The W123's have that three bar guage. My 85 300D sits at 1.6 bars at idle and doesnt lose much oil...my 240D had oil pressure of 1.9 bars at idle, but its defunct and crashed now...anyone have any data on idle oil pressure? Tried the Search Forum , but 330 messages are 2 many to read....

Mine is about the same as you guys. They say the most important thing is how quickly the gauge rises from idle when you step on the gas. It should snap to full pressure without much delay on a healthy engine. Mine does that. But I do lose some oil, 2-3 quarts between oil changes, especially if I do lots of highway driving. But a lot of that is leaks. I've got a pretty good one going somewhere around the injection pump.

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'81 300TD turbo <<sold 12/05 to another diesel nut

My 85 300D (194k) idles 2 bar. Is this a problem? Actually 3 bar after just starting the engine, then goes down to 2 bar eventually.

No problem at all.

My idle oil pressure is about 1.5 bar (at hot idle; cold idle jumps straight up to 3).

IIRC, anything below 1 bar is something to be concerned about...

Funny you guy's should ask that, as I was reading about the oil system last week in shop manual. It stated in one place that normal hot oil pressure was anything 1 bar or over, but in another spot it stated anything at idle above .5 bar was exceptable. I would say none of you have anything to worry about. My 240D has to have been running 70+ mph for a 150 miles before it will drop to just under 2 bar.

1.0 B = 14.7 psi
1.5 B = 22.0 psi
2.0 B = 29.4 psi
2.5 B = 36.8 psi
3.0 B = 44.1 psi

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

Both of our SD's idle just above 2 when warm from normal driving, or at just under 1.5 for mine after I have been doing some speedy driving, probably because the valve to the oil cooler is fully open, causing a slightly lower overall pressure, because the cooler is always hot when it falls to 1.4 bar or so, but not even warm when its up around 2.1 I can actualy observe this valve switchover, if I come off the freeway and its at 1.4, after a few mins idling at the traffic light, it actually just suddenly jumps back up to 2.1, due to the valve closing. On cold starts its always up at 3 right away. After our oil changes both took about 3-4 seconds at idle to climb up to 3, which is plenty fast.....I filled the filter housing with oil to help them out however, I just think its a good idea.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Turbo models should be near 2 bar because that it the pressure the oil sprays open. A little less (1.5 bar) is OK.

My 300D sits at 2 bar with an occasional twitch upwards hot, 3 bar (pegged) cold (Mobil Delvac 1 5W40).

The TE sits at 1.5 bar, and the old 220D even manages 18-20 psi hot.

Non-turbos are lower, less oil pump and no oil jets, above 1 bar is fine, 2 bar is great. My brother's 300D only comes down off 45 psi when it's hot, otherwise it's pegged all the time (we got the bearings nice and tight!).

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

hmm. after a high speed run.. (as if i can manage that).. my idle goes to just a tad above 1bar... but on regular driving.. it happily idles around 1.6.

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Mike

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1975 200 - Sold (no pix);
1978 200 - Sold - http://www.pbase.com/hboy/redbaron
1979 300TD - Sold
http://www.pbase.com/hboy/greenwagon
http://www.geocities.com/hboy726/300TD.html
1985 230E - now my daily driver...

When warm 1.5 bar

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2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 CRD (OM642)