Last I checked, Dr. Diesel died 23 years before Mercedes designed, built and sold their first diesel powered car in 1936. 60 years separates Dr. Diesel from the time Mercedes' designed their OM61x series.

So really it doesn't matter one bit what Dr. Diesel designed HIS engine to run on, his engine is not even closely related to what came out of Mercedes' factories.

I know you skipped the good parts of my rants because you were busy. :0)


(Diesel referred to his engine prototype as "his black mistress". No doubt Mrs. Diesel agreed)

My apologies to the poor guy whose thread got hijacked. Hope it works out. Keep that oil dry.

I don't mind the hyjacking I learned a great deal about polymerisation. Again I have a 240d 1982. The owners manual recommends oil change every 3,000 or 2,000 if you drive over 2,000 in a month (I do) I thought since I was using veggie oil it was cleaner and so I was still going to go with an oil change every 3,000. It was said that you should change the oil even oftener than what the manual says so should I do it less than 2,000? I am using Mobil 1 for diesel engines and replace a quart of oil with a quart of Lucas Engine additive (expensive) but protects and lubracates all the rubbers better, Have a friend that races cars and had a oil pump fail at the end of the race, did six more laps around the track without realizing it, he said the only thing left in the engine was the lucas

Polymerisation is considered by many to be a hazard of greasing, thought to be much more of concern in 1 tank cars than 2 tank cars.

Basically, leave out 3 oil samples- saucer w/ a film of WVO, saucer w/ a film of motor oil, saucer w/ a film of diesel. A week in the sun and air and the motor oil will still be like motor oil, and the diesel either like diesel, or evaporated, and WVO will be nasty & sticky. The mechanism for this is detailed in Forrest Greg's tasty book SVO, including the parts where he states that heat, oxygen and active metals (copper, steel, brass) all help make the sticky happen.

This matters because of blowby. If this was the spanish inquisition skit, blowby is the comfy chair that 2 tank exponents bust out when their cries of 'injector coking', 'ring fouling', 'bad spray pattern' and 'you warm up your lady first, don't you?' are all ignored by 1 tank exponents.

Blowby is combustion gasses that leak by the rings, all the time, but a lot more when the engine is cold- the engine is toleranced to fit just right when hot, so all those gaps loosen up when everthing cools down and shrinks by an amount which is tiny, but large when compared to the engine clearances, which are also tiny. This is not a problem when diesel is in the blowby gasses- Rotella, Delo and other diesel certified oils are formulated not to freak out or break down when exposed to diesel. It ain't great, but it's known and dealt with. This is not the case when the blowby gasses bear uncombusted WVO, and mix it into the crank oil. Poly comes into it's own as a bugaboo in the rings (where it sticks) and crankcase, where it is said to form the dreaded crankcase mayonaise, which definately mess with the lubricating and sealing properties of the oil.

That being said there are rules that people follow and end up rebuilding/re-ringing or replacing engines, some people ignore these rules and claim to be fine. Your mileage may vary.

Disclosure: I drive a 2 tank system, coolant heated lines, coolant heated coiled tube in shell final heat exchanger, looped VO & VO filter. Change over at 80 C coolant temp, purge at shutdown.

I have 240D on a two tank veggie oil system. I read a lot about elsbeth 15 years ago and about this specific engine. I am running a direct injection diesel generator (listeroid) on veggie with a lot of cooking.
Kessler if you don't mind me asking, what is difference about the elsbeth injectors you put in your 240D . Higher pressure, different spray pattern . multi hole? Do you have a picture of the new injectors?

Thanks and good luck

__________________
85 MB 300TD with om616 4 spd
83 MB 300TD
83 MB 240D scrapped
82 MB 240D scrapped
97 Ford E350 diesel 4x4, WVO
94 Ford E350 4x4 diesel blown head..parts car
85 cherokee diesel 2.1, 300.000, WVO
85 cherokee diesel 2.1
85 lebaron convertible, to be electric
85 lada niva 4x4 with 1.9 peugeot diesel,
72 citroen DS 5spd, LPG
77 Jaguar XJS, LPG
73 corvette 350 auto
88 MB Gelande 240 GD military
98 Ford E350 mini bus to be new 4x4 camper