Can we Drive the WORST Diesel Engine 600+ MILES and TOW A BOAT!?

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That car literally sounded like a 379 Peterbilt coming out of that shed! 😂😂

THANK YOU for not gas-swapping the engine and spending the time to fix it up instead. Much more interesting and you did a great job showing your work!

I'm a mechanic in the military, and let me tell you, that startup after the head gasket repair sounded almost identical to a Humvee

In 1980, my dad speculated that gas prices were going to soar, so he bought an Olds Cutlass Diesel and the car never ran right. Besides the craptacular engine, the AC condensate outlet plugged up easily and would drain into the passenger footwell. In 1984 I got it into a car accident and after it was assessed, my dad had a conversation like this: "I'm really torn. You didn't quite destroy it enough. I could choose to not get it repaired, take a credit hit and let the bank repossess it or I could get it fixed and we're stuck with it." He got it fixed. Wrong choice.

Kevin=optimism Angus=realism

When I was a kid we had a neighbor, old Jimmie - he was a old school trucker that worked for CF. Jimmie loved diesels and he absolutely loved picking up these GM diesels for pennies. This was mid 80s when they were a couple years old but people were dumping them for pennies on the dollar. He had a couple and he always laughed how cheap he got them and could do a couple basic things to them to make them run "great". I loved riding in them, and watching his dog when he was out of town driving and his wife was riding with him. RIP Jimmie, you taught me a lot. I'm not sure if you were right about early 80s GM Diesels but you sure loved the damn things.

I still have a '79 Toronado diesel that has 160,000 miles on it, original block reringed at 120K. I'm surprised you made it that far with the pump going out! Back in the day my dad and I had a diesel repair shop and worked on lots of these. We always used the thicker head gasket whenever we replaced them to lower the compression a bit for durability but also to give more piston to head clearance as a common problem was carbon buildup that would do things like hammer the upper ring groove tight, knock out wrist pin bushings and even break cranks. This was usually an issue on city driven vehicles that didn't get up some highway speed and clean the carbon out once in awhile. A lot of times I'd do a service on one that wasn't running so great, take it out for a drive and pin it on the governor in second for a mile or so, the highway would dissapear in a cloud of soot behind me but eventually it would clean up, get back to the shop and it would be running like a million bucks. Couple suggestion I'd recommend is disabling the EGR valve so it isn't plugging up the intake with soot and run a fuel additive that lubricates the pump and injectors. I use both Diesel kleen and Lucas upper cylinder in mine. Great to see a few of these dinosaurs still alive!

Years ago my pipe organ teacher had a 78 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Regency Brougham diesel. At 120,000 miles it was on engine number 3, the newest and last generation of the engine. This was in 86. My car was a 78 Buick Electra Limited with the Buick 350. As close a comparison as possible. Same year, same displacement, same GM platform. The Buick used significantly less fuel, as well having enough performance to get out of its own way. The 3 speed automatic in the diesel is a dreadfully weak Turbo 250. If this has been upgraded, be thankful. I also had an 84 Delta 88 Royale 2 door. The trailer towing package came with heavy duty springs and shocks, the Turbo 350 instead of the 200R4. Without the towing package, you were limited to a 2,000 pound trailer. My 84 also had the "Gage Paxkage" set into that recess where you have the rear defrost switch. Cars did used to have significant towing ratings. My one of one 89 Grand Marquis had a factory 351W and Trailer Towing Package that gave a 6,000 pound towing package. My 76 Thunderbird also had a 6,000 pound rating. 71-76 full sized GM sedans could be rated with a 7,000 pound rating.

Anybody can get an old GM gas engine running. Only mad men would run an olds diesel. And for that, I thank you.

I am glad these 1h+ long videos do well, they are some of favorite content on youtube.

My dad had a regal with t tops fully loaded with the olds diesel. The original sticker price was like 27k. It blew a headgasket not long after he got it, my dad was resourceful, the block had puckered around all the headbolts and he (probably could) couldn't afford taking it to the machine shop. So he bought good flat files and filed the deck flat, he said he pretty well had to go back and buy every file the store had, but he managed. He done this in the dirt driveway over a weekend I believe. I was little when he done this but I do remember him working on it. Then it spit out rods, so he bought another car with the same 5.7 diesel and swapped it in.... I was just a kid when they sold the car but I remember loving that thing

Glad to see Angus was prepared for the worst. He wore his safety glasses with the side shields for the whole trip!

That phone call to Wyatt and getting priceless information that gave you a roadside fix in 5 minutes to get you back on your way is a perfectly distilled example of what the car community is all about.

As a professional diesel mechanic who specializes in GM's and Detroit's I really enjoy when you get these as I can never find them near me. It's also vindicating when you have to call for advice with them since I often have trouble with carbs and have to refer to your videos. We are all good at different things! Sorry Angus but I want to see more diesels, Maybe a 1980's VW diesel soon? Those make the 5.7L Oldsmobile look like a powerhouse.

I should hope so! I towed a corvette on a car trailer from Montery, CA to LA over Tejon Summit in July behind a 1979 Cad Seville with an Oldsmobile diesel in it. Rules for this diesel were: 1. Replace head gaskets at about 60K, 2. Replace head gaskets and injector pump at 120K, 3. Change oil every 3K. Nothing else went wrong, except for belts and hoses. Drove that car for 300K miles. PS We owned 2 more Cad Diesels during from 1988 through 2004. My mother drove an 81 Sedan De Ville and l also bought a 79 El Dorado. That one had an extra fuel tank in the trunk, so it could hold enough for a 1K Mile RT to LA/OC from the Monterey Peninsula: It ran at about 30 mog average at 65 mph.

Funny thing with the towing: here in Europe, especially in Germany, most of the towing happens by regular cars. Sure, there are Vans, Rangers and some Rams towing stuff but the vast majority happens by regular cars. Maybe because many people only have that one car as a daily grocery getter for the family and don´t have the fortune of having a yard full of alternatives ;)

I love these episodes with the Olds Diesel. So rare now and a flashback to a time GM would like to forget. Keep em coming, someone has to keep these old engine alive.

Lol Angus' casual suggestion of towing the boat home with the skid loader. 380 miles of backroads would be quite the video

I've read several big issues on these diesels when they came out... 1) Around 1980 there was a fuel shortage, and apparently it was much more common than average to end up with water in your diesel. There was a procedure for this on them, but you know, it left a bad impression when someone bought it and then ran into fuel problems. 2) I've read the dealerships often just didn't know what to do with them in terms of service and repair. (That's in addition to it being a bad engine -- it's a gas 350 converted to diesel. And slow as hell.)