This car was my father’s car. He bought it new in 1985 as a retiring Oldsmobile dealership mechanic with 40 years GM service under his belt.
I have recently inherited the car due to the passing of my father. My mother passed in 1986 of a massive stroke while driving her new present, this car. She ran the car into the back of a police car at a stop light. The damage was only minor.
Just to be fair, this car has sat all its life in a heated garage and was never abused or driven hard and my father would buy the diesel fuel in a large 10 gallon jug and bring it home and run it through a five way filtering device that he fabricated.
I remember him removing up to a quart of water from only 25 gallons of diesel at times.
He said that virtually all the late 1970’s and early 1980’s GM diesel engine problems were directly related to poor diesel fuel contaminated with copious amounts of water and dirt.
The dirt particles would clog all the filters and stop up the injector and pumps, he said, while being that no engine known to man can compress water, especially a high compression diesel engine; the head bolts would pop off. You just simply can’t compress water and the weakest part will give.
Since the car was new the only repairs according to the meticulous log kept in the glove box were
10-10-85 RF power window motor.
02-14-87 new front clip and paint.
06-16-87 exhaust hanger broke.
09-18-89 rear glass replaced due to one heating wire element becoming unhooked inside glass.
10-19-94 rats/mice chewed up under hood insulation and wiring to build large nest.
10-24-94 two power windows replaced RR RF, speedometer starts bouncing.
5-14-98 a/c compressor rebuilt along with new water pump, passenger side mirror falls out of chrome mirror body and breaks on concrete floor.
09-14-05 alternator rebuilt.
09-17-05 transmission coolant line leaking-new fitting put on.
12-01-07 total new tune up at shop-all new belts, hoses, batteries, new tires old ones had only 14,000-miles-cracking, all new filters, fluids. Making sure the car is safe for the trip to its new home.
Father loved this car. This car drives like a dream. I drove it for 8 days in his town after his passing.
It is very smooth and quiet. It is a bit underpowered for its weight, but I am accustomed to driving my 2006 Toyota Avalon.
The diesel is actually quiet and very smooth.
The trunk is huge and the interior is very roomy.
The layout, dated as it may be as compared to today’s cars, is very smart and everything is very easy to use.
While going around corners the fuel gauge seems to move left to right.
According to Dad’s logs he got around 28 mpg out of each gallon of his super clean diesel that took days to gravity filter. He was in the process of buying and setting up his own biodiesel mini-plant in the back tool shed, but he got too sick to carry on with it.
He was a young 86 years old at his passing.
Dad also had a new 2002 Cadillac DTS, which he actually would prefer to drive the Oldsmobile over the Cadillac. The Cadillac had accumulated only 4900 miles in the past five years, while during the same time period of owing both cars, dad has put 5200 miles on the Oldsmobile. Also the Cadillac was left outside since new while the Oldsmibile got to stay inside.
We have donated the DTS to charity and when they came to pick up the Cadillac, the boys got confused and almost hooked up to and towed the Oldsmobile away.
Apparently dad got in a hurry and left the RR window down in the DTS for some time as the carpet is molded/mildewed and the back seat is covered in tree sap and leaves.
None of my four sisters want the Oldsmobile, so, I guess that being the only son, It will be my duty to keep this fine Oldsmobile and drive it at least once a month for a Sunday drive.
We will be driving the car from Iowa down to Huston next week and I will calculate the MPG and update the post.
"It is very smooth and quiet. It is a bit underpowered for its weight, but I am accustomed to driving my 2006 Toyota Avalon."
- Be smart & drive the Avalon!
Okay.
Re:the 3rd December,2007 review of Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale 1985.
My grand parents who lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan drove Delta 88s from the 1960s up until their last purchase, a 1985 Delta Royale-it only did a few thousand miles before they both had to give up driving in 1988-the car then sat unused until 1996 when my Grandmother died.The car then was inherited by my mother, who offered it to me.Unfortunately as I live in Northern Ireland, it just was too expensive to import and there was no other family living in the U.S.)and so it was sold to the mechanic who had serviced it.I will always fondly remember Oldsmobile Delta 88s-reliable and civilised old cruisers.
Wow, you have a super rare item there! GM ceased offering the diesels in passenger cars at the end of calendar year 1984, due to dismal sales figures. So that means that there were very few of them produced in 1985 models during the first couple of months of year-model production. Take care of it -- it's worth something to the right person!
Sounds like a very nice car! My parents bought a 1980 Delta 88 Diesel new and we loved that car. And I just purchased (in May 2008) a 1981 Delta 88 Diesel with 41K original miles, which I'm using for my daily driver. Brings back so many memories! I'd be interested to know what type of fuel filtration you have on that 1985. I have a GM tech training book that describes a new filtration system they were going to introduce in 1985 that had an actual water separator incorporated into the system, which they'd never had before, but since they pulled production in December '84, I never knew if the VERY few early 1985 Diesels had it. Does your 1985 have this system? Or does it still have just the rectangular box filter tucked underneath the back of the air cleaner? I just installed an aftermarket Stanadyne filter/water separator in my "new" 1981, to be on the safe side for fuel problems!
I would like to find an 83-85 Oldsmobile diesel. My parents had an 83 Olds 98 Diesel they purchased in late 1984. It had 17000 miles when they bought it. The only problem we had with it was stretched head bolts around 1990, this was a problem with the converted diesels. My dad, being a mechanic also, always kept filters changed and made sure we used clean fuels, we had a diesel tank in our yard. We had the Oldsmobile, a Chevy truck and a Chevy suburban that were all diesels. My parents traded in the Olds on a new diesel Suburban in 1994. To this day my dad still regrets selling the Olds. We put over 200k miles on it with very little problems. It didn't have the power, but that 98 rode so well on the highway. And would run forever on a tank of fuel. I'll keep an eye out for one that has been kept up over the years, something lost in time. Hopefully it will show up.
Loved your comments. I had a 1984 Olds 98 Regency diesel, only 112K miles when I sold it to my aunt. Engine was dry as a bone. Driest diesel engine I've ever seen. It still ran like brand-new. I drive Mercedes diesels now, which are by far superior to the old GM diesels (my current daily driver has 664K miles on the original engine), but I still love the sound of the Olds diesels.
After I sold the Olds to my aunt, the tranny went out, and she didn't have the money to fix it. It ended up ruining in a field. Still makes me sick to this day.
I also had a 1981 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham diesel. Super-nice old car. Sold it to a buddy of mine, and not too long afterwards, it threw a rod thru the block. Only had a little over 70K on it.
My aunt used to drive diesel Olds and Cadillacs back when you could pick them up at auto auctions for $200-$600, and the last one she bought was a 1983 2-door Cutlass. I'd almost give a limb to have one of those! Haven't seen one since the one she had. They were so troublesome, you just don't see them anymore. They're still conversation pieces, and a part of automotive history that should be preserved.
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