Anyone here own one of the older GM diesels?

Interesting. Never knew that model came with a diesel.

I had a Celebrity Eurosport wagon i drove into the ground for work,great car. I never heard of the diesel option before. I worked on an olds diesel back then - was just a gas motor switched to diesel so it blew head gaskets left and right. Horrendous cheap design!

There's probably been a diesel version of everything running around Europe. Once in a while they brought one here. 0-60 mph on that one was probably 6.8 days.

I only remember a V8 diesel version.

I got to know the chief engineer of GM in the early 1980s because I was on a fund raising committee which he was the chairman of.
He told me the diesel version of the gasoline Chevy 350 V8 had turned out to be “Dead Reliable“ (his words) in their extensive pre production testing.

I knew several people who bought vehicles with those early diesels and my memory is they all had fuel injection pump problems which the GM dealerships blamed on “dirty diesel fuel”. The first Racor fuel filter I ever saw was retrofitted to one of those GM diesels.

In the 1990s I was helping to disassemble a four bay metal building previously used as a truck repair garage. There was a dusty V8 engine over in one spot that I was told was a gasoline International Harvester V8, the “original design” of the V8 that IH turned into the diesel V8 that did so well in Ford F250 pickups.

The diesel that got my attention was the air cooled Deutz on portable “trash pumps”.
Took a lickin and kept on tickin.
I once seriously thought about converting a railroad switching locomotive to being run with two of those engines installed like Ferdinand Porsche’s U Boat drive system.

i worked at a GM dealer body shop when those cars were sold new.
didn't know they made a diesel motor for them. i do remember the chevette diesel motors.

i did replace a significant amount of door shells under rust repair warranty on them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Diesel_engine

sample quote

The later 4.3-liter V6 engine, which arrived for the 1982 model year, did not have the same problems as the V8. The V6 has a denser bolt pattern and Oldsmobile's engineers were given more time to develop and test it.[2] General Motors also carried out several redesigns of the V8's heads, bolts, and various other parts, but by the time the engine was trouble-free the damage had already been done. While customer complaints started dropping off after 1981, sales did too: diesels sold 43 percent less in 1982.[4] The downward sales slide continued, not helped by stricter emissions standards - for the 1984 model year the Diesel V8 was no longer offered in California for that very reason.[8] By 1985 the Oldsmobile Diesel engines were finally discontinued.[9] A class action lawsuit eventually forced General Motors to pay up to 80 percent of the costs of new engines. Used car price guides have always indicated much lower prices for diesel-engined cars and they remain undesirable in the collector's market.[9] A large number of cars simply had their broken diesels replaced with conventional gasoline engines.
Although the engines were unreliable because of the head and problems with the ancillaries, the Oldsmobile diesels' strong blocks continue to see use in gasoline-powered race engines.

end quote

GM singlehandedly killed the passenger car diesel market in this country. It never really got a foothold here like it did in Europe.

I worked at an Olds/ Cadillac dealer back in the day, a new V6 diesel Ciera hit the lot...and never left. It never sold, got pressed into service as a courtesy/ title runner/ support car. Never left the dealership. I drove it a couple times and it was not an OK car.
Back when I was a syndicated automotive writer I interviewed a GM engineer when they were preparing the Impact/ EV1 electric car. I asked him about R&D and release date, and he gave me the most unfiltered quote I have ever gotten from anyone at any automaker: "We (GM) killed the diesel in America. We do not want to be the company that kills the electric car". I quoted him but mercifully left his name off the story.

Worked at a huge dealer outside of Chi and only worked on/seen one diesel Celeb. Seen oddball things such as floor shifted stick astro vans though....,

I sold new Oldsmobiles in 1984-85 and remember seeing only one Diesel. It was either a Cutlass Calais or Cutlass Ciera. It had a 'wait' light if the engine temperature was cold.

100% agree.

Good for them, I had no idea such a car existed. I bet with overdrive that thing would do 60mpg.

Of all things I hate Blunder Motors for, I give them credit for light diesels. If they hadn't started the ball rolling and made a diesel half-ton, there would be no such thing as Ford or Dodge diesels. They also never gave up and used their resources at Detroit Diesel the best they could.

The 6.2 with overdrive transmission was a game-changer. They were not the most reliable but they easily got double the fuel mileage of 350, 351 or 360's. It paid to own one back then.

That V6 diesel was made at the Lansing Delta engine plant for the couple years it existed. As suggested, the V8 issues really hurt the chances of the V6 having any success. The primary vehicles the V6 was offered in were the Cierra/Celebrity/Century/6000 series cars. Interestingly, I started working at the Lansing Oldsmobile Division engine design group in 1985......just as this engine was being phased out.

I love the old diesel trucks, and the motors from that time period they got a bad rap imo. Hell I even had early 80-s a V8 diesel Coupe DeVille, replaced my 1977 CDV that had the 425 gasser.

Best caddy I ever owned and the diesel part was never an issue.

In the 80's I went along with my dad as he shopped for a used station wagon and one of them was a blue malibu wagon with a diesel. I still remember how loud it was lol, we ended up with a brown 1985 Caprice classic wagon with woodgrain and a 305

I had a 6.2 diesel half-ton early -mid '80's 2WD Suburban as a tow vehicle for my Plymouth-based Enduro-class clay oval stock car. It was completely trouble-free for the 4 years I owned it and got great fuel economy. And towed my race car with ease.

I had a friend that had a 83 Monte Carlo with the 4.3L diesel. Every car he owned he would put glass packs on and beat the hell out of it.
It was a dog, got good fuel economy, and was the only car of many, that actually survived his ownership.

Enuff chit-chat ...,, I wanna see some action ....

Grizzzzz and. PoeTOEx (now labeled PC) racing eachother with Generous Motors clunker diesels

My sons grade school teacher had a diesel Citation. Never knew they made such a thing, and never seen one since. A guy here in town has a diesel D-50, stinky as hell, but he really likes it.