Mrwith,

I have a 240D with a little higher mileage, but that runs great. It smokes very little, but loses oil. It took me a while to run down all the leaks, and the last one, the aft crank seal, is the worst offender. I do not intend to fix this as it is a big deal (you need to remove the engine, so I will park facing downhill to avoid more leakage than occurs when running) and I doubt you have the problem as it is very visible, under the car and on the driveway.

My older 240D developed a thirst for oil, and had no visible leaks. It turned out to be the valve seals, and once replaced the oil consumption dropped to a quart between 5,000 mile Mobil 1 oil changes. That problem showed up as significant smoking on start up if it was cold, or I rushed the process.

As noted earlier, if the car runs fine, the challenge is to find out where the oil is coming from. In all likelihood you are burning it and the conditions that allow that to happen do not exist at idle or when you can really observe what comes out of the tailpipe. At one quart per tankful of Diesel fuel, it will be apparent coming out of the tailpipe if you are behind the car when the conditions that cause the engine to burn oil exists. Try driving another car behind it on one of your normal routes and note when it starts smoking.

Hope this all helps and does not confuse! Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)