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Originally Posted by Russell
. If you find one that has more than 50 000 miles on it, I'd be amazed!
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I own a 1979 C10 with an Oldsmobile 5.7L Diesel with 90K on the replacement engine. I LOVE IT!!!
Consider yourself amazed
GM produced the Oldsmobile Diesel 5.7L V8 from 1978-1985, it was used in both passenger cars (78-85) and Pickups (78-81), everyone knows the story of "The worst engine ever built."
Yes, The Olds Diesel had it's issues, I junked many back in my wrecking yard days..... The Largest being that GM originally used Stretch Head Bolts in them. Worse they never specified that they be thrown out and replaced when doing a head job on the engine, so GM shot themselves in the foot every time a tech replaced heads and gaskets. The Original D Block motors also had issues with the Lifters and main studs. This was later resolved when the upgraded DX Block came out (roller cam, stronger main webs, better crank etc.) and GM (after 3 revisions) got the head bolts right. The late style hardend head bolts are stamped with a "O" with a "_" (Hardend bolts and studs can also be purchased from ARP Racing). By then though it was too late The engines already had a bad reputation, class action lawsuits and trouble with the FTC. There are still quite a few on the road today with 200,000 miles or more on them. These are mostly all the Later upgraded DX engines but there are still some D's going too. The Upgrades and improvements came too late however, the engine was never able to escape it's bad reputation and bad press, that and the end of the gas crisis caused GM to drop all of it's diesels (they made 4.3L FWD and RWD V6 diesels also) in 1986 except the 6.2L in pickups that began in 82.
The original Injection system with pencil style injectors is based on a Stanadyne/Roosamaster Design that was used in many Ag (John Deere, Case, etc) and construction applications. It is simple, reliable, and durable. GM later went to the poppet type injectors and and added EGR to comply with EPA regs, begining in 81 in the passenger cars, trucks had Pencil injectors until 81, this resulted in the engine being "detuned" for 20 less HP and the EGR system was prone to problems.
The Engine in my Truck is a Goodwrench replacement motor that is the later DX Block, hardend head bolts and Pencil Injection. It drives great and averages 26 MPG on the highway, that is with the stock TH400, should be much higher when I get around to putting the 700R4 in it. It's easy to work on, parts are still widely available and cheap. It's no Powerstroke, Cummins, or Duramaxx but, it does what it was designed to do very well.
GM had big diesel plans though, they had been working on and planned to debut a 2.5L 4cyl Diesel and a Tuned Induction V6 Diesel for FWD Passenger cars in 1986. It's a shame that the 5.7L had the problems that it did, just as it until recently single handedly killed the diesel car for the american driver, it had the potential to have the exact opposite effect on american drivers. It's interesting to think about what diesel availability would be like in U.S. cars had it not been for the Olds Diesels early issues early on. It all can't be blamed on the engine though... Diesels were new to the american driver and many diesels from many manufacturers died an early death at the hands of the loose nuts that connected the throttle to the steering wheel. If you let them warm up properly and didn't put your foot into them below 1,800RPMs, and checked the oil every other tank of fuel, then they were relatively reliable, plus they had the best power to weight ratio of any commercially available (diesel) engine at the time.
If you really want to know more check out
olds-diesel.com, there is still a large owner base and we are fanatical about our engines
