Guess I'll get right into the details here. I found this 1981 Ninety Eight Regency on Facebook marketplace and immediately messaged the owner hoping to snag it. The price was $900 and the car looked super clean, listed as 104k miles with a junk diesel engine, bonus though is it also came with a NOS 1981 5.7 diesel with it! The first guy in line wasn't able to make it work so it went to me, being only 25 minutes from me I immediately drove out and bought it. After some shuffling and moving around I have it in my garage now where it will hang out for the winter while I plug away at it fixing it up.

I was told that about 12 years ago he was getting bubbles in the coolant tank and found a broken head bolt, he replaced it and had no more bubbles. Engine wouldn't run right so he replaced all eight injectors, fuel pump, fuel filter and had his friend put a "kit" in the injection pump which he said consisted of seals and O rings. He says he heard a loud crunch sound and it started smoking real bad so he gave up on it planning to swap the NOS engine in but time got away from him so it sat in his garage ever since. All those parts swapped on have zero miles on them (they all still look new)

I got the engine running after sitting for 12 years and sure enough, it will fog the neighborhood. He said it has a blown piston but I think it's an injector pump issue or blown head gasket. Exhaust is heavy white smoke of unburnt diesel.

I will not be swapping the engine to gas, not swapping a gas engine in, I want this thing to remain diesel as you never see them anymore. All in all I want this thing up and running to be a great summer cruiser!

 

Nice looking car, good luck!!!

 

Cool project. Cracking the injector lines while its running will tell you which cylinder is not firing. From there you can swap injectors or do a compression test to see whats going on. Old mechanical diesels are pretty easy to diagnose.

 

That thing looks mint. You should be able to turn it into a mileage machine. Consider a water fuel seperator. Enjoy and Welcome.

 

Looks to be in great shape. Good luck on addressing the engine. Love the wire wheels and the awesome interior.

 

Great deal and nice car.I had a 82 these are great cars don’t see many anymore.

 

Wow what a great deal!! I would keep it diesel also.

 

Beautiful Oldsmobile!

Water separators are mandatory on these old IDI diesels. Here's the one I use on my 86 Ford F250 with the 6.9l IDI.


As others mentioned, you can crack the injector lines at each injector to bleed any trapped air and ID a dead injector. A good thing to do is to fill the fuel filter with ATF, start the car and let it run for 30 seconds or so. Then shut off the engine and let it sit over night. The ATF will sit in the injectors and IP and cleanse out all the nastiness.