'81 Grand Prix - Winter coldstart

[@RJ1999x]

I had that car in slate grey and the 5.7 L diesel. Was a great car with tremendous fuel economy

[@ThePeca1988]

Nice, i also like diesels, they have great fuel economy with a bunch of torque compared to their gasoline counterparts, but i'm also quite afraid of them, they are a real pain to maintain at this age, starter motors, gaskets, headgaskets, pumps, and so on usually go out at some point. Of course gasoline engines are also prone to those problems, but at a much lower rate, plus they are also a lot easier to work on. Of course your fuel economy goes out the window too 😅

[@turnne]

Whew.....those diesels were not know for reliability

[@RJ1999x]

@@turnne The first 5.7 were junk, the later ones were ok, not great , but ok. I didn't have any issues with mine. It has a 30 gallon tank on it and got 34 mpg, and diesel was under a dollar

[@turnne]

@@RJ1999x I remember testing driving an 81 Grand Prix diesel with T tops...two tone brown..LOL. This was about 1986-87. It was VERY inexpensive, if I recall correctly like $4000, but everyone I knew told me to run as fast as I could from a GM diesel at the time

[@RJ1999x]

@turnne they had a bad reputation, and the resale value of a diesel was about 1/3 of a gas. I bought it used, pretty cheap, was a beautiful car, loaded , no T tops, I wanted the size, and a coup, and I wanted the fuel economy.

[@chadplaner3821]

Choke needs 2b set.....if u got plastic flex plate cover...contracts when cold...expands with heat....hitting flex when cold

[@ThePeca1988]

@@chadplaner3821 yup, the rebuild kit for the carb is on its way, it also leaks gas on the intake sometimes, and thats not good, i might even slap a return style pressure regulator on it, maybe it's under too much pressure too, who knows. Yea, the rubbing flexplate would explain the noise, especially that the transmission was out about a month ago, maybe something wasnt put back together just right

[@sashasmail-h6c]

the chirp is the starter pinion not disengaging

[@ThePeca1988]

@@sashasmail-h6c i'll check on it, thanks!

[@sashasmail-h6c]

@@ThePeca1988 otherwise, it might be a loose bolt contacting the flywheel, or else?.... please let us know what it turns out to be!

[@ThePeca1988]

I'll let you know as soon as i find out 🥂