the primary issue with the 5.7 Diesels came down to a couple of things: Insanely out-of-balance reciprocating mass and a mismatch between intake runners and cylinder heads as GM expended zero effort to help the engine breath, or not shake itself apart. A good friend inherited one of these and, because he's a machinist, rectified the issue by balancing and blueprinting the engine to a tight specification, and then ported and polished/match flowed the intake and heads. He had the fuel pump pressure increased and the injectors rebuilt to handle the higher pressures. He also added a 4 speed AT from a Buick Grand National and the results were, Franky, superb. He could smoke the tires through 3rd gear, the car was fairly quiet, smooth, powerful, reliable and returned around 35 MPG. If only GM had tried...

Deeezel

I worked for a Buick dealer in 1983. All the diesels that came into service were for oil leaks and it was always the rocker arm covers. They used RTV for a seal and mechanics would never wait until it setup before screwing cover down. We replaced many gasoline turbo engines because people would not adhere to oil change requirements. But never a diesel because they understood they had to change oil every 3500 miles. In fact, the dealer owner instructed us to change any diesel or turbo oil regardless of what ower requested if we thought it needed to be changed. He absorbed the cost.

More amazing to me than sitting since 2009, is that it was supposedly still running in 2009 LOL

My grandfather had a 79 or an 80 delta 88 with a 350 diesel. We could here it fire from a block away and always knew he was coming. This hits me directly in the nostalgia.

Happened to have closed captioning on and notice that when the diesel finally fires up, KZfaq's captioning algorithm labeled it as [Music] and [Applause] Very appropriate! 😄

I love the industrial sound of these old GM diesels! These motors were fine as long as they were operated in the right way but yeah, they were not really ready when GM gave them out!

"Let's open up the hood and see what we got" *Hood immediately slams shut

That old abandoned school is just the gift that keeps on giving.

I showed my dad this video and he enjoyed it. He was working at a Cadillac/Olds dealer when these diesels came out and went to the GM training center certified as a diesel master tech. After he opened his own shop I too worked on these cars. They were noisy, smelly but very reliable... just don't pull out in front of a semi because they were slugs on the take off. The loose play in the steering column is due to the four "shifter bowl" bolts backing themselves out. Common thing on GM tilt columns. You just have to disassemble the top section of the steering column and rethighten the four bolts. Real gravy job, I think the book time was almost two hours and I could do them in like 20 minutes.

Putting the EGR directly in the intake air flow was actually a genius idea on GMs part. Drastically reduced EGR temps with incoming air, and it didn’t hurt the flow of air on the very low-revving Olds diesel.

I loved this. I had two of those Olds diesels years ago. 1981 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, and a 1984 Olds 98 Regency. So nice to hear that engine run again. Brought back great memories. Sure, they were crummy engines, but I sure miss hearing them run! When I was a kid, that's all my aunt drove. She'd go to the auto auctions, buy one for $200 or $300 (super-nice low-mile cars, but low sale price because of the diesel), drive it til it puked, and go back and buy another one, lol! Last one she had was my favorite. Goodwrench diesel, 1984 two-door Cutlass. I'd LOVE to find a late two-door Cutlass diesel today, but I know that's pretty much impossible. Great video.

Fun fact: Before the Clinton BTU tax, diesel was less expensive than gasoline which is why in the gas crisis 1970's automakers rushed diesels to market.

10:54 come on son, don't be like that! go lay down!

Poetic that the song on the radio was "You spin me round" by Dead or Alive.

that engine block is one of the best gas engines GM ever made even thou it's set up for diesel. if you convert it back to a gas engine you end up with a very high compression gas engine made for drag racing and there highly sought after by old school motor heads me being one of them

"It really does have that vintage work truck feel." And enough torque to climb a telephone pole.

Non opening rear windows on 4 doors was one of GMs bright ideas introduced on 1978 mid size cars.

“Wait, how do you buff cars?” That look on his face while saying that, priceless 😂

Cleaning out my dad's house after he passed , we found fuel receipts. 1978 diesel fuel , he paid anywhere between 63 to 71 cents a gallon and gas was .71 to 80 cents a gallon. ( different locations) I remember the gas wars of the latev50s to the mid 60s . 15 cents a gallon for gas was the lowest I seen. We lived within 80 miles from 3 now closed oil refineries.

If this was Top gear and you had a preview of what's in the episode - "In this episode Angus finds a bicycle...."

In 1986, we bought a 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a diesel engine. Beautiful car, well taken care of. Interior and exterior were in immaculate condition. 4 years after that, before we moved out of California, we rebuilt the engine. (my husband was a heavy equipment and auto and race car cylinder head repair specialist). We got about 32 MPG. In 1992, a pickup truck ran into us and totaled the car. But we enjoyed the car while we had it. Great job on this video. So glad we got to hear that motor!

The early 80’s GBodies didn’t feature roll down windows in the rear. Only the rear quarter glass that flips open. It was a very weird quark for them

Every car I've ever revived had a bone dry transmission. Not a stain on the ground but no fluid. I didn't know ATF "evaporated"

Thank you guys so much for giving some love to one of the most underappreciated cars of that era. I'm so excited to see her all shiny! God bless!

Now I actually have something to look forward to on my birthday tomorrow Edit: thank you to all the happy birthday wishes it made my day

When i saw most unreliable engine, i thought "Huh i never heard of a diesel engine being unreliable" then i remembered the 6.4 powerstroke was a thing...

30:43 That....just warms my heart and makes me smile. I love to see unloved cars being enjoyed and getting the love they didn't get back when they were relevant.

My grandma had one of these growing up. All through the 80's to just a few years back the thing took her to church and the store once a week respectively, and with barely any work needed I might add. She's gotten to that point where she can't remember her joyrides, so we took the keys from her. Poor thing sat in the garage for a year and it won't start now. I'm gonna try and get it running though so I can donate it.

I can see it now. This week on Junkyard Digs, can we get grandma's Buick to roll coal. 😂😂😂

Back in the 90's I converted at least 30 vehicles to gas engines. One a diesel C10 with a 455 Olds. The owner said that he felt like it had 3 times the power (maybe) but what he loved was the difference in MPG 12 mpg to 18 MPG.

There is an adapter available that will allow the back windows to open. It's called a cinder block - unfortunately, it's a one-time use gadget and there's sometimes some leakage whenever it rains.

The letter you read was like the one doc left for Marty.

We had a big farm customer who traveled bought one new. Everybody gave them a bad rap. He put over 50000 miles a year on it. We asked him how he liked it. He said best car ever. Great ride and was super dependable and great mileage. Not super fast but back the speed limit only 55. Brings back some interesting memories.

32:36 I was waiting to hear John Davis’s commentary on this cars handling. The camera work reminds me of the vintage Motorweek episodes

Those were cool engines. I don't know why this just showed up in my feed but I really enjoyed watching you guys bring this 5.7 diesel back to life. I worked at an Oldsmobile Cadillac service department back in the early 80's. The 5.7 was a 350 Olds gas engine converted to diesel, (I'm sure you guys already know this). They were good engines for the most part. The most common failures were usually a blown head gasket or broken crankshaft. When cars were designed to last 100K miles, these would still be going at twice that, so a few failures aside, well worth the money and most importantly, led to the 6.2 true diesel engine design. (Cranks break in those too though LOL!)

04:45 yeaaaaa! mint!

For a diesel freak like myself that engine sound is a symphony that I can literally listen for hours

Those steering columns have plastic parts in them so I highly recommend puling the wheel and using non permanent lock tight on each of the bolts it's a one time fix and you can take it apart again if needed. If you let it go too long the plastic pieces could break.

So satisfying to see these old rigs just come to life. Thank you!

I daily drive a 81 Pontiac Bonneville with the 5.7L diesel and it’s a great car. I do keep it off these Iowa roads in the winter though.

"So the first step is gonna be check for spark"

Lay a gasoline soaked rag over the intake. She'll light off instantly, as long as you have some compression. Just don't let go of the rag.

I really enjoyed the part when you carefully moved all the broken glass on the passenger seat & put it in that handy space down the side of and underneath the seat. 35%...

Take the steering wheel off, inside tighten up everything under the wheel lock ring. Common issue the bolts would loosen on tilt columns.

I had an '83 Bonneville with the Goodwrench Diesel. That engine was indestructible. It still ran great by the time the rest of the car disintegrated.

Wow, This 1981 Century with 5.7 diesel is very rare! I have never seen or heard about another one. 1981 is the first year 5.7 diesel available in Century, and last year for RWD platform, makes this a one year only option. In 1982 the Century was downsized and went to Front Wheel Drive and only had the new 4.3L V6 diesel available. I have had many GM 350 diesels over the years. Weak link is the factory head bolts. They would break and blow the head gasket. Replace with ARP head studs and engine will be good to go.

Never surprises me when tires hold air between your channel Kevin and Derek channel they always seem to air up @Junkyard Digs @ViceGripGarage

I really wanted to see you wash that thing. It was buggin' me the whole video.

We had this exact car - an 81 Buick Century Limited with the poofy velour interior like that. The only difference was it had the 3.8 L V6 (gasoline engine). They had a small gas V8 as an option also. Very few got the diesel. We loved our car. It was super nice! It was so comfortable and quiet. We'd take long trips in it and I'd fall asleep in the back seat, it was so comfortable. I learned to drive on that car. Nice to see one still around. Hopefully you save it and take care of it. And YES - the back windows do not roll down! Only the small vents open. The idea was to increase rear seat hiproom for passenger comfort, so they recessed the interior door handles for the back seat. However I think most people would have rather had windows that rolled down and been a little less comfortable back there if you had 3 people sitting in the back.

Thats so bizarre hearing those noises from a stock 80’s 4 door grandma car !!!! I like it.

I had a buddy in church in the 80's his mom and dad had picked up one of these for a 3rd car for the teens to use and we used to back up to a crowd of other teens and floor it which I guess now is called rolling coal in a truck but we were doing it in a Buick Century with a diesel! I remember the rear windows did not even roll down they just had the power pivoting vent corners..plush velour interior and it was back in 1987 mint condition still...I loved that old car..we had loads of fun spewing out black clouds of smoke!

Yeah, they were a little underdeveloped before GM shoved 'em out the door, but properly sorted (especially a post-81 DX block) with a water separator and head studs will give pretty good service.

"it has pre chambers like a 7.3 IDI.. so it doesent respond well to ether.." Well tell that to ol´ slave lake.. ether is the only thing it still responds to :D

A friend of mine had one in the 90s. We thought it was ugly but it sure rode nice and was comfortable. Great video. Thanks for sharing.

I had a neighbor in the 80s who bought a new Cadillac Diesel for his wife, you could hear it a block away and we called it the "Cad a clack". He had major issues with it a year later and had a shop yank the diesel and put in a rebuild olds motor.

Ahh the gm 5.7 liter diesel I remember that motor my folks had one if the weather was perfect it had a 50% chance to start

I can neither explain nor defend why I like that car so much. Who doesn't want a luxury farm truck boat though?

Because of your videos, I learned techniques to get my lawn tractor from a state where it needed to run on starting fluid till it warmed up to starting right up as I turn the key. Still has work to do, but it's much much much better.

That actually sounds good. I had one with the Turbo-hydro 200 transmission. Switched it to the Turbo-hydro 350 and all transmission problems were gone. Just had to install a throttle transmission modulator on the injection pump-from a 6.2.

Dude for some reason you need to get that car looking good again . I loved when that sucker fired up and you only got one cut on your hand . Finding the title was awesome. See how miles it gets to the gallon. That blue is going to be insane after you buff it all out. Good luck with cleaning it up, it’s going to look great.

Love that car. Theres a junkyard outside of town where i live thats been closed up for years. Last time i asked to walk through owner was kind of sick. Its grown over but i talked to him around October 2020,he said theres 60& on up cars exc in there. Was talking bout crushing soon. I have the number if you want. Bout 25 minutes from Ames.

Thanks for the memories! Swapped out 100's of these to gasoline. These motors used the gasoline block and couldn't handle the stress. It was a gamble between when the head or manifold gaskets would go before the 50k mark (if it didn't develop a rod knock first) My favorite one that came in was an Olds wagon with a manual transmission with overdrive, talk about MPG!

I owned a 1980 Olds 98 with the 350 diesel. It was my grandfather's car and the original engine blew up at only 12,000 miles. It was replaced under warranty with a Goodwrench 350 DX block engine and never had a day of trouble with it after that. It would do 30-32 mpg without overdrive and likely could have done 35 if it had the 200-4R transmission that the later cars had. I drove that car in high school and college. It was a great car (but slow). It got totaled when a truck hit me from behind while I was sitting at a red light. The car had over 180,000 miles which means the Goodwrench diesel had over 168,000 miles without any problem and was still running when it got totaled and scrapped. I made a block off plate for the EGR and pulled out the EGR valve and cleaned the soot outt of the intake. Once it could breathe it felt almost as strong as a 2bbl 3.8L V6. 🤣

Please give this car some proper TLC, it's begging to be back on the road and working properly

I actually had a Oldsmobile cutlas diesel. Same color as your Pontiac. I put 369,000 miles on it and two engines before it caught on fire. You brought back memories

DUDES! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THAT PAINT RESTORE!!!! omg...

This channel is the the only thing that entertains me on youtube anymore! I live for these videos! For some reason my favorite part of this video is Kevin saying BUFF-IT haha Keep up the amazing work guys. I hope you never leave me

“Steerings tight” says the guy who just shakes the wheel up and down about 6 inches.

We had an 81 Olds Cutlass Diesel growing up. The back windows don’t go down. Lol. Rounded off the little oil pump drive shaft and the idiot light for low oil pressure came on at the exact moment the engine seized.

I had an 80 Cutlass with the 5.7 , bought it for $400 and put 200,000 before a head gasket stopped it. In `985 I bought a 1982 Olds Delta 88 with less than 40k and a bad pump. Rebuilt the Injuction pump and it went aalmost 300k. I put in an overdrive trans and changed the rear gear so it wound cruse at 70mph at 2100rpm, got 36 to 40 mpg driving from Pittsburgh tp Milwaukee. Had a third 82 Delta with a bad enging for $299. It had bad injectors, so I redid the pump for max power ( was told I would blow the engine, never did) and it qould smoke the rear Posi tires. We had all 3 until the fuel went from 30 cents less than regular to 30 cents more than 93 octane. Loved them as the were cheep transportation.

My parents had an '82 Olds Cutlass Supreme with the 350 diesel. That's what I learned to drive in. It wasn't overly powerful and did last a long time until the car was replaced.

Nice revival! Just a note, I've heard a number of people suggest that you change the fuel filter frequently on that system, especially after the car has been sitting. Fuel deteriorates the paper filter element and paper filter bits can clog up the injection pump and/or injectors.

As a GM guy I can wholeheartedly agree that sidepost batteries are JUNK

What a cool looking car, it's like a mini Regal! I can't even remember the last time I saw one of these in person.

I knew a guy who had one of these. We used to take it to go skiing and it was a great car. It was like 4 lazy boys with an engine. The trunk was so big you could fit skis and luggage for 4 people in the trunk. It climbed hills like a mofo cause of all the low end torque. It ran on diesel which was way cheaper at the time and it had a block heater you could plug in to keep it from freezing in the coldest weather. it actually belonged to my friends girlfriend. She was about 5 feet tall and could barely see over the steering wheel. We lived right in LA and she would whip that thing into parking spaces i couldn't fit my Ford Focus. We called it the Buickstar Gallactaca or the Battlestar Galactatub it was so big. But for ski trips it was one of the most comfortable cars I ever drove. BTW WD-40 works great as starter fluid on diesels. No BS!

Is that the same school where your buddies beautiful 1964 Ford truck came from? If so, that place is the gift that just keep on giving. Man I totally lusted after his truck. See you in twenty hours!

When you got the radio to work, that couldnt have been a more perfect song 🤣

It's like the diesel engines my dad's boat has, he hadn't started them in like 10 years and he started them and they fired off like he had just run them yesterday. We needed to make sure they fired because we were moving to a new slip at the marina. They are rated to be generator engines continuously running

In 1980 I bought a 79 Malibu classic with a landau roof. It was a great car accept for one thing. It had a 305 V8. And in those days the compression ratio was 7.5 to 8 which made this little 305 gutless. But it was quiet and road very nice.

One of my high school teachers had one just like this brand new. I remember it well. There were actually a lot of these diesel GM's in my area, and the people who bought them drove them for a long time, as I recall. Probably had lots of service calls!

I am also pretty well versed in G bodies. The rear windows don't go down because there is not enough room inside of the door cavity to accommodate the glass and mechanism. When I was a kid riding in my '82 I thought that it was odd too.

Total POS since new, thoroughly enjoyed the video ! Great work as always guy's. Had neighbors that bought a '81 Delta 88 diesel wagon, always had problems, but I think it was more related to operator ignorance. That family was always on the cutting edge and my family had a crusty old Plymouth Volare that always ran in the brutal winter weather (225). Almost got a Malibu new in 78 until we saw that the rear door windows didn't roll down. Stuff I never would have never remembered. Keep churning out good work, appreciate it guys !

I have a 1981 Cutlass diesel. My advice is to restore the vacuum system. Smallest leak and the transmission will not shift properly because they don't have vacuum regulator like the regular TH trannies have. Also windshield flushing stops working since it runs on vacuum as well. Mine still runs like new, absolutely no chassis noise.

I love that Angus is still wearing those coveralls. EDIT: Look at that precision ATF pour! EDIT 2: Cleaning the "excess" glass; how much is enough? :)

I remember back in the day my father had a Chevy station wagon with those windows but they were even worse because they didn't open as far as on the Buick and they were manual! They REALLY SUCKED on family trips!

I had a pontiac bonnieville with the 350 conversion diesel. it was bought used from a less than reputable dealer, and lasted for a few years..all the while with a serious issue, that being a failed head gasket. I know this because it'd pump the radiator hose up to high pressure from ice cold faster than you could run from the key to the hose. it finally started overheating (from pushing water out the cap, and no doubt consuming some in the combustion chambers). teardown revealed 8 broken head bolts, heads cracked in numerous places..and it ran and drove *to* the mechanic who reworked it into a gas vehicle... 25 miles away up and down missouri hills.

I had a Caprice with this engine, 5,7 olds diesel. Always started easily even in minus 20 Celsius. But was somethimes impossible to start when “half warm” and used ALOT of oil. Anyway a pleasant engine when running, a bit slow of course.

I remember those 80’s cars sounding like a truck and they had a different bolt pattern than the rest of the G bodies. Great barn find can’t wait for the next video

I love these old diesel cars. I was so happy to see a video like this for one of these. See if you can find a Chevette diesel or something along those lines.

I'm British. Back in 81 I came to the US for my first experience of America. I was a teenager. We hired a Buick Century 3.8 v6, my first experience of american cars. It had all the toys you'd expect for a rental but it far exceeded the upmarket cars back home. I was besotted with that car, as was my Dad.

Man, been a very long time since I have seen on of these Oldsmobile diesel equipped G bodies actually alive and smoking and actually running! Can’t wait to see how it cleans up. You going to fix the broken window? I had forgotten about the fixed rear door glass with the power vent windows!

I had a 1985 Buick century with a 4 cyl diesel. loved that car, 40 mpg highway. got t-boned and was scraped but I still have fond memories of that car.

You now need to find a abandoned Scientology church and do a revival of a abandoned alien aircraft ;)

I laughed when "you spin me round" came on the radio

Just a tip. The lines will self bleed and yes Ether isn’t good on those engines but you can use WD40 as a substitute for ether and being WD40 is oil based is safe to use in the engine and works just about the same

Love your video guys, put a window in that right side door detail it out it’s got to be one of the few still running on the planet LOL

I love that closed captions regester diesel knock as [applause] 🤣

Had a 79 Cutlas 4door sedan (slant back) that had the Olds diesel. Blown head gaskets, total junk. Bought a 73 Rocket V8 from a friend and did a swap out, keeping the starter from the Diesel engine. I basically created on hell of a sleeper! This car could get up and go. Only issue I had at the time was the fuel. A 73 engine required leaded fuel which was still available at the time but some pricks at some service station refused to fill it with leaded fuel. There was no restrictor in the fuel tank fill point and there was even a placard stating diesel fuel only. In the 80’s it was illegal to fill late 70’s cars with leaded fuel. Had to lift the hood to prove to the attendants that it had a pre ban engine in it. Luckily at the time most attendants were also mechanics and not some millennial whimps we have today. Wish I still had it today. Was a great G-Body car from GM. Kept the hydraulic brake booster on the car to avoid having to change out too many items, another item that I could not find a replacement for was the cruise control servo to work on vacuum system and the one on the car was incompatible with a vacume system. One of the last full bench front seats vehicles GM made.

My parents had the same car with the 283ci motor in it. It was a nice cruiser but had absolutely no power. Pretty neat to see this one in such nice shape. The diesel is an interesting motor for it to have. Looking forward to the detailing and see what you actually got. Cheers!