I found a sweet older wagon

[Craigrrr]

Olds custom cruiser guy has 2 of them one is a 1989 this one has the 5.0 liter or 307 motor the other is 1981Oldsmobile Diesel Wagon. It has a 5.7 liter Diesel Both I would love to have. Any thought on towing a 2720sd TM with either of those boats?

[mecicon]

The GM diesels in Oldsmobile were notoriously horrible, I would tow with the 1989 Olds P35 (model designation in the VIN) over the 1981 diesel.

[Craigrrr]

Thanks good to know! I never heard of them to have a diesel till today. Lol
but now I know to stay clear of it.

[br2_wdc]

Originally Posted by mecicon

The GM diesels in Oldsmobile were notoriously horrible ...

Appears "horrible" might be an understatement!


Hot Rod back in 2004 called the 350 Olds Diesel one of the "worst engines of all time"

OLDSMOBILE 350 DIESEL

The GM Corporate partners shared the grief associated with its diesel debacle of the early '80s. More often considered an Oldsmobile motor, this converted gasoline engine was used throughout the GM family, and even found its way into top-of-the-line Cadillacs, with disastrous results. Failures were commonplace, often including internal engine components. At the time, mechanics and service writers referred to warrantee repair orders as "A.F.A." - or Automatic Factory Acceptance, and each respective franchise had mountains of repair orders related to the 350 cid diesel.

http://www.hotrod.com/features/0408p...obile-engines/

[TrailManorMan]

Back in the day, i towed with a 1979 chevy caprice wagon , gas v8, actually pulled a 29 ft tt bunkouse, mileage was about 9 mpg, towed fine and that trailer was before they made lightweights !

[Craigrrr]

So glad I asked. I never knew that, but then back then I was not into anything diesel still not today for that matter. I think I will stick to the gassers

Maybe a 1996 Buick Roadmaster with the LT1 engine

[Padgett]

OTOH a live diesel that wasn't re-engined with an Olds 350 gas engine and is still running is a definite collectors item (and if it did receive the Olds 350 gas engine that is far superior to the 307. I'd take the diesel today in a New York minute.

I can think of worse engines (copper cooled chevvy) but no other that singlehandedly destroyed the diesel market in this country for a generation.

ps no one mentioned the LT1 distributer issue ? Have a friend with a Roadmaster who has been through four or five.

pps the problem was a combo of bad diesel and no water separator. The water caused a cylinder lock and kablewie. Add to that the fact that the Olds 350 was a very modern engine but lacked all of the block ridgidity of a diesel so a kablewie usually involved a broken crank (could break those cranks by dropping them).

p3s I used to tow with a Pontiac 400/4bbl and a THM400 through a 3.08 posi. 12.5 mpg on 87 PON towing or with AC on or 15 without. Like most cars of the time this was an "economy" axle and was turning 3,000 rpm at 70 mph. Won tow car races.

[tentcamper]

The 350 Diesel was a POS, Lot's of class action law suites. GM rated them for "NO TOWING". Weak head gaskets, crappy fuel injector system and the transmission would not hold up. Not a true diesel, just a re-tooled olds 350 gas engine. But the good news is when running good you would get 29 mpg at 63 mpg. Ask me how I know.

[ChefLamont]

Oh man, I had almost forgotten about that engine (repressed?). What a piece of junk. The engineer that thought it was a good idea to just convert a gas engine over to diesel should have been publicly flogged. I keep my sanity by believing it was an accountant looking to be "economical with design budget" that forced that on the market. Any engineer with an ounce of understanding of engine design would never think it was a good idea.

[tentcamper]

Some people say that engine suppressed the diesel auto market 20 years. It was not until people could forget about that engine that the market could start to develop.