s-10 diesel?!?!

[matt-max]

just when i thought i knew it all......guy pulls in next to me at the hippie grocery store this weekend in a red extended cab s-10 2wd of early vintage. with engine sound louder than the lly in my new gmc and a electric plug hanging out the front grill.

i caught up to him in the checkout and got the low down.....1984 with factory 2.0 (i think) isuzu diesel and automatic and 276000 miles and counting. runs great now that he's on soydiesel he says. wow. a true hippie!

i knew they put the isuzu diesels in chevy luvs but was not aware of the s-10 application. anyone else see one?

matt

[lineman]

Matt,my neighbors dad had a 84 chevy s-10 that he called ole smokey.It had 100k miles on it he said.I just thought it was a wore out 4 cyl or v-6 until he drove it by my house one day.I couldn't believe it was a diesel.He works at a salvage yard and I thought he may have done an engine swap or something.He told me it was bought off the dealer lot.He had sold his Luv and wanted another diesel.I believe he said they were only available for two years.He sold the truck to someone he knew just a few months ago.The guy uses it as a daily driver.He drove it to Florida just a few weeks ago with no problems......Lineman

[turbobill]

The S 10 diesels are rare indeed. In addition to those, the Chevy Chevette had a 1.8L Isuzu diesel available. The Troopers in '86 and '87 had a 2.2 L turbo diesel available too (N/A before that).

I have an '84 diesel Chevette and the '86 Trooper)..BTW, both run nicely on waste vegtable oil.

[turbovair]

My latest 4 wheel drive mag had "most economical 4X4" article.... listed 85-86 Ford Ranger diesel at 29 city and 36 highway.I have NEVER seen a diesel Ranger nor has anyone else at work. Anyone?

[DieselEnvy]

There was one in my neighborhood that I saw sometime in the late 1980's...................2wd regular cab. I think its the only one I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen a diesel S-10...

[matt-max]

i think i recall seeing one ranger diesel years ago and scratching my head curiously then rubbing my eyes furiously until it went away....

[GregCrabb]

I have seen one ranger diesel and one factory s-10 diesel...the other S10/S15 diesel I saw was on eBay and it was a Mercedes diesel engine swap. I wish I had bought it.

[Colorado Kid]

I remeber diesel Rangers, they had Mazda 2.2L N/A engines. They were bog slow, even compared to 6.2s. I didn't remeber any of them being 4x4s. I do remeber Mitsubishi Turbo-diesel Pickups (Also known as Dodge D-50). They did come as 4x4s and up here they were at least as fast as the gassers, while getting 35-40 MPG. :cool: The Chevy LUV/Isuzu P'up was a happier home for the little Isuzu smoker than the S-10, but there were a few diesel S-10s sold. Similarly a Mazda B2200D was probably better than a diesel Ranger . . .somehow when the pickup is built around a couple engines a company already makes it turned out better than when GM or Ford decided to drop a little shaker into trucks designed around other engines. The electrical systems/fuel systems/cooling systems/engine mounts seemed like poorly done aftermarket engine swaps. They worked, but they weren't nice.

[morgan]

Our local Ford dealership uses a diesel Ranger to run parts around town. That thing SMOKES. I know I'm coming up on it when it's not even in view yet. The driver loves to aggrivate the locals with the smoke.

[Jaxon]

I saw a mid 80's buick century with a diesel in it...