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I bought an '83 Toronado with a 350 diesel a couple years ago from the original purchasers, they kept it maintained and garaged its whole life. It has a fuel/water separator, it had 103,000 miles when I bought it and I love it! I never thought I'd own a diesel but I like Olds and this one was available in my price range so I bought it and haven't had any problems with it.
It's good to see there are other Olds diesel fans. I see there are still people who don't know very much about diesel engines reading some of the posts. 1983 diesel Toronado
Nice car. An 83 diesel should be good, much much better than the first ones. If the early ones weren't so bad there may have been more produced but after the early ones few wanted them.
Be very selective about the fuel used and change the oil frequently. Curious, what oil does the manual call for? Is it C rated.
So far, I've been getting in the upper 20's for mpg.
On the sun visor, the decal says to use 30wt oil and that's all the previous owner who bought it new, used, so that's what I've been using.
I only use 30wt, change the oil every 3,000 miles or yearly. I flushed the cooling system, replaced upper and lower hoses and thermostat, had new front shocks, all new ball joints upper/lower and a half shaft replaced, the rear are self leveling shocks, it has an air compressor under the hood and a 4 wheel alignment. The transmission/transaxle was serviced just before I purchased it 18 months ago, the fluid and filter are new.
The operation is pretty explicit and simple, as long as you follow instructions, it should be ok. I've put about 3,000 miles on it in the past 18 months, it's a great cruiser, good a/c and no complaints. It also has 4 wheel disc brakes.
Last edited by tonymueller55@gmail.com; May 29, 2020 at 11:32 AM.
Good find, my old boss back in high school job had a 81 or 82 Eldorado with a Olds Diesel, and he loved it, never had any issues and only took it to the dealership.
Think in 84 or 85 he got another Eldorado with a gas engine, got worse mpg and actually missed the Diesel, even though the gas one was a convertible.
Oil designed for diesel engines has a 'C" rating vs. gasoline engine "oils having an S" rating. I'm not suggesting that you use anything other than 30W, but consider looking for a 30W with a "C" rating. C rated oils supposedly have different additive packages one of which allows the oil to keep more soot particulates in suspension.
Perhaps you are already aware of this, diesel fuel gels in freezing temps and can leave you stranded. This happens with summer blended fuel being left in the tank and driven in winter. It can easily be avoided by using anti-gel additive. I used Power Services additive.
Does it have dual batteries and a block heater?
Good luck and many happy miles with a nice unique ride.
it will have dual batteries and block heater standard.one thing you might want to do is unhook the egr valve.what happens thru time is it will plug up the intake manifold.i have cleaned too many of em.some the ports were so plugged you could barely get your pinky thru the holes.amazing they even ran.
I had a 1979 Eldorado and cannot say the same. Purchased with around 100,000 miles on her. Usually my magic number but not this time. Essentially nothing but problems with the engine. Not in the beautiful condition as yours but it was solid and loaded as Eldorados usually are. Great ride comfort. When engine ran semi decent I saw around 20 MPG.
Originally Posted by Sugar Bear
Nice car. An 83 diesel should be good, much much better than the first ones. If the early ones weren't so bad there may have been more produced but after the early ones few wanted them.
Ahh that was the problem, either way it soured me on the engine and I doubt I would ever go back.
Nice car! I worked at an Olds dealership when the last diesels were sold. With PROPER maintenance! they really were great cars, but like others said by the time GM fixed all the early problems the damage had already been done as far as the buying public was concerned. A friend of mine at the time (a mechanic at the old AD Pelunis, later Ganley Olds near Cleveland) special ordered a totally loaded '84 Regency 2dr diesel (last year of the big rear whl drive 98s) for his wife. It was a beautiful car, black, black half top, red interior & a sunroof.
I have dual batteries and a block heater. The '83 ws originally sold in ND and the owners moved to Kingman in '92, I bought it from them
The snow in Kingman in the photo, set an all time record, 17" in 24 hours in Feb. 2019. It was all gone in a few days. I live 30 miles north and we only got 1-2", it was gone by noon.
I will remember the C rating on the 30wt. The shop I took it to deals with diesel vehicles so I am assuming they know.
I lived in Alaska for 24 winters, that's why I am in Arizona. I have many experiences with #2 diesel in subzero temps. One winter, a whole coal mine shut down because the fuel distributor couldn't get #1 fuel in October, they said it was too early in the year. I saw several diesel rigs parked along the highway with gelled fuel, Like my uncle used to say, life ain't easy in the far north. Keep the water out of the air brakes too or you're not going anywhere. You have to make sure the air dryer is working and an air dryer heater is extra insurance. When it hits 40-50 below, nothing wants to work, a whole nother world, dark too so you can't see what you're doing.
i used to have a 79 toro diesel exact color combo.car was spotless,but the seats in it i swear to god were like sitting on a park bench,man were they hard.car got 25 mpg no matter what you did.here in my town there is a little old lady with an 83-84 88 2dr diesel it's kindof a primer grey color with red pin stripes,looks like it has maybe 20k miles on it.i see her at the grocery store from time to time,either she is pulling out or i see the car sitting in the lot.someday i will run into her and see if shes ready to part with it.
