Until eight years ago; it took an act of GOD to get the truck division to speak not spit at the car division.
In the 70's - 80's there was truck (WALL) car, and anyone sticking their nose over the wall got blasted.
Here is a thread to look at.
http://www.cadillaclasalleclub.org/cgi-bin/user/forum.cgi?select=%2Fclc%2Fclcgenl%2F55635

I've got a friend that bought one of those GM 350 diesels. It was an Olds Cutlass I think. Like a '78 or '79.

I remember he took it to a local garage for service and they tried to charge him for spark plugs.

Took my gasser to the same place , before the above happened, for a tune-up and on the way home from the shop it started missing. Pulled a plug and the thing had been in there forever even though they charged me for new plugs. Showed the fried plug to the owner the next day and he threw it on the shop floor saying no way that plug came out of my car.

That shop is long outta business

Cheers,

Bill

I want a GM Diesel, in a Caddilac.


P E H

Ebay has two. Bet the competiton will be stiff

Cheers,

Bill

The Chevy, Pontiac, Buick and Old's engines were all different designs. The Chevy was the only engine to use it's own bellhousing bolt pattern and the others used the BOP pattern (Buick-Olds-Pontiac). There were also dual-pattern Chevy/BOP bellhousings that would fit all with two extra bolt holes unused. The Old's engines consisted of the 260, 307, 350, 403 and 455 with the 307 being the longest lasting and also only available in carburated version until it's end in 1990. The 403 and 455 had a taller deck height and larger bearing journals, but aside from that were nearly identical to the other engine and parts could be interchanged between them. The 350 diesel used the larger crank journal size of the 455 in a block that was otherwise a beefed up Old's 350 block. It also used larger lifter bores (same bore size as 85-up hyd-roller 307s) in both it's early flat and later roller versions. Oldsmobile produced diesel engines in 4.3L 263 CID V-6, 260 CID V-8 and 350 CID V-8 variety. The 263 V-6 diesel was available in Cutlass Cieras and Supremes from 1982 to 1985. It was also available in Ninety Eight Regencys in '85. All Diesels were discontinued for '86. The later diesels were actually good motors and it's not uncommon for them to get 200000-400000 miles on them as compared to the earlier ones which were basically junk. All the 350 diesels used 1/2" head bolts while the gassers used 7/16" through 80 and then 1/2" afterwards. BTW, many a Olds 350 race engine was built with a diesel block for the added strength. In fact, the Old's engines of that era overall are stronger engines than the other GM divisions as they used more Nickel in their castings.

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

I once owned an olds diesel wagon. It was one of the nicer cars I have owned that cost less than a $1,000. Had decent power, made a great sound and got good mpg. Unfortunately it threw a rod after I had it for about two years.

After I got my BS, I bought my first new car. With less than $100 in my depleted savings, I wheeled and dealed on a '84 diesel Escort. It was a carry over as I got it in June of '85. The engine was a 2L made for Mazda (I don't remember who made it for them in Japan). It did not have a block heater, didn't need it, as it would start with the mercury dipping below -20F. I did cycle the glow plugs twice and it did sounded like a 4020 John Deere, but it started. Let's see the GM diesel cars do that. I jump started a lot of gas powered car that winter.

My bare bones diesel Escort got 47 mpg on my daily drive to work; a round trip of 34 miles of mixed driving. When the ex spouse's car was in the shop, one of the dealer's loaners was a diesel Mercury Topaz.

I wish I had it back, as I got next to nothing for it 5 years later, when I traded it for Daytona Shelby Z. THANKS GM !

My Buddy in Pa. purchased a New(believe it was an '81) Cadillac Coupe Deville Diesel and kept it for 3 years--never had any major problems--though he never put many miles on it either. Another neighbor of his had an Ford Escort Station wagon around the same era(80-83)--The reason I was told back then it was to raise the EPA Average miles for their cars and by throwing in a few diesel motors in their cars they met this EPA Goal. The ford escort ran great and never experienced Hard cold weather starts in this cold part of Pa.(northcentral--allegheny mountains).

Are you sure that it was the same 6 cylinder?

Granted I've never looked under the hood of a diesel Maxima, but my first diesel was an '80 Scout powered by a Nissan SD-33T...and I'm having trouble imagining that engine fitting into a FWD car. FYI, the SD-33/SD-33T was originally designed for the Nissan Patrol (which never made it to the U.S., but Steve Irwin drives one ), but mostly made its way to the U.S. in mid-size forklifts. I had to go to a forklift shop to get parts for my Scout's engine...

Re: the GM debate...MM hit the nail on the head, and that's one of my reasons for boycotting GM products.

Cadillac Sedan de'Ville DIESEL! I know that I could be wrong, probably am, but wasn't 1981 the first year that GM made a true diesel, not a conversion. At least that's what we were told and that '81 Caddy was some more car. My parents put a TON of miles on it. The injector pump finally failed after several hundred thousand miles so Dad put a gas engine in it and it was never worth a "poot in a whirlwind" after that. I sure do miss that car. I drove it to my first prom. I can't remember the girl's name that I took but I remember the car. She was a cheerleader but that's all I can remember.

Kevin

In the 70's I didn't even own a car, let alone tools
so I didn't know firsthand about the GM Diesels. I was still in grade school.
I do remember a few years later we had a wealthy neighbor and the wife had a new Mercedes, it was a 1983. Her husband bought it for her. This was in the days when some families only had one car, and my Mom never drove, though she had a license. (Now I have 4 cars. Of course my 85 300D, I paid $500 for; my 1991 Volvo Turbo I paid 1800 for and my 87 300D I paid a whopping 2100 dollars. I restored all of them to new.)
I remember my Mom was kind of sad when ever she saw that lady driving her Mercedes out everyday, she was sad becuase she felt that it was her personal failure as a house wife.
Boy, my neighbors flouted their wealth. Trips to the Carribeen and the Bahama's. Country Clubs and Golf Clubs. And they rarely even said hello to anyone and their four daughters were princesses with two cars between them. Anyway their marriage ended in Divorce, the husband ran off with another younger lady.
Not that I am particularly happy or sad about it. I was gone one year later. I do remember 20 years later when I had to go back to my hometown 4 years ago to repair the family home and to sell it for my parents, I saw that lady still living there by herself, now she had an old Toyota Camry, and it wouldnt start in the winter, because the choke was stuck and one morning it was freezing, so I went over and fixed it for her.
Of course she still never said hi for the few weeks I was in town after that, but i dont think it was because she was being snooty, she was just cold from old age.

boneheaddoctor,
As phantoms has already pointed out, you are incorrect in most of your assertions. I use to race Pontiacs and had friends that owned Olds and Buicks. The B-O-P pattern transmissions will not fit a Chevy. Pontiac 326,350,389,400,425 and 455 all use the same intake manifold. The heads are interchangeable but the size of the combustion chamber and valves varies. This is pretty much the same story with the Olds and Buick engines too. Within their respective brands, Buick, Olds or Pontiac, the engines are basically the same, there is no "small-block" or "big block". Between brands, they are completely different from each other. If you don't believe me just go to www.summitracing.com and you will find that the intakes, headers, etc. all fit their respective brands regardless of engine size. Sorry to hijack this post but false information irritates me. RT

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

Nearly 20 years ago I had a chance to drive a '79 Cadillac Sedan with the diesel engine. I remember it being very loud and the engine noise just filled the interior. It seemed quite rough but it did seem to have OK acceleration but it really spewed out a lot of smoke when floored. The velour interior seemed to have absorbed the diesel fumes so it smelled like diesel smoke inside the car. A friend of my dad's needed to borrow my pick up to haul some stuff so I got stuck with that Caddy for a weekend. It was a nice cruiser and had a real nice ride but the clatter of that engine ruined everything. I'd been in a gas model of the same type of Caddy and you couldn't even hear the engine in that car and it was smooth as silk.
Not too long ago I came across an '83 Malibu with the 4.3L V6 diesel. Unfortunately it didn't run and it had sat for probably 5 years. It looked rough because it had sat for so long. They seller said it was running when they parked it. If it had been running when I saw it I would have given them the $300 they were asking for it.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

I'll check that later when I have more time. Because that is the first time I heard they interchange, because they are NOT the same engine................And lots of people I knew with those said otherwise......and this goes back over 25 years.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

No, they don't interchange-they have many differences including location of distributors, block deck heights, etc.(I've owned numerous GM cars from the early '70s and '60s and have worked on/swapped engines on most of them). However, it usually is a simple task to swap engines between cars in the late '70s and '80s because GM started to use many engines as "corporate" motors-i.e. the Olds 307 in everything from Buick Rivieras to Pontiac Firebird/ TransAms to everything in between. I'm partial to the Buick 455 personally-my brother has had a Skylark GS455 convertible for over 20 years(we have had the engine out several times). GM also made auto transmissions with BOTH bolt patterns(I have a Turbo 350 with both) that will bolt up to anything GM made. I wish that GM would at least try to build(or import) a diesel-I think they've put so much emphasis on big, gasucking SUVs and trucks that they will become irrelevant as a car company soon(DON'T LAUGH-I'm serious).

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1982 300DT 190K (Diesel Purge + synthetic oil=smoothness at last!!!)
2004 Ford E-350 6.0 L PSD 227K
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW HO Cummins 4X4 48RE 42K (brute force tow vehicle)
2005 Scion xB wife's rolling pop can
1993 GMC Sierra C3500 6.2 142K