[Vwdiesel] GM V-8 diesels of the '80s

[Erik Lane]

I don't know how rare they were, but we had two of them. Very nice
cars that I loved to drive. They got about 35mpg and were very smooth.
I was in a hurry one day and spaced out on replacing the radiator cap
and overheated one of them. The other had a rocker arm that broke. We
used a stethoscope on it and thought it sounded like a rod knock so
tore it down. Then we found both the real problem and the cost of
parts to rebuild it. At the time it killed us, but we couldn't bear to
pay what it would have cost to rebuild when we had so many other good
cars around. I don't really regret it as I love my little VW diesels,
but I am nostalgic about those little Ciera's.

I used to see the Olds Ciera diesel fairly regularly. Maybe one or two
others per week? But that was back in the eighties and nineties. I
haven't seen one in a while now, though I still do. Maybe it's been
6-8 months now? So they are out there.

Erik

On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 2:11 AM, William J Toensing
<toensing at wildblue.net> wrote:
> Thanks for the replies. Your explanations make far more sense than any others I have read. Looks like if I should find a good GM diesel car at a bargain, I shouldn't reject it.
>  The THM 200 Hydromantic was another bad penny pinching mistake by GM, so I have been told. I heard it was designed for the for the small 4 cylinder Chevrolet Chevete & GM thought they could get away with putting it into larger cars when they found out it was good enough to get thru the warranty period most of the time. However, maybe I am wrong here too. What I like about this discussion group, is I can share info & ask questions with people who know alot more about diesels than I do.
>  What other transmissions will match up to these GM diesels if you end up with one with a THM 200 transmission?
>  That GM V-6 diesel, I understand, was, in addition to the front wheel drive Olds Cierra, the Chevy, Pontiac, & Buick models sharing the same FWD platform. I guess they are quite rare as I don't think I ever heard one run, & I am on the lookout for diesels.
>  It doesn't surprise me that poor dealer service killed the diesel more than anything. Certainly, GM is to blame for not insisting that at least one of a dealer's mechanics get specialized training, & covering the cost of the training. I suspect this, rather than Nadar, killed the Corvair. I wonder if they will make the same mistake when they bring out the plug in hybrid Chevy Volt?
>  _______________________________________________
>  Vwdiesel mailing list
>  Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
>  http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>