Diesel Dilemma

[chief_noseeum]

Hi everybody,

I am a new member psoting for the first time. I am looking for a little advice on a problem with my 1982 300 Turbodiesel.

Recently, I was driving at 65 mph when the return line on the oil cooler ruptured spilling 6 quarts of oil. I became aware of a problem when the engine started losing power, and quickly pulled off the road.

I let the car cool down and fixed the hose and refilled the engine with 6 qts of oil. It ran fine when I restarted it, but lost power after driving at slow speed for about a mile. I noticed that the oil pressure was low as the engine lost power.

The engine starts fine when it is cold, but loses power and runs rough as it reaches operating temperature. I checked the oil and found no coolant in it. There is no oil in the coolant either. I don't think there was any damage to the head gasket as the engine temperarture remained normal through the episode.

It seems like the compression drops as the engine warms up. This seems odd to me as I would expect compression to increase as the temperature warms up if it were a ring problem. Oil pressure also drops at temperature.

Could something have happened to the valve adjustment to cause this? I know these engines are very sensitive to valve clearances.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I spoke to my local MB mechanic, but he didn't want to comment before he looked at the car. I am wondering if the engine has suffered major damage before I have the car towed to the shop as it won't make it there under it's own power.

Thanks in advance
The Chief