1981 Chevrolet Caprice 5.7 OLDSMOBILE DIESEL

JohnDeereFarm · Feb 18, 2012

Now I know that this may be on the wrong forum, but I have a 1981 Chevrolet Caprice that have the 5.7 Oldsmobile Diesel. I was wondering in 1981, how many new diesel Caprices cars were sold that year? The caprice that I have as been in the family since it new. I even have the original window sticker with a price of $ 11,328.72 . It has almost every option on it, even the GM CB radio, which was a $ 400.00 option. The diesel engine was an $ 700.00 option back in 1981. The diesel has never had a head gasket repair or an engine swap. Everything has match numbers because I also found the inspection paper that either the factor person inspected or the person at the dealership inspected. This car really turns heads and every time that I pull into the filling station, someone always comment on the diesel. This a beautiful car and all original!!!

Case485Guy · Feb 18, 2012

I think you have jewel in the rough. You have from what I understand a 350 gasser, converted to diesel. You either had a good one or bad one. Most got around the 30 mpg mark from what I remember. It was gas block converted diesel and the diesel compression was what hurt it.
Give it to your kids, they will make money on it.

rsewill · Feb 18, 2012

Could be a collectible since most of the Diesels hit the scrap yard within 10 years.

Bird · Feb 18, 2012

We heard lots of bad things about the 5.7 diesel, but one of my brothers and one of my wife's brothers each had one with no problems. The only complaint my brother-in-law had was when his had way over 100k miles on it and he decided he wanted a new car, they didn't want to give him anything in trade for that Olds.:laughing:

JESSE1 · Feb 18, 2012

We had an '81 Buick Riviera with the Olds diesel. The car would get 28 mpg but with only 120 hp it took a while to get up to speed. Only problem we had was with the injection pump.

The 6.2 diesel I had in an '82 GMC was a different story. I took delivery on a new '82 GMC 2500 in October '81. By December '81 it had blown two head gaskets. I traded it for an '82 GMC 3500 dually and within a year it had blown two headgaskets and cracked a head. I traded that truck before the warranty ran out for an '85 Ford with the 6.9 diesel. It was trouble-free for the entire time I owned it.

JohnDeereFarm · Feb 18, 2012

This block isn't a 350 gasser converted to diesel. The engines were quite different. Different bore sizes. The place where I got my info was off wikipedia. I laugh at some of these new cars today that get in the 20's in mpg, because this one gets 28 mpg in the city and 35 on the highway. This car has had 3 owners, but the last name has never changed. My uncle bought it brand new in 1981 and babied the car, then for a high school graduation, he gave the car to his son in 1995 then bought it back in 2005. Then it sat for five years in the barn. Then in summer of 2010, my uncle gave it to me with just the sign over of the title. I am twenty years old and the car will always stay in the family and will always be babied. This looks almost like it did brand new at the dealership 31 years ago.

Reg · Feb 18, 2012

My son had one, no problems.
I worked with a guy who had one, same story no problems.

It seems to be the same with everyone I have actually come into contact with who has actually had one themselves, they were good klattermotors (-:
The urban legend was that they were junk, but I think it was just that.

Every time I think I've seen the last of them it seems SOMEBODY still has one.

You might have a collectible, or there may be a disappointing (for you) number of them still around.
Either way, I would stick with it.

newt92 · Feb 18, 2012

JohnDeereFarm said:
This block isn't a 350 gasser converted to diesel. The engines were quite different. Different bore sizes. The place where I got my info was off wikipedia. I laugh at some of these new cars today that get in the 20's in mpg, because this one gets 28 mpg in the city and 35 on the highway. This car has had 3 owners, but the last name has never changed. My uncle bought it brand new in 1981 and babied the car, then for a high school graduation, he gave the car to his son in 1995 then bought it back in 2005. Then it sat for five years in the barn. Then in summer of 2010, my uncle gave it to me with just the sign over of the title. I am twenty years old and the car will always stay in the family and will always be babied. This looks almost like it did brand new at the dealership 31 years ago.

Throw some pics up of it, would like to see it!!! I agree, keep it in the family!!

Diamondpilot · Feb 18, 2012

They were hit or miss. I knew a farmer when I was a kid that had one. It was a problem child but he was able to keep it running since he was a farmer and worked on tractors all his life.

The thing I remember was it was a pig. I would not hold gear with the AC on because it was so underpowered. My EX FIL had a GM truck with a diesel also, not sure if it was a 5.7 or a 6.2 but same story. He could not pass anything with it and eventually swapped it for a 350 Gasser. Still has that truck.

Chris

timswi · Feb 18, 2012

I worked on a Caddy for a guy with one of those diesels...It only needed general maintenance ... He ran that to almost 250K before he traded it in..That thing was a 2 door boat, but a beautiful car..I thought it ran OK for what it was.

I had an '89 3/4 ton 4x4 Suburban with a 6.2 Diesel..Never had any problems except a few glow plugs and a water pump (that was a nightmare compared to a gas replacement)..It wasn't fast, but a decent running truck. If someone wouldn't have talked me into selling it to him, I'd probably still have it..Loved that thing.