Good find! If you still have the car, I would change the oil to 15W-40 and change it every 2,000 miles. Also, check it often. Some of the Olds 350 Diesels consumed oil. If the head bolts are original, let the engine warm up before putting the engine under load. Add a water/fuel separator under the hood. Lastly, never hotrod it. Those engines were pretty sensitive. They did return good mileage for their size and weight. Enjoy!
Congrats! I’d replace the fuel filter, it’s a GM TP888, you need to add conditioner as todays diesel “ultra low sulfur” won’t lubricate the pump. I have 2 diesel now, I only use Kedall Super D straight 30. 10w30 in winter when below 40 consistently. Don’t let anyone convince you to use any other weights, the oil spec was SF/CC or SF/CD back in the 80’s, I change my oil every 3000 miles religiously and my Olds Tornado had 486,000 miles when I let it go. Never use starting fluid or the sorts, the engine has a 22.5:1 compression ration and the pistons deck out, you will blow the heads. ARP does have a stud kit for these engines if you ever have a broken head bolt, replace them all, they were the Achilles heel with only 4. Lots per cylinder. If you take care of it the engine is reliable as it has the hydraulic roller lifters. Alternator issue was the belt slipping, lots of torque on those belts and even if the A/C isn’t working you’ll want to keep the belt on it. If you drive it like the luxury car it is you u should get around 30mph on the highway. Good luck and enjoying!!
15W-40 is only recommended when temp is between 60F-0F SF/CD is the preferred oil, which should be the “SJ” Surging is normally air in the system, you may have a fuel line leak
My first car in high school back in '85 was a 1981 Delta 88 diesel. I drove to 239k miles. I have loved these cars forever and still have two of them. Don't bother with seafoam. Change the filter and if that doesn't help, the pick-up tube in the tank is probably rusted and sucking up air. Good luck. Great find.
Great video. I had a 1984 98 Regency diesel years ago. Great-running engine, being toward the end of the line. Also had a 1981 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham diesel. I miss hearing them run! Like someone else said, just be easy on the engine while driving, and baby it. Still has a lot of life left in it.
Back in the 80s our shop specialized in these cars and fixed all the problems at the dealerships had no clue what they were doing. We were all educated diesel mechanics and knew these cars inside and out. The low power could be the return line on top of the injection pump starting to plug up with Broken particles from the governor weight retainer ring inside the fuel injection pump. You can take the fitting off the top of the fuel injection pump and look at the check ball and see if there’s any little coffee grinds in there. Also a good diesel mechanic can take the top of the injector pump off and check the governor to see if it is starting to wear out. You can get a little bit of power by jacking up the timing a little bit by moving the injector pump over a few degrees to the driver side. It needs a special wrench to get it the bolts unfortunately. Guess who has one of those ranches.?😅 Awesome car 😎👍❤️
Great car ! I own a 1981 Oldsmobile Delta 88 sedan myself. These 98 Regency were sure classy cars, I preferred the Oldsmobile 98 over the Cadillac Sedan Deville . I do understand GM finally improved the diesel engines in the later models ?
Yes, in 1981 GM introduced the DX block for these engines and those were the good ones. The 1978-1980 cars had the D block, which was the one that failed regularly. Unfortunately those first three years were bad enough to ruin the reputation of the whole line and get them discontinued in 1985. What also happened with even the DX blocks sometimes was the injection pumps would get too much pressure and cause head gasket failure if you didn't catch the bad pump in time. That happened to my Dad's 1981 Cadillac Seville he sold two years ago, but we caught the pump in time to save the engine.
I remember those Oldsmobile diesels, but I never drove a car with it. The body needs a little work. Yes, you need to change the engine oil, pronto. The old diesel fuel needs to be flushed out, and like you said, change the fuel filter. And make sure that BOTH batteries are fully charged. Once you've done that, it should run like a champ. Good luck on it.
I worked in an olds dealer as a line tech from 1985 to 88. My everyday life involved installing new goodwrench crate engines in an attempt to make customers want to buy more of these diesels in the future. You need extra injection pumps, glow plug controllers and lots glow plugs. Goin down the highway they do 55 mpg but the power sux and you need to keep ya Fingal crossed that it doesn't blow its head gaskets. Oh yeah, don't forget to have your triple A card with ya
Olds was long my fav brand. Just the right amount of lux upgrade. I never knew there was an optional gauge package!! Makes it almost a keeper to tweak up maybe. I enjoy diesel clatter. It’s just different. Had a 2003 VW Jetta turbo-diesel wagon, 5 speed. Handy hauler and easily averaged 48 mpg’s. Bought it new and diesel option was ridiculously little depreciation when sold at 80,000 miles. Cabin heat below zero was slow and middling was about only complaint. Enjoy some “looks” when parked and people hear the clatter and wonder what’s up. If it totally blows up, I hear the trend in California is to convert old cars to EV, can dial in wicked speed, drive for cheap (after expensive parts/battery bought!!), be a daily driver. Talk about “sleeper sled” if you could silently rip out 6 second or less 0 to 60. A fella could make videos to post of the EV conversion process, might be popular viewing trend to get leg up on. I do, however, foresee many headaches to solve.
The rocket oil burner, the ninety eight regency/ brougham were the ones I saw year after including the first fwd V6 diesel, rather have an oil burner than an EV.
I had a 1984 98 with the 307 ci v8 gas engine. If the diesel dies get an lt1 Corvette engine, it was done once and changed the cars personality for the better. In fact Cadillac did that very thing with the Fleetwood.
There is natural stuff in the fuel tank that GROWS and you have to get that fuel OUT OF THERE. It's gonna clog up soon enough if you keep driving it. PS I had an '82 Olds Cutlass Brougham 4dr. IT had been sitting for abt 10 years too, but this was around 1992. So the car was like brand new, but... I drove it about 100 miles and the end. I found a guy in Long Island where I lived at the time who did diesel conversions for GM back when they were wholesale replacing the diesels with gasoline Olds 350s. GM dealers did a tons of them in the 80s. Anyway the guy bought it from me for about $1,000 bucks as I remember and never thought about it again. Get that fuel out of there! Boil the tank out.
My dad had a 80 chevy pickup with the 350 Olds diesel. Ran perfect got 30 mpg until 60k. Head gaskets blew and injection pump went bad. Neat truck though...fun to drive...just have to baby them...dad did not! 😅
Beautiful!!!!And we had this car in France in the 70'/80'!!!!! But WHY a Diesel engine in the USA??At that time gas was was so cheap in United States????Beautiful sound.I would like to know the Diesel gas oil consumtion
Would like to know if Olds 88 98 regency are still around owned one with moon roof loaned to a friend lost in it in an accident searching for a long time to replace it if I do hope I can afford it
Cannot believe you drove it home on the 10-year old rotten diesel and engine oil. Would it have been so difficult to at least changed the engine oil and filter before hitting the road? If it didn’t have bearing damage before you drove off, it probably does now.
I love her bro all these old school cars nobody knows nobody knows about them their tanks I call them tanks they're f****** tanks I got a 1992 Cadillac Brougham Fleetwood things are f****** tank like yours is a tank yours is probably heavier than mine I'm going to wash the rest of your video see if you make it home bro I love your car I love diesels it's a diesel car that's sexy
Good find! If you still have the car, I would change the oil to 15W-40 and change it every 2,000 miles. Also, check it often. Some of the Olds 350 Diesels consumed oil. If the head bolts are original, let the engine warm up before putting the engine under load. Add a water/fuel separator under the hood. Lastly, never hotrod it. Those engines were pretty sensitive. They did return good mileage for their size and weight. Enjoy!
Congrats! I’d replace the fuel filter, it’s a GM TP888, you need to add conditioner as todays diesel “ultra low sulfur” won’t lubricate the pump. I have 2 diesel now, I only use Kedall Super D straight 30. 10w30 in winter when below 40 consistently. Don’t let anyone convince you to use any other weights, the oil spec was SF/CC or SF/CD back in the 80’s, I change my oil every 3000 miles religiously and my Olds Tornado had 486,000 miles when I let it go. Never use starting fluid or the sorts, the engine has a 22.5:1 compression ration and the pistons deck out, you will blow the heads. ARP does have a stud kit for these engines if you ever have a broken head bolt, replace them all, they were the Achilles heel with only 4. Lots per cylinder. If you take care of it the engine is reliable as it has the hydraulic roller lifters. Alternator issue was the belt slipping, lots of torque on those belts and even if the A/C isn’t working you’ll want to keep the belt on it. If you drive it like the luxury car it is you u should get around 30mph on the highway. Good luck and enjoying!!
15W-40 is only recommended when temp is between 60F-0F
SF/CD is the preferred oil, which should be the “SJ”
Surging is normally air in the system, you may have a fuel line leak
My first car in high school back in '85 was a 1981 Delta 88 diesel. I drove to 239k miles. I have loved these cars forever and still have two of them. Don't bother with seafoam. Change the filter and if that doesn't help, the pick-up tube in the tank is probably rusted and sucking up air. Good luck. Great find.
Awesome I will change the filter and check the pickup tube. Thanks
Great video. I had a 1984 98 Regency diesel years ago. Great-running engine, being toward the end of the line. Also had a 1981 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham diesel. I miss hearing them run! Like someone else said, just be easy on the engine while driving, and baby it. Still has a lot of life left in it.
Back in the 80s our shop specialized in these cars and fixed all the problems at the dealerships had no clue what they were doing. We were all educated diesel mechanics and knew these cars inside and out. The low power could be the return line on top of the injection pump starting to plug up with Broken particles from the governor weight retainer ring inside the fuel injection pump. You can take the fitting off the top of the fuel injection pump and look at the check ball and see if there’s any little coffee grinds in there. Also a good diesel mechanic can take the top of the injector pump off and check the governor to see if it is starting to wear out.
You can get a little bit of power by jacking up the timing a little bit by moving the injector pump over a few degrees to the driver side. It needs a special wrench to get it the bolts unfortunately. Guess who has one of those ranches.?😅
Awesome car 😎👍❤️
Hi Jake, I thought one of the main problems of these engines were the injection timing being off causing extra high cylinder pressures?
Hey, can you do an update video on this very interesting car?
Rare gauge pkg with diesel emblem below it! 119k miles. True survivor.
Great car ! I own a 1981 Oldsmobile Delta 88 sedan myself. These 98 Regency were sure classy cars, I preferred the Oldsmobile 98 over the Cadillac Sedan Deville . I do understand GM finally improved the diesel engines in the later models ?
Yes, in 1981 GM introduced the DX block for these engines and those were the good ones. The 1978-1980 cars had the D block, which was the one that failed regularly. Unfortunately those first three years were bad enough to ruin the reputation of the whole line and get them discontinued in 1985. What also happened with even the DX blocks sometimes was the injection pumps would get too much pressure and cause head gasket failure if you didn't catch the bad pump in time. That happened to my Dad's 1981 Cadillac Seville he sold two years ago, but we caught the pump in time to save the engine.
As long as you don't needed to go anywhere in it she's definitely reliable and a keeper 😇
Nice ride, I remember when they first were released. Keep us posted on what you're going to do with it. Hopefully it will be a keeper for you.
i'd love to take one of these on a road trip. i want to experience that magic carpet ride over the bumps.
I remember those Oldsmobile diesels, but I never drove a car with it. The body needs a little work. Yes, you need to change the engine oil, pronto. The old diesel fuel needs to be flushed out, and like you said, change the fuel filter. And make sure that BOTH batteries are fully charged. Once you've done that, it should run like a champ. Good luck on it.
Style, elegant and economy regency
98, it's a nice car to own, just know how to maintain it.
I worked in an olds dealer as a line tech from 1985 to 88. My everyday life involved installing new goodwrench crate engines in an attempt to make customers want to buy more of these diesels in the future. You need extra injection pumps, glow plug controllers and lots glow plugs. Goin down the highway they do 55 mpg but the power sux and you need to keep ya Fingal crossed that it doesn't blow its head gaskets. Oh yeah, don't forget to have your triple A card with ya
My grandfather had an 82 Delta 88 two-door with the same engine.
It's got the gauge package. Very nice.
I always loved that Era Ninety Eight .
Incredible sounding engine.
Olds was long my fav brand. Just the right amount of lux upgrade. I never knew there was an optional gauge package!! Makes it almost a keeper to tweak up maybe. I enjoy diesel clatter. It’s just different. Had a 2003 VW Jetta turbo-diesel wagon, 5 speed. Handy hauler and easily averaged 48 mpg’s. Bought it new and diesel option was ridiculously little depreciation when sold at 80,000 miles. Cabin heat below zero was slow and middling was about only complaint. Enjoy some “looks” when parked and people hear the clatter and wonder what’s up. If it totally blows up, I hear the trend in California is to convert old cars to EV, can dial in wicked speed, drive for cheap (after expensive parts/battery bought!!), be a daily driver. Talk about “sleeper sled” if you could silently rip out 6 second or less 0 to 60. A fella could make videos to post of the EV conversion process, might be popular viewing trend to get leg up on. I do, however, foresee many headaches to solve.
Omg i had the exact same car and same color just mine was a 78. I rebuilt the engine now its going in a 84 GMC crew cab truck
Diesel fuel doesn't really go bad, just got to watch out for water and algae growth.
These are so cool. My dream is to find one of these in Australia
Good luck!! They are really interesting and fun cars!
Beautiful Olds.
The rocket oil burner, the ninety eight regency/ brougham were the ones I saw year after including the first fwd V6 diesel, rather have an oil burner than an EV.
I had a 1984 98 with the 307 ci v8 gas engine. If the diesel dies get an lt1 Corvette engine, it was done once and changed the cars personality for the better. In fact Cadillac did that very thing with the Fleetwood.
Can we get an update?
It’s got gauges! You never see those in those cars. Nice old cars.
The key has to be on in ignition in order to use the trunk release button in glove box
I Love that sound.
Cool car. Chugga-chugga-clonk-chugga - you can almost count the idle revs.
I didn't give a damn about fuel economy,I just wanted one, and still do.
I have a 1981...same color!
Key has to be in the on position for the trunk release to work.
There is natural stuff in the fuel tank that GROWS and you have to get that fuel OUT OF THERE. It's gonna clog up soon enough if you keep driving it. PS I had an '82 Olds Cutlass Brougham 4dr. IT had been sitting for abt 10 years too, but this was around 1992. So the car was like brand new, but... I drove it about 100 miles and the end. I found a guy in Long Island where I lived at the time who did diesel conversions for GM back when they were wholesale replacing the diesels with gasoline Olds 350s. GM dealers did a tons of them in the 80s. Anyway the guy bought it from me for about $1,000 bucks as I remember and never thought about it again. Get that fuel out of there! Boil the tank out.
If a rod bearing goes, you'd never know by the regular sound of this engine!
You aren’t wrong 😅
Olds 98 diesel, that's my Tesla.
The 80's diesels Olds made were good engines. The late 70's engines were not.
My dad had a 80 chevy pickup with the 350 Olds diesel. Ran perfect got 30 mpg until 60k. Head gaskets blew and injection pump went bad. Neat truck though...fun to drive...just have to baby them...dad did not! 😅
Every 350 Olds Diesel needs a water separator.
Beautiful!!!!And we had this car in France in the 70'/80'!!!!! But WHY a Diesel engine in the USA??At that time gas was was so cheap in United States????Beautiful sound.I would like to know the Diesel gas oil consumtion
79-85 was a big increase in gas prices so diesel was attractive, plus CAFE
Would like to know if Olds 88 98 regency are still around owned one with moon roof loaned to a friend lost in it in an accident searching for a long time to replace it if I do hope I can afford it
I had one. That diesel was problematic. I finally replaced that engine with a gas Olds 350 engine and then I had a great car.
Cool Car
Any updates on the car? Pretty sure I almost nabbed this ride for myself out of Goldsboro NC
Boss had a 98 demo. Crank broke at 4000 miles.
Nice car! I wish I could find a diesel Olds that wasn't destroyed or needing a fortune put into the engine. If you know of one, let me know!
FANTASTIC VIDEO! Love it want it...F my Rolls Royce Spur! 🤣🤣🤣
I would daily drive that
I have the car now😂😂😂😂😂😂 the same car
Cannot believe you drove it home on the 10-year old rotten diesel and engine oil.
Would it have been so difficult to at least changed the engine oil and filter before hitting the road?
If it didn’t have bearing damage before you drove off, it probably does now.
Hi How are you?
Put the 4th hub cap on!!
It was put on shortly after the video haha
Reach out to the CarWizard on youtube.. he can help you bullet proof the engine.
the video starts in 7:28
Qwantwz hp???
I love her bro all these old school cars nobody knows nobody knows about them their tanks I call them tanks they're f****** tanks I got a 1992 Cadillac Brougham Fleetwood things are f****** tank like yours is a tank yours is probably heavier than mine I'm going to wash the rest of your video see if you make it home bro I love your car I love diesels it's a diesel car that's sexy
Want to sell it ?
Most diesels from this era make too much clackity-clack!
And that's what I love about them.
Did you sale this already
Yes sadly the vehicle is already sold.