I must be nuts!
 

This is off topic but it is about a diesel. I came across an '83 Chevy Malibu with a diesel engine for sale in our local paper for only $200. I called the guy thinking that its probably a rusted out pile of junk but after talking to him it sounds like it might be in good shape and that it might only need a starter. I'm actually planing on taking a look at it tomorrow just to see if it'll be worth it. It won't hurt to look at it. OMG! What if I end up buying it? Will you guys ever talk to me again?

Be sure and take a camera with you.....

Wow a rare car if it runs, most of them blew up along time ago along with the Cadillac 4-6-8 Sedan deVilles.....

search online, there are sites for people into those diesels. I think they finally figured out how to make them last.

I thought I knew about cars! Never knew they made a diesel malibu. I guess it was the same motor as the Buick LeSabre diesel.

I don't think there a diesel Malibu was available, although the Monte Carlo had the v6 diesel about 1982. It's probably a transplant of some sort.

GM used a bunch of diesel engines back then. L4, V6, V8 cylinder plus the new 6.2l V8 diesel. Funny combinations, like you couldn't get the diesel in the S10 Blazer but could in the S10 pickup. I'd have to dig to see who made the L4 diesel. The V6 and early V8 diesel were just converted gas engines as I recall. The 6.2L V8 was a ground up diesel design by the detroit diesel group I think. Looked like it was designed to be built on the same equipment as the 454 gas engine. Later upped to 6.5L and then turbo'd. Then replaced by the 6.6L Isuzu/Duramax diesel but they had to put an Allison transmission behind it. Even the 4L85E couldn't stand up to the torque the 6.6 produced. (the old 700R4 couldn't stand up to the torque the non-turbo 6.2 produced) .

I have seen a couple of early 80's GM v-6 diesels and passed on opportunities to buy them. From what I recall the V-6s were OK (compared with the V-8s).

-But you won't find any spares in junkyards.
-You will have to live with the horrible build quality of GM cars of that era.
- Hope you like crushed velour seats

Rick

Aaah, the Chevy 350 Diesel...
 

A friend of mine had one in a Caprice. He said it ran well and got ~28 MPG until the bottom end of the engine destroyed itself and sent bits flying out the back of the car at 60 MPH on the highway. :eek: I think that happened at around 80,000 miles.

I think the 4 cylinder engines were built by Isuzu back then, but I don't know for sure.

If you go to look at it, post a full report with pictures. Those things are rare!

It seems like "350" and "Diesel" just don't go well together. Mercedes and GM both have bloopers on their records. :o

The bad...
 

I looked at the car today and I guess it was what you could expect for $200. The owner got a bad batch of fuel with water in it and never got it to run right afterward so he parked it. It stayed parked for 5 years. So now the car won't turn over, owner thinks the starter went bad. It has a good body (no rust) and interior (vinyl, not crushed velour) but the paint is shot (severely sun baked) and it looks like the rear of the car was hit bad since it looks like it has the rear end of another car because white paint was showing through the blue paint only on the rear section behind the rear doors. I has the 4.3L V6 diesel with 128K miles. I'm sure it's a rare car but it's too bad that it's in the shape that it's in.
It was not a very loved car, it has had three previous owners before the current one.
Needless to say I passed on this thing. I must not be completely nuts after all.

And now the ugly...
 

And now the ugly side.

Good decision-

I for one am always tempted by those "other" diesels (actually, I have a VW also). I scour the papers and net for the oddball Peugeot, BMW, Citroen, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda etc. But in the end, I'm too cheap to buy any of them because the repair/parts costs would be a killer. Well, maybe I would do something stupid if I ran across another Citroen CX diesel...

Rick