoogie049]

i would keep the 350 diesel just for the massive sound!

[kiarra00]

@DaBoogie049 I have put a 6,2 Diesel in the car now, and they have a much more massive sound than the 350 diesel, I have a video of the first startup.

[gunnlover]

these diesels were also sold in America but were extremely troublesome, unreliable, dirty and unpopular. Thus they stopped making diesel engines for them altogether a couple years later and went to exclusively gas v8s.

[cadillac350diesel]

Ikke mange igjen av disse bilene med 350 diesel. Jeg har min i en Cadillac. Går som en klokke!

[More350Power]

Love seeing these engine run, even if they are on their last legs......had a few in the family they were ok..... thanks for the vid!!

[gpzDave]

Nice video, but yeah that engine sounds like it's goose is cooked! :)

[05clenharth]

Only the yanks could make such an inefficient diesel!

[TechMaven]

@05clenharth Shall we discuss British engineering failures?

[05clenharth]

@TechMaven No thets not, but almost in every case in brittish industries that have failed, it has been down to the manegment not the products! we invent it, you mass produce it ;)

[TechMaven]

@05clenharth Agreed about British management They did contribute to the death of the Brit motorcycle industry,....But honestly, do you think the Oldsmobile engineers wanted to base a passenger car diesel on an existing gas engine? I'll put my money on the "Suits".

[05clenharth]

@TechMaven I would to, atleast it sounds good though

[Possumlivingdotcom]

@05clenharth Yeah, you're right. It's what, a 1980 model? And it's been pulling that 5000 lb/2260 kg sedan around (while getting over 30 mpg US/35mpg Imp./13 l per km) for only 31 years? I see what you mean. What a junker, right?

[Possumlivingdotcom]

@Possumlivingdotcom Oops, sorry; I see it's an '81. So that makes it only 30 years old.

[kiarra00]

@Possumlivingdotcom Well, the years doesen't kill an engine! the car has sat 10 of those 30 years, and it's been driven very little, only 100 000 miles and the engine was rebuilt in 1995, and it's worn out again, so they are JUNK!!! I'm not saying american cars are bad, I love them, I also really like the 6,2 diesel, but these engines you have to addmit, are scrap.

[Possumlivingdotcom]

@kiarra00 The 6.2 is a good engine. And of course, few engines can compare to a Cummins (I have a first gen, myself). As for the Olds, I have never had one so I have no real first-hand knowledge of them; but I know the gasoline Olds small block that it is based on is a great engine. The 350 diesel block is heavier and stronger than the gas 350, and it has the big block main journal size. It also has enough meat in the walls to bore .125" over. With a 425 crank, that gives 452 cubic inches.

[bigchevy80]

@kiarra00 The later ones were much better. I had one in an '84 Caprice that had close to 200,000 miles on it and ran like a top. Convert the head bolts to ARP studs and you're good to go.

[kiarra00]

@bigchevy80 This one was the DX, suposed to be much better than the old D, but I think it's still bad.. I have converted the car to 6,2 Diesel, it gets around the same mpg, it's almost as fast as a 350 gas, It's like a space rocket compared to the 5,7DX, and it's much more reliable....

[05clenharth]

@Possumlivingdotcom im not saying that you every diesel ever made by the us is bad, im a massive fan of the engines made by cummins, cat ect... it seems rediculous to put a 5.7 liter engine in to a car of that size! a comparable peugot engine from that era that is 125 hp and 300nm of toruqe is 2.0 liter turbo that can return way more than 30 mpg! now stop arguing, it was only ment as a whitty coment! sheesh

and in case you were wondering i am a diesel mechanic!

[mecanicman66]

umm sweet sound that engine ill need it for my 95 chevy truck where are you from i dont know if your to far for me to go buy that engine

[kiarra00]

@mecanicman66 I live in Norway, I don't think you want to travel roughly 4500 miles to buy a worn out old 350 diesel

[MercedesDieselGuy]

@kiarra00 They HAD Olds 350 diesels in Norway? They HAD Chevy Caprices there?

[kiarra00]

@MercedesDieselGuy We sure have. You can find quite a few old Caprieces here in Norway, but they are getting more rare. This one was sold brand new in Norway. Many of them were diesels, because diesel used to be a lot cheaper, only a little cheaper now. It's also very hard to find something like a gas Chevy suburban her, almost all are diesel and 4x4

[MercedesDieselGuy]

@kiarra00 I'm just a bit surprised that the Caprice was available in Europe at all. I guess you learn something new every day.

[japper902]

nice to see a new vid

[AleksFarm]

sounds almost like a 6.2D, how much torque do these engines really have?

[kiarra00]

@AleksFarm They are rated at 125hp and 300Nm, but that was brand new, this one feels like it has 50Hp and 100Nm.

[Titliest07]

thats a rare engine....be careful with it!

[TheConradChannel]

@Titliest07 It's a stupid engine and it's broken.... So i don't think it'd be worth him keeping it. They were a bad idea from the start that never worked right.

[SpiritsoftheWolf]

@TheConradChannel, i had an 81 cadillac fleetwood and it has a 5.7 litre diesel engine, it runs like a top, wish i never sold it