Oldsmobile diesel history

[Kestas]

The Oldsmobile diesel story is very unfortunate. Over 40 years ago I was working at Chrysler where they predicted their fleet would be 25% diesel in the near future. This was when diesel fuel cost less than gasoline, and diesels got fantastic gas mileage at a time when people were strongly concerned about the cost of fuel. There was a huge engineering push to develop diesel engines.

The class action suit against Oldsmobile left a sour taste with the public. Shortly after, Chrysler shelved the diesel programs.

As a side note, our company thought they could just make a few modifications to existing engines to make them diesel. With testing they found out that nearly every engine component required redesigning.

 

[4WD]

The Oldsmobile diesel story is very unfortunate. Over 40 years ago I was working at Chrysler where they predicted their fleet would be 25% diesel in the near future. Diesel fuel cost less than gasoline, and diesels got fantastic gas mileage at a time when people were strongly concerned about the cost of fuel. There was a huge engineering push to develop diesel engines.

The class action suit against Oldsmobile left a sour taste with the public. Shortly after, Chrysler shelved the diesel programs.

As a side note, our company thought they could just make a few modifications to existing engines to make them diesel. With testing they found out that nearly every engine component required redesigning.

The USA has too many lawyers and not enough engineers or business leaders …
Yet, many still support that …

 

[Opelman]

Diesels were abysmal in early 80s all around slow, smelly and more expensive. Also gasoline was relatively cheap.

Not all of them. The Peugeot turbodiesel in the 505 was a nice ride and cold started well. I ran a 50% mix of soybean oil in mine sometimes. Smelled like a grease fire at a taco shop. The Isuzu in their trucks, the Luv trucks and the Chevette were rock solid too and performed well. The na Toyota was underpowered compared to the others but was reliable. The Mitsubishi turbo was no slug and served well in the little D 50 trucks. Rember that there were a ton of malaise Era cars on the road then and the diesels could usually hold their own.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

Diesels were abysmal in early 80s all around slow, smelly and more expensive. Also gasoline was relatively cheap.

Back in the early 80's diesel fuel actually cost 5-10% less than gas so with the cheaper fuel and better mileage, switching to diesel power easily cut your fuel bill by 25%.

I think I remember that I calculated the extra cost for the diesel engine would have been paid back at about 50k miles and with fuel prices climbing every year like they had been, there was a possibility the payout time could have been even shorter. Of course the fuel savings never came close to keeping up with the money pit the car turned into.

 

[97prizm]

They actually did pass current emissions, even in Europe the low powered small diesel cars are becoming less popular and they quit selling them because of low demand.

That said it is possible that small foreign countries still use those mills (eastern, Europe, Asia) but I’ve never looked into that

One of the bigger reasons diesel vehicles are falling out of favor in Europe is to significant fuel subsidies on diesel. Diesel was significantly cheaper than gas for a long time or at least from many people I've talked with.

 

[PontiacHO]

Worked at a Chevy dealer (1977-1981). Saw more than one new diesel powered Caprice or pickup delivered with a “window” in the side of the block. The new vehicle transport truck driver scattered the engine(s) while loading the vehicles.

 

[hrv]

About as bad as the GM v8-6-4 engine mess...