The El Camino was Chevrolet’s version of a “gentleman’s pickup” because it was based on a car platform rather than that of a truck. It was on the market for the longest of the two primary competitors (the other being the Ford Ranchero), 1959-60 and 1964 to 1988. This Chevelle/ Malibu based example is in good overall condition and comes with a fairly rare option – a diesel engine. Located in Omaha, Nebraska, this survivor is available here on craigslist for $12,500.
Besides outliving the Ranchero, the El Camino usually outsold it, too. The 1983 model year accounted for 26,000 units, 10% of which were branded for GMC dealers. The El Camino had the market to itself as Ford dropped the Ranchero in 1979. The number of El Camino’s built in 1983 with a diesel is unknown, but it was an attempt at lower fuel consumption numbers. Chevy borrowed the 350 cubic inch diesel V8 from Oldsmobile, and it was on the options list from 1982 to 1984. We understand the most horsepower they could muster was 105.
As is typical for many of these online listings, the seller’s details about this Chevrolet are limited. For example, we’re told the odometer reads 14,000 miles, but is 114,000 more likely? How many owners has it had and how long has the seller had it? Rust is said not to be an issue, though the two-tone paint is starting to show its age (original paint?). On the plus side, the interior is good, and a new set of tires has been installed.
If memories serve me correctly, Oldsmobile had reliability issues with these diesel engines. My father-in-law had a 1984 Delta 88 with one and he barely made it to the dealer to trade it off with not that many miles. If this one has seen the odometer turn over, the chances are it’s okay. The seller is willing to trade for gold or silver coins, a sign of the times? Thanks for the tip, Tony Primo!
The first thing I’d do if I bought this is put a water separator in the fuel system. Moisture in the fuel is what killed these, then when they were brought in for repair, often they weren’t repaired properly.
My parents had a diesel gmc 3/4 ton same year that now has a big block GM engine as the original motor fell apart after warranty.
That would have been a 6.2 nonturbo diesel in that truck. Pretty decent motor that was built as a diesel from the start, not a gas motor converted to diesel
Some of the earlier Olds diesels had issues, particularly when water got into the fuel system. But by 1983, that engine was close to bullet proof.
Worked at a GM dealer when the 350 Olds diesel came out. Under powered, smoke belching, very noisy pos of an engine. We had some in Cadillac’s too. I remember the used car manager appraised one car for 2k before you deducted 2k for the diesel option, we all laughed as the car was basically worth nothing.
Me too, Art. Started at my first Olds dealer in 1980. Had to work on these until I left in ’85.
First thing I would do with this car is find an Olds V8 and replace that rattling, smoke belching, underpowered POS.
No offense to the current owner!
Love them or hate them the Olds diesel is not for the faint of heart. If you understand them and baby them they will last a long time. Except now parts are getting harder to come by. There are many examples still on the road today. The design is debatable as there are so many urban myths about the engine. Ours never “blew up” and we worked it hard up to 123k miles over a 2 year period. It seems the ones owned by farmers in our small community faired better than those driven by every day folks. We used farm diesel. I suppose that’s what others did too. The biggest issues I recall were failed oil pumps, bad starters, and other supporting equipment and not the engine itself.
Jay, I had mine, a 1981 Coupe DeVille diesel, back in the 80s, for 270,000 miles. The trick to longevity on these was change oil, clean fuel, and a properly functioning cooling system. The only expense I had on mine, other than that, was tires and brakes. Best car I ever owned. I just finally needed a change. Unfortunately, when I sold it, there were no more diesels.
Truth be told, I thought finding an ElCamino from this vintage with a manual transmission was rare as hens teeth, but a diesel?? Wow.
Hell no. If I am going to look El Camino cool, I am going to need more than 105 HP.
Duramax swap.
Selling new 84-87 Chevys put me in touch with several owners of the 350 diesels in various GM vehicles, all looking to trade them in. Midway Chevrolet had their used car lot down the street on Bell Road, and when I came back to the dealership with their car/truck and an official trade-in price offer, the reaction was either major disappointment or outright anger. Even though I did have one friend who had 200k+ miles on his Olds diesel at the time, my complete lack of respect for these was based on several years of dealing with that trade-in customer backlash. Too bad, as this could draw a crowd at any C&C.
Had an 81 Cutlass with the 350 diesel. Agree on the water separator; put one in right after the injection pump was replace under warranty. I t was nice to cruise at 70 mpg while getting 24+mpg. Agree on the farm diesel,the best power and mileage was on Agway green power road (undyed) diesel. The POS TM200 transmission did it in.
Would be an interesting project to get back into original perfect working order.
pull it out put a 403 with o/d trans in i don think they will get asking $ with that diesel
How about pulling it out and replacing it with the 6.2 (or later 6.5) diesel and transmission used in all the military CUCV (Chevolet Blazers, Pickups and HUMVEES)? There are a bunch out there on the GSA Surplus site so they are VERY reasonable to buy(in lots) and they’re practically bulletproof! Just saying
Why change it when this engine is running perfectly?
As a GM technician at and Olds/ Cadillac dealer in the 80’s I worked on many of the Diesel equipped vehicles we serviced. From the early 260 V8 Diesels to all the 350 V8 Diesels and into the V6 Diesel engines. Yes, the early ones were horrible! Broken crankshafts, blown head gaskets, tons of injection pump overhauls but once the DX block 350’s came out, alot of the problems were corrected. The major issue going forward was always head gasket failures mostly due to design issues from day one. That being said, I owned many of these into the early 2000’s and once you got them out on the road they were great! Unfortunately in New England body rust was usually the death nail. Definitely rare to see one in an Elcamino. I’d leave it as is and drive it! Great parts hauler to head to Carlisle Pa.!
The only good thing about this car is one can easily replace that motor with a 350, 403 or 455 Olds gas engine. We did that many times when I was service manager at a Pontiac dealer.
In fact we replaced the diesel in a Chev pickup with a gas engine for the UC Dept. A customer came in looking for a pickup and the salesman told him the only one we had was the one with the replaced motor. He did not even look at the truck before he said he’d take it.
The diesel was junk plain ole junk.
Your opinion, yet take a look on Facebook to see all the Olds diesel enthusiasts. This Camino is more desirable with the diesel. I drive these diesels daily, and love the fuel economy and dependability. One big problem today, if you can’t get ethanol free gas, anything with a carburetor has major problems, the carbs, fuel pumps, fuel lines, all go bad. In warm climates, vapor lock is a constant issue. The diesel has none of these issues.
One problem with it. 350 V8 as a diesel. If it was a gas, no problem.
I was in service management for a Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealership when the engines came out in 1978. The biggest problem, in terms of size of repair, was broken crankshafts – surprisingly, many of them were driven in! Roosa Master fuel injection pumps often suffered governor weight retainer ring failures as those pumps were designed to hang on the side of a farm tractor engine, not in the heat of the valley of a V8. Many other problems that were more easily solved soured people on them.
The earliest ones didn’t come with a fuel separator or fuel line heater so we towed a lot of them in with jelled and/or frozen fuel in the winter. Being parked in the shop for a hour or two got them running again and GM did come out with a special policy to retrofit those old ones with separators and fuel heaters. They actually ran pretty well – no powerhouse, for sure – but the Delta 88 I drove for a company car was a nice driver.
Our leasing department was backlogged with orders for diesel-powered Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs so the leasing manager and I calculated the actual savings offered by that engine. I forget the numbers, but between the $750 engine option, the higher cost of fuel and the more expensive oil changes, a buyer had to drive a LOT of miles for at least two years just to reach break-even from the higher fuel economy. Showing prospective buyers that math caused a lot of orders to be changed to gasoline engines.
Then technology improved gasoline engine fuel economy to a point comparable to diesels so demand really slacked off. By 1984, when the Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac sedans were downsized, there really was not a need for a diesel. I was given the first 1985 Oldsmobile 98 Regency we received to drive because GM had a special discount to dealers for putting one in service as a demonstrator and logging 3,000 miles on it in a 60-day period. I lived 35 miles from the dealership so that was no challenge.
The first weekend I had it, I had to go to Atlantic City for a service managers’ award function. I filled it at the dealership with the nozzle set on its lowest automatic fill setting, drove home for my wife and went to AC Friday evening, back home on Sunday and back to work on Monday. I parked at the fuel pump in the same position as I had on Friday, filled the tank the same way – on low setting only until it shut off, and averaged 31.6 miles per gallon from an actual luxury sedan. Diesel – what’s that?
I’ve ran up to 12 of these engines, never seen these problems, no crankshaft issues. There was much more water in the diesel fuel back then, and yes water in the system would cause major problems. Today most of the injection pumps were improved over the initial years, or repaired, we don’t see this trouble today. I get 25 mpg in my 1980 98, highway, there’s no gas engine, even fuel injected that would do this well in the same car. I also drive a 90 Caprice with the fuel injected V-6 and overdrive trans, with lock up torque converter, the 80 Olds 98 diesel has more power, runs smoother, and gets better fuel economy. The main reason Olds ended the diesel was diesel price went up to the same as gas, and much more stricter emissions were on the way, same reason the Japanese diesels ended at the same time. The Germans kept the diesel technology though.
GOLD is at $2980 an ounce and going UP.
Thanks Ed for that response. Alot of the negative posts are from people who don’t have alot of experience with these engines. I too worked at an Oldsmobile/ Cadillac dealer. I was a technician and did most of the Diesel work. Yes, the pre-DX block 350 engines had their fair share of problems as you noted but by 1982 most of those had been updated by GM at a very minimal cost if any to the owners. I drove these for years, unfortunately rust takes its toll on vehicles in the North East. Thank you for setting the record straight!
This truck brings back a memory. Back in about 1985 or so, Buick Motor Division, in Flint, Michigan, got one of these from Chevrolet. It was a 1983, VIN number 003. Engineers, and an Explorer Scout troupe they sponsored, took it and the complete front end and doors from a Regal and fitted them to the Elky. Out came the diesel and then they took a Turbo V6 (hot air) and 200-4R transmission and an 8 1/2 inch rear axle and added that. Next was a complete Grand National interior and a black repaint. The truck was shown at the 1986 Buick dealer announcement meeting. Everybody loved it. Too bad it went to the crusher about four years later.
Roosa-master pump governor ring failures. I used to keep a spare pump built for a quick change out.
Really weren’t that bad of an engine, just underpowered in a big car.
People didn’t like the low performance, noise and getting diesel fuel on their hands from a leaky fuel pump nozzle at the gas station.
A 350, 403 or 455 gas burner was almost a direct drop in other than the throttle cable the best I remember.
I converted a few from diesel to gas engines just because the car or truck owner didn’t like the diesel but it was running fine at the time.
Used Olds V-8’s that were once plentiful in junkyards got to be hard to find.
Lovely looking El Camino. If only more pictures were posted. Assuming everything works like they should and it’s been carefully maintained, even the diesel engine and drivetrain should last indefinitely.
I drove a $2000 1981 Bonneville (full size) from San Francisco to Houston to New 2 years ago. Cruised 80+mph @ 27mpg. No overdrive or even lockup tc. I own 4 of these 5.7s and a 4.3 fwd Olds 98. Only my ’84 Cadillac Fleetwood blew a head gasket