1980 Oldsmobile 98 from North America - Comments

The b-body platform is one of the best cars General Motors ever made. I can't comment on the diesel motor, but the G (Malibu, Monte Carlo, Cutlass, Regal)and B-body cars (Caprice, LeSabre, Delta 88, etc) were very solidly built cars, much better than the generation that preceded them and certainly more durable than the front wheel drive unibody cars that came after.

I have a 1982 olds 98 with the original diesel v8.this luxury vehicle starts instantly in any weather. installing a racor fuel/water seperator is the key to giving this particular engine long life. stanadyne additive is the other ingredient. I get close to 40 mpg. all things work on this car. pleasure to drive. it amazes me that after 24 years, it is so reliable and trouble free.

I have a 1984 caprice classic with a 350 diesel and I love it. I have put ARP head studs in it and I never had problem with head gaskets ever, I agree most of the problems with the first ones were the owners who knew nothing about diesels. I just bought a 1980 350 diesel engine that I am rebuilding for a station wagon. I get 30 mpg on the highway with the caprice, and your riding in a car that has plenty room for you and your passengers you can't beat that. I wish GM still made big cars like these with diesels. And I also own a 1995 powerstroke too.

I have had two 350 diesel cars. I only had head gasket problems with one and once it was fixed, it was fine. Those engines were introduced at a bad time, hence the bad rap.

I don't understand how GM can be accused of being the worst vehicles ever made. Compared to what, Fords? Have you looked at their history? You buy a new product in its first run you should expect some issues with any manufacturer, but buy a Ford and you might end up trapped inside and burning to death (see pinto/crown vic) beause Ford didn't want to spend an extra $10 a car, figuring it would be cheaper to let you burn. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'll take a temeramental GM diesel over any Ford any day!

82 diesel Ninety-Eight. All items work. Close to 40 mpg.

I owned a 1980 5.7 (350ci) gas Oldsmobile 98 Regency, and had great luck with the car. I can't speak to the diesel version, but my car was a fantastic car for just running errands, hauling all your friends/family, and long highway miles. In fact, I would qualify it as nearly indestructible the perfect teenage car (from a utility standpoint).

... in hindsight, all I can say is "my poor poor car"

The car was given to me as my first car by my father when I was in HS, and I then drove it through college... and if that isn't the toughest test a car can suffer, I don't know what is.

Heck I ran it out of oil more than once, and it just kept on going!...and lets not even talk about the off-roading, donuts (yes it will do it), or burnouts.

In the end I completely wore that car out, with almost 200k miles on it. And of course by that time, there were many problems, most of which I cannot blame on GM. I eventually limped it to the salvage yard about 11 years later.

In fact, I think the only "defective" issue I ever had was with the cruise control "magnet" that strapped to the drive shaft. It would continually come free, and I eventually gave up. It was a kludge anyway, as many early cruise systems were.

Beyond that, it was just normal maintenance and usual wear/tear on things like alternators and water pumps over 200k, which is expected.

And of course, like all cars of this era, everything in the AC/Heater system worked on vacuum, and as such these systems degraded over time. But they were easy to repair.

Plus, given the popularity of the car and its siblings, parts were plentiful and cheap at one's local salvage yard.

But this was really a great car, classy in its over-the-top "80's luxury" sort of way, and almost never let me down. Oh, and it was one of the last years one could actually work on almost any system in the car with a wrench and get things going again. Come 1981, the computers came.

I miss my 1980 98. It served me well.

Long live the 350 diesel! I have owned 2 of these engines in cars and love them. The first was an '81 Buick Century purchased from the original old lady owner. She said the motor started slinging oil around 60,000 miles, so she had it replaced with a Goodwrench crate engine in 1986. By 1983 most of the bugs had been worked out of these engines, so that '86 motor ran great until I sold it with 190,000 miles on it and I believe it's still cruising around the area. Last time I saw it was a couple months ago.

Second is my '83 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon with the 350 diesel. She has 130,000 miles and the only thing I've ever had to do to it was replace a couple leaky injectors. Runs like a dream with plenty of power to tow my boat. Also gets 24-25 MPG. Not bad for a 4500 lb 17 food long station wagon!!

Most people who bash the 350 diesels know next to nothing about them and are just parroting what they heard their elders say. I can't count the number of times I see someone talking about how they are "just a converted gas engine". NOT TRUE. They were designed off the Olds 350, but the block was build from the ground up as a diesel, with thicker mains etc. When was the last time you saw a 600 lb gas motor??

True, GM should have done much more R+D with this motor, but everyone has their bugs to work out in the beginning. The '78-79 D block engines were the worst. The head bolts used were not much bigger than the gas version, leading to blown gaskets and the main bearing bolts were not tapped deep enough into the block, resulting in broken maincaps and bearing housings. By 1981 they introduced the DX engine which was WAY better, with stronger bolts and deeper main threads.

Still have my 82' ninety-eight 2 door diesel and it's still running great.powerful, and runs all day. the longer I drive it, the more it wants to go.it's hard to park it sometimes. basically all I do is fuel it and add stanadyne treatment. it's just amazing the way this car performs after so many years with all original parts as from factory. of course, i always let it warm up for 5-7 minutes before driving!

Back in 1978 my dad helped my sister buy her second car. It happened to be a Cutlass Supreme with a 4.3 liter diesel.

We did have some problems with it throughout the years she owned it (78-83); glow plug controllers and the glow plugs.

It was then given to me around '85 to travel back and forth to school, and then to work. I owned it until about '89.

I had another problem with the glow plug controller. My solution was to disconnect it, and operate the glow plug solenoid with a momentary contact switch on the dash. This worked great as long as I knew what I was doing.

The fiber ring within the roosa master injector pump started to flake away, which then plugged the valve on top of the pump, shutting off the engine (because of the increased internal pressure). It was simple to fix, although expensive to have the pump rebuilt.

One plus was the exhaust never rusted away. In 1980 my dad bought a Cutlass Cruiser with the 5.7 liter diesel. There was a difference in power and problems. His first engine ran for 250,000 miles and the second for 150,000 until he decided to buy a van with a 6.2 diesel. His Cutlass had at least three rebuilt injector pumps, plug controller disconnected and plugs were controlled manually, about three starters, about three sets of batteries, dozens or so fuel filters, one engine block heater, one set of injectors, 2 sets of glow plugs, a couple sets of head bolts and gaskets, and at least one vacuum pump. It ran strongly for a long time.

I got rid of it about 7 years ago only because the body was falling off the frame. We changed the oil every 3000 miles.

One day he was running low on fuel when he got home and had accidentally put 5 gallons of hydraulic fluid in the tank. The engine burned it without a problem and the only way we found out what had happened was the next day he saw the tag on the fuel can that he had used; it read 'hydraulic fluid'. The 6.2 he still has, although it does have a blown head gasket, and he drives it every once in a while. I can't say I was a big fan of the Olds diesel, but treated the way a diesel is supposed to be treated, they will give years of use and good fuel economy.