“I can do it quickly, well, or cheaply. pick two. "This is known in the project management world as the" iron triangle. " General Motors had been in business for more than enough years to understand this mantra all too well. And yet, when it came to delving into diesel engine development, it all went out the window. The late 1970s and 1980s Oldsmobile The diesel debacle fell straight into the cheap and fast category. And as sure as the Iron Triangle isn't, Oldsmobile had one of the worst engines ever.
The General moved quickly in the late 1970s and 1980s
The General moved quickly in the late 1970s and 1980s. Foreign automakers bombarded the US with better vehicles. The result was that GM lost market share like it had never seen before. Suddenly everything was researched and a solution was found. This included the success of Mercedes Benz with diesel-powered sedans. GM had to tone down that success, and it was believed that Oldsmobile would lead the indictment.
With a tiny budget and a very short amount of time, Olds engineers were supposed to create the first one GM Diesel for passenger cars. To save time and money, it was mandated that the block be based on the same bore and stroke as the Olds 350 ci gas engine. This meant the tools for the 350 could work for the diesel. Saved time and money!
One of the main differences between gas engines and diesel is the higher cylinder pressure that diesel requires to ignite the diesel fuel. This means that the diesel block must be robust and the cylinder heads must be supported so that they do not move. To save time and tooling costs, the bean counters insisted on the same 10-head bolt pattern and bolts as the 350 gas engine.
Another idiotic diesel mandate did not involve a water separator
Since the diesel compression ratios are three times as high as with gas engines, the impending disaster was only "when", not "when". Another idiotic mandate did not include a water trap, even though water was in much of the diesel fuel of the time.
The goodness of diesel is mileage and range. Proclamations of more than 30 Autobahn MPGs with 700 miles between refills exploded on Old's diesel adverts. 1978 Olds Delta 88 with the LF9 diesel engine were commendable. And if that didn't follow, these would be great advantages for diesel driving.
The test rig time was extremely shortened during testing. One of the discoveries during the brief trial period was that the block had to be supported so as not to explode for the first few thousand miles. Bean counters were cheap, but they knew how costly warranty work was for the general.
Diesel engines drove in large Oldsmobile sedans weighing nearly 5,000 pounds
What the engineers did was a whizzer engine that produced 120 horsepower and 220 lb-ft of torque. These drove in large Oldsmobile sedans weighing nearly 5,000 pounds. Those engines, taxed beyond their means, were always at full throttle just to get the bunch out of the way.
Unintentional customers found that head gaskets had burned out, resulting in water in the engine oil and rapid engine breakdown. Those caught in time had just one more blown head gasket removed for destruction as replaced head bolts were the same inferior bolts as before. Without a water separator, the fuel pumps would regularly fail. One "solution" was to drain alcohol into the gas tank. The water problem was fixed, but seals in the fuel system soon boiled.
Then there was the broadcast. Since it had nothing to do with engine failures, it was obtained from GM's compact car range. As a three-speed automatic, it could not cope with the weight and demands of the underpowered diesel dynamics. All of these errors and inconveniences could have been almost tolerated except for one thing.
The smell, the noise and the smoke emission were particularly common with the Olds diesel
If you've ever stood behind an old diesel bus at an intersection, the smell, noise, and smoke release were particularly common with Olds diesels. The combination of poor performance, breakdowns and diesel characteristics was a diesel disaster.
In its heyday, GM's LF9 diesel was in nearly 30 ...
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