Located in Wichita, Kansas, the 1986 GMC Caballero is for sale here on craigslist for a price of $12,000. The Caballero was the GMC version of the Chevrolet El Camino. The car is painted in two-tone blue and is fitted with its factory wheels and whitewall tires. The seller states that the car has approximately 150,000 miles on the odometer. We appreciate Mitchell G. bringing this car to our attention.
While there is not a lot of information on diesel equipped GMC Caballeros, this one was apparently built with the Oldsmobile 5.7 liter diesel engine that was notorious for having bad head bolts. The engine was also installed without a water separator for the fuel system which caused reliability problems. However, hotrodders love the 350 cubic inch diesel block because it is so strong.
My friend in high school drove an Oldsmobile with the diesel engine. It was perhaps the slowest car that I had ever ridden in to that point. This one is equipped with some nice creature comforts like air conditioning and power locks. The tonneau cover on the bed is a nice addition, too.
Like the Chevrolet El Camino, the GMC Caballero sported the same front end of the Chevrolet Malibu. If you notice the plug hanging out of the grill, this car must have been equipped with a block heater or it was added later. The seller claims that this is 1 of 25 GMC Caballeros built with the diesel engine. I wonder why?
Rare or not, I would not walk, but run from this car ASAP. As most of you know from reading my post, I am a lifelong diesel guy, but definitely not an 80’s GM 5.7 Diesel (converted gas engine) with 150K on it. The only way this car would be worth anywhere near $12000, is if someone were to drop a Cummins in it.
Exactly! It amazes me the General Motors once owned Detroit Diesel and could never build their own diesel. It wasn’t like it was new to them.
I mean take an existing diesel engine we currently know and build an exact replica only smaller for passenger vehicle and trucks……….No let’s take a gas engine………famous last words. The rest is history.
One other reason people are driving Toyota’s and Honda’s today.
They were not converted gas engines, SMH. Ive owned and still own several.
Our 81 Cutlass Brougham diesel made it to 123k miles in less than 3 years. Only then did we decide to trade up. A lot of our friends owned these cars in the 80’s. People did have issues like a bad starter here or there or a fuel pump that would go out. The worst thing was when they just did not want to start. That was remedied by spraying something into the the air intake if I remember correctly. Ours did gel up one particularly cold Mississippi Christmas morning and just conked out half way into our 30 miles trip. However, I don’t recall anyone having the catastrophic engine failure that critics often talk about. If you knew how to take care of them they could be reliable. There are quite a few nice survivors featured on the Facebook Olds Diesel group.
Case in point about knowing how to take care of these cars. One family friend had a loaded Buick Electra Estate wagon with a 5.7 litre diesel. Apparently the husband never told his wife about the “wait” light because she never waited. But incredibly it rarely came on unless it was very cold or had been sitting a few days.
For when you are not in a hurry to get there.
I had a 260 ci and pair of 350 diesel vehicles in the past. The later 350 was far more solid IMO than the early 260. Never put that many miles on it so can’t speak to that. The 350 was surprisingly quick compared to the 260 but not like the gas engine was. My 2 cents.
Put some stacks on it .
When I think of this engine, I wonder who it was at GM who ignored engineers’ drivability concerns and elimintated the water separator? Who was it who said “no” when engineers said the engine needed more head bolts? I’m sure engineers analyzed Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot diesels and knew that what they were developing wasn’t going to last. I know I would have had a very hard time with that.
Gotta love it when accountants are in control of a company. Water separator? Why would we need that? They cost $15 each. Extra head bolts? Why? Haven’t we been making 350’s without additional head bolts for years.
Thats what I thought about rope rear seal.
And as if that weren’t enough, this engine was usually paired with the THM-200 “grenade gearbox” that frequently failed before 50K miles.
25 to many
By 1985 gm had worked out some of the bugs and the engine became a bit more reliable
“Hotrodders” love it? Where does barnfinds “find” these writers who don’t seem to understand cars any better than my grandmother?
403 with diesel heads
Dang got that backwards. Diesel 350 block and 403 heads . . Lol
There were two diesels available on the ’83 Malibu – the 4.3 liter V-6 and the 5.7 liter V-8. I’ve heard that the V-6 version was better from a reliability perspective due to a better head bolt design. And by 1983, the 5.7 diesel had developed a really bad reputation. So maybe that explains the rarity?
i had a 350d in a 1981 model 98 and four other 5.7l motors in four other 88’s. with each purchase , i began a search for a gas car with a good motor to use for parts. never did i trust one of those gm hybrid gas-diesel motors never was i surprised. i had to swap out all five of them because repairs would have cost more than a whole ragged out gas car . i had a total of nine oldsmobiles and ran a quarter of a million miles in them. they were all bought used at ridiculous prices and performed well for me over a period of ten years.
anyone who buys a road vehicle with a 200k body-and- chassis and a million-mile motor would have to have more money than brains and sense.
and to the toyota and hyundai fans i say amen i had three small trucks with diesels- two isuzus and a datsun. one was wrecked at 115000 mi and the drive train salvaged for another truck, and the other two lived long lives and then were sold for a song.
so , yes, i think gm is toyota meat. and that is only because i doubt isuzu is big enough to swallow gm. but who really knows.
A mate of mine had a 350 diesel with a turbo 400 in a 1976 F100 Ambulance it developed head gasket problems but by then had done a lot of Ks, once my mate fixed the problems was really reliable and a great tow vehicle, 12 grand how hard would it be to slot in a GM petrol engine although being one of 25 it could have a certain amont of value as a curiosity in a motor museum down the track that’s my 2 cents worth
The seller stated, ” I have the “prominemce” to show the info on the car.” Could he have meant “provenance” ?? I’m not sure what “prominemce” is, maybe a little-known variety of Italian grating cheese :-) :-)