OT-Is this car worth buying??

Uh, What"s his phone number?

Many of those rigs went to the car-crusher in my area with very little to no resale value. Now, there seems to be a bit of "revisionism" because of people wanting diesels to burn waste deep-fryer oil. If you are buying it simply because you want something cheap to drive - just keep in mind that most mechanics don't know how to work on it. And, even good mechanics are still often clueless when working on the injectors, injection pump, glow plug system, etc. If you are good with diesels yourself - that's a different story.

As far as economics go?? I just sold my 92 year-old mother's 87 Cavalier for $200. Rust-free, 67K original miles, with a four-cylinder gas engine. It got a steady 32 MPG on highway trips. Just a cheap little ugly car I could hardly give away.
That Olds diesel if running right can probably get a best of 33-35 MPG on highway runs. With the price of diesel versus gas (today $4.49 versus $3.37), the Cavalier is cheaper to drive. With the cost of repairs and maintenance, the Cavalier is again . . . cheaper.

My point being - if economy is the only thing you have in mind - quite often an older gas-engine car is cheaper overall - if you get a good deal. I know that in my area, good older 2WD cars bring next to nothing. I already mentioned my mom's Cavalier. We also had an 89 Plymouth Sundance sitting here getting eaten by mice. Southern car, not rust, 55K miles on it and it always got better then 30 MPG on the highway. We just gave up on 2WD cars where I live (on top of a mountain) and wound up selling it for $250 - which was the best offer we could get.

And, this was back in the days when 100K miles was tipping out on the edge of the known threshold. :>)

Allan

I always had to run straght # 1 fuel in the winter.Gelled with blended fuel 'cause of the smaller lines.

Get it serviced & go for it!!

I have bought 3 cars this way. Lates being a 1990 Olds skylark. At $500 bucks you'll never beat it.

Insurance will be very cheap. Only get comprehensive and Liability. No need for collision at that price.

Even if it only last 3 months you'll have saved at least on car payment. Think of it as adding life to your truck. For every month you drive this car the truck can last that much longer.

In the end if you do not want this let me know where it is I'll take it.

And, YES, I DID own one "back in the day".

I had a 4X4 1/2 ton picktup with the 350N diesel. That thing would repeatedly get 38mpg with an automatic 3-speed lockup. 3.08 gears.

Not much for power, but that thing ran on fumes.

Allan

My best 6.2 - in an 82 K10 4WD truck with 3.08 axles, and a four-speed manual trans with overdrive has gotten 24 MPG on a few rare long trips - and it barely has enough power to propel itself in OD. I suspect if it was a 350 instead - it would get worse mileage since it would be lugging even more.

You mention a full-size 4WD truck with a 5.7 liter Olds diesel getting 38 MPG. Funny - my little Isuzu mini-truck - 1985 PUP 4WD with a 2.2 liter diesel can barely get 32 MPG with a wind behind it. My neighbor has a Chevy S10 2WD with a brand new, turbo 3.3 liter DI Cummins and he has gotten 36 MPG on a few trips.

I would say that if it is working well now, it would be hard to go wrong buying it for $500. And while the diesel V6 was not one of GM's best engines ever, it seemed to work out better in the smaller FWD cars than the 350 V8 diesels did in bigger machines. The V8's were awful, especially in pickups where they were expected to do some work.

On the other hand, if it needs much work to be drivable, it might not be worthwhile. Good luck!

Actually, the 350 Olds diesel wasn't a bad engine once they put a roller cam in it and beefed up the bottom end. We had several. The problem was, the industry came out with EFI about the same time and got gasoline engines to getting the same mileage as a diesel, or close enough. EFI pretty much killed the diesels.

A nephew of ours had a '79 400 ci full sized Bronco, and he and my wife squared off at a stop light with my wife driving an '83 Olds 88 diesel. She smoked him so bad it wasn't even a contest. The poor kid had two indignities heaped on him. His own aunt beat him in a drag race, and she did it with a diesel.

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The ciera to the best of my recollection was a small car I dont believe it would have the old 350 converted gas burner that was so bad.

I'd buy that in a heartbeat!

Good luck with it.

Tom in TN