OT-Is this car worth buying??

[Ray]

I have a friend whose father passed away a couple years ago.He still has his dads old car setting in the garage.It's a 1984 olds ciera with 65000 miles,it's also a diesel.It's a nice looking car,his dad was in his 80's and was very easy on it.I know the olds diesel has a bad
reputation,but this thing runs great and they tell me it gets over 30 mpg.The local car lot offered them 500 bucks,and they said i could have it for that.I thought it might be something to drive to save me a few bucks.My pickup is only getting 15 mpg.

 

[amo]

have at it.

 

[Roy in georgia]

If I had the chance to buy it I would then if it didn't live up to expectations you could always sell it to recover your $ or even more. If a car lot offered $500 it is probably worth much more

 

[joe e-tx]

go for it . have it serviced,oil changed and fuel filter changed.20 or better plus miles to gallon and A/C got to be better than a pick up truck to go to work.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Ray,

I'd buy that in a heartbeat!

Good luck with it.

Tom in TN

 

[wolfman]

You could drive it into a salvage yard and make $130 profit!

 

[Anonymous-0]

I believe I would, even diesel being .75-.80 cents more per gallon if your going to be getting twice the mileage it'll be worth it.

The ciera to the best of my recollection was a small car I dont believe it would have the old 350 converted gas burner that was so bad.

 

[none needed]

not quite, if he paid 500 for it & its an olds mid size they only weigh maybe 1 ton & if lucky half, car bodys are 145 ton here so take that times one & half he gonna get 215 if he cut the converter out thats maybe another 50 & 10 each for radiators still out more than he paid in iron hes out way more than half.. i think all iron guys think alike haul it in & make killing... waste of good cars & tractors.. but u cant tell them that they think its money in there pocket

 

[Ray]

It's a smaller car, front wheel drive with a V6 diesel

 

[john in la]

.

 

[RobMD]

I had the old 1981 chevy impala with olds 350 V8 diesel in it. It had a heavy duty automatic in it, and 28,000 original miles on it. Beautiful old vinyl interior car. I miss it. Sold it to a guy who smoked too much marijuana and totalled it the next week.

 

[Anonymous-0]

500 bucks is just 4 tanks of fuel in my truck.. If the car lasts you several thousand miles, you are ahead of the game..

 

[Johnski]

I would buy it in a heartbeat. If it really is a FWD v-6 diesel then it's the only one GM ever made. Seriously, I think you'll find out that it's a Cutlass Ciera which would be a mid-size rear wheel drive. If the body is in good shape I wouldn't worry too much about the motor, it's an easy swap to put in a 3.8l v-6 if the diesel pukes. I would guess about 18-25 mpg from what I remember about these cars.

 

[Ray]

If you look in any olds book you will see it listed,it's ciera,front wheel drive with the v6 diesel engine.It's not a cutlass.

 

[Goose]

That's a V6 diesel that was designed as a diesel from scratch, and not a bad little engine. Besides the Ciera, GM put them in Buick Centuries, and even a few '85 Olds 98's when the 98 went front wheel drive. I'd grab it.

Actually, the 350 Olds diesel wasn't a bad engine once they put a roller cam in it and beefed up the bottom end. We had several. The problem was, the industry came out with EFI about the same time and got gasoline engines to getting the same mileage as a diesel, or close enough. EFI pretty much killed the diesels.

A nephew of ours had a '79 400 ci full sized Bronco, and he and my wife squared off at a stop light with my wife driving an '83 Olds 88 diesel. She smoked him so bad it wasn't even a contest. The poor kid had two indignities heaped on him. His own aunt beat him in a drag race, and she did it with a diesel.

 

[Anonymous-0]

My brother in law had a Chevy Celebrity with the diesel V6 when they were new. It worked just fine for several years and got excellent mileage, if not thrilling power with an automatic transmission. I think it would have compared closely with the Cutlass Cierra. Unfortunately when the car had about 75K on it, the cooling fan quit working while they were on a trip high in the mountains. Driving it out, even waiting for it to cool fairly often, the engine got too hot and went bad. It was very expensive to get it rebuilt, but my sister's kids drove that car for several years while they were in high school and I think they quit driving it because it got wrecked, not because the engine went bad again.

I would say that if it is working well now, it would be hard to go wrong buying it for $500. And while the diesel V6 was not one of GM's best engines ever, it seemed to work out better in the smaller FWD cars than the 350 V8 diesels did in bigger machines. The V8's were awful, especially in pickups where they were expected to do some work.

On the other hand, if it needs much work to be drivable, it might not be worthwhile. Good luck!

 

[Bill in Colo]

My Dad had one and it was a great car rode like a dream and got about 38-40mpg at hiway speeds to bad it didnt have a turbo.Nieghbor had one that lasted for 280,000 mile.
At that price I would be interested.

 

[Bob]

It's REALLY too bad folks have to lie like that about mileage... it really skews people's thinking when folks try to pass stuff like that off as "real".

And, YES, I DID own one "back in the day".

 

[dave guest]

If you never had a diesel, this is the cheapest one you are gonna find. Drive it look at tires, not much rust, go for it. I would, previous owner of 70 plus cars. Six right now.

 

[Walt Davies]

Add tires and ins. and what ever else it needs to run for a year and if you break even you will lucky.
Walt

 

[Anonymous-0]

Don't buy it, I want it.

 

[Allan in NE]

What are you talking about?

I had a 4X4 1/2 ton picktup with the 350N diesel. That thing would repeatedly get 38mpg with an automatic 3-speed lockup. 3.08 gears.

Not much for power, but that thing ran on fumes.

Allan

 

[Mike M]

Mom had one when new. Those had a bad problem with the back brakes locking up and you couldn't control it in a stop. That's about the mileage when the inj. pump retainer fails. It was a better engine than either our 350 diesel and even my 6.2 diesel. Mileage wasn't all that wonderfull. Better off with a 1988-1991 ? with a 3.8 gas engine. Those years made about the best gas mileage.

 

[Jeff-oh]

YES!!!!

I have bought 3 cars this way. Lates being a 1990 Olds skylark. At $500 bucks you'll never beat it.

Insurance will be very cheap. Only get comprehensive and Liability. No need for collision at that price.

Even if it only last 3 months you'll have saved at least on car payment. Think of it as adding life to your truck. For every month you drive this car the truck can last that much longer.

In the end if you do not want this let me know where it is I'll take it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

For that price how can you go wrong?Sounds great to me.Save the truck for when you need it.

 

[bradk]

I had an 83 Cutlass Ciera with the v-6 4.3 liter diesel.Got about 36 mpg.Injector pump ring started coming apart at about 85,000 miles.Head gaskets were replaced at the dealer i worked at before I bought it cheap(injector pump bad).Fun car to drive and went through snow like no tomorrow 'cause of the heavy engine in a front drive car.

I always had to run straght # 1 fuel in the winter.Gelled with blended fuel 'cause of the smaller lines.

Get it serviced & go for it!!

 

[Sloroll]

Our 1982? Cutlass diesel went 218,000 miles with very little mechanical investment (starter and tranny linkage). It liked long drives of 20+ miles and abhored stop and go in town. V-8 averaged around 32 mpg if I remember right. We drove it to the dealer lot and traded it in on the next car.

 

[Allan in NE]

You darned right!

And, this was back in the days when 100K miles was tipping out on the edge of the known threshold. :>)

Allan

 

[JDemaris]

Yes, the Olds diesels were real bad until 1981. Then, as part of law-suit settlement, GM came out with an improved DX-block 350 diesel. The V-6 version of the same 350 was also improved and I assume that's what is in the Olds you're looking at. Same bore and stroke as the 350 with two cylinders shaved off. The injection pump however, was not updated until 1985. If the pump is original - it's reached it's normal lifespan - but it's very likely it was already repaired and updated.

Many of those rigs went to the car-crusher in my area with very little to no resale value. Now, there seems to be a bit of "revisionism" because of people wanting diesels to burn waste deep-fryer oil. If you are buying it simply because you want something cheap to drive - just keep in mind that most mechanics don't know how to work on it. And, even good mechanics are still often clueless when working on the injectors, injection pump, glow plug system, etc. If you are good with diesels yourself - that's a different story.

As far as economics go?? I just sold my 92 year-old mother's 87 Cavalier for $200. Rust-free, 67K original miles, with a four-cylinder gas engine. It got a steady 32 MPG on highway trips. Just a cheap little ugly car I could hardly give away.
That Olds diesel if running right can probably get a best of 33-35 MPG on highway runs. With the price of diesel versus gas (today $4.49 versus $3.37), the Cavalier is cheaper to drive. With the cost of repairs and maintenance, the Cavalier is again . . . cheaper.

My point being - if economy is the only thing you have in mind - quite often an older gas-engine car is cheaper overall - if you get a good deal. I know that in my area, good older 2WD cars bring next to nothing. I already mentioned my mom's Cavalier. We also had an 89 Plymouth Sundance sitting here getting eaten by mice. Southern car, not rust, 55K miles on it and it always got better then 30 MPG on the highway. We just gave up on 2WD cars where I live (on top of a mountain) and wound up selling it for $250 - which was the best offer we could get.

 

[1936]

In a word YES!

 

[Chuck (CA)]

It"s a HORRIBLE deal. Not worth the time to look at it.

Uh, What"s his phone number?

 

[JDemaris]

That would be one for the record books. What on earth - was done to it? All the 350 (5.7) and 379 (6.2) diesels use the same basic Ricardo Swirl chambers, Stanadyne D-series pumps, etc. Over the years, many changes were made to make the engines more rugged - but nothing was done that improved overall efficiency - regardless if a D, DX, N, etc. The V5, V6, and V8 Olds diesels used the same Comet swirl-chamber technology as the later 6.2s-6.5s, the Ford-IH 6.9s-7.3 IDIs, etc.
The best fuel mileage I ever witnessed a 350 diesel powered truck was 23 MPG with 2WD, overdrive and 3.08 axle ratio. We had a virtual fleet of them were I worked years back, an most averaged around 19 MPG on highway trips. My boss bought three new diesel trucks in a row - and he kept hoping to get a good one (never happened).

My best 6.2 - in an 82 K10 4WD truck with 3.08 axles, and a four-speed manual trans with overdrive has gotten 24 MPG on a few rare long trips - and it barely has enough power to propel itself in OD. I suspect if it was a 350 instead - it would get worse mileage since it would be lugging even more.

You mention a full-size 4WD truck with a 5.7 liter Olds diesel getting 38 MPG. Funny - my little Isuzu mini-truck - 1985 PUP 4WD with a 2.2 liter diesel can barely get 32 MPG with a wind behind it. My neighbor has a Chevy S10 2WD with a brand new, turbo 3.3 liter DI Cummins and he has gotten 36 MPG on a few trips.