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  #1  
Old 05-02-2005, 09:53 PM
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New Owner needs some help.

I've spent the past 3 hours reading posts and my head is spinning from way too much information (I don't know where to start). Any way here it is. I bought a 92 300D 2.5 Turbo Diesel about 2 months ago, with the hope of converting to WVO some day soon. It was great on the day I test drove it, but has quickly developed some issues.

1. Shifts hard when under heavy load, and exhibits "transmission flare" under partial load.

2. I thought A/C worked when I bought it, but was a cold day. Seems to be basically non-existent now.

3. Over the past few weeks it has begun to blow more and more blue smoke. At first it was just a puff leaving my driveway in the morning. Now its a big cloud as I leave a stop light, or let off the gas after accelerating quickly.

#3 is the top priority for me right now. From what others have described through my readings it sounds like worn valve guides, but before I take the plunge into changing them, I'd like to check the more mundain items. I'm going to check for turbo wiggle right now

So what should I look at first, second, third?

I know there are a million and one posts with similiar problems, but for someones first trip to the boards its a little overwhelming. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Last edited by hendu; 05-02-2005 at 10:03 PM.
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  #2  
Old 05-02-2005, 10:50 PM
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I took off the hose from the air-filter to the turbo to check for play in the turbo shaft. There wasn't any play in the shaft, but there was a fresh coat of oil around the turbo inlet. I assume that it came from the hose that comes from the valve cover to the turbo inlet hose (blow by?)
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  #3  
Old 05-02-2005, 10:51 PM
t walgamuth's Avatar
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300 stuff

i always look to the simple things first. have you changed the oil? if not so that and use a good diesel rated oil such as rotella. it does sound as if a seal could be going out in the turbo (not a simple thing). the oil past the valves thing would not come on fast but very gradually over time. the ac and tranny both can easily be vacuum leaks. (a simple thing). good luck.
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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

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  #4  
Old 05-02-2005, 10:53 PM
t walgamuth's Avatar
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blow

yeah it could be blow by. everyone says to disable the exhaust gas recirculator. that i dont think is directly related to your problem, but is probably a good idea in the long run.
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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.
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  #5  
Old 05-03-2005, 12:22 AM
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knowing you milage would be useful in diagnosing your problem.

dont disable your EGR yet, fix the problem first. besides, disconnecting the vacuum from the EGR in that engine will dump all of your boost, you have to do something more complicated involving alot more work.

the transmission problem is a vacuum leak, which could also affect the a/c, but i think its more likely that you have a refridgerant leak, probably in the evaporator coil, this is common in the 124 and expensive, but you could have a leak somewhere else. if it was blowing cold when you bought it, the seller might have known about the leak and filled the freon before you drove it, it lasts for a couple days even if theres a leak, this is a pretty common practice for scumbags, but i dont know who you bought it from so theres no real basis for that accusation, just a possibility. it might have been just a cold day like you say.

regarding the blue smoke, that means your burning oil, but only if its blue. if its black smoke, its totally normal.
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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350
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  #6  
Old 05-03-2005, 12:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by t walgamuth
yeah it could be blow by. everyone says to disable the exhaust gas recirculator. that i dont think is directly related to your problem, but is probably a good idea in the long run.
blow-by goes through the turbo, not the EGR, which is on the boost side of the turbo.

there shouldnt be any oil on the intake side of the turbo (at least ive never seen any in mine) your oil might be overfilled, that might also cause the blue smoke.
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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350
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  #7  
Old 05-03-2005, 03:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grdenko
blow-by goes through the turbo, not the EGR, which is on the boost side of the turbo.

there shouldnt be any oil on the intake side of the turbo (at least ive never seen any in mine) your oil might be overfilled, that might also cause the blue smoke.
No not the EGR, there is a hose that goes from the valve cover to the turbo inlet, it looks like this might be where the oil is coming from. The oil level is about half way between high and low on the dip stick, so its not over filled. Its definately blue, and its definately NOT normal. The car has about 155k miles on it.
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  #8  
Old 05-03-2005, 05:07 PM
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Sounds more like blow-by at the rings or possibly the valve guide seals. Are you getting a bunch of crankcase pressure when you remove the oil cap while the engine is running?
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  #9  
Old 05-04-2005, 09:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hendu
No not the EGR, there is a hose that goes from the valve cover to the turbo inlet, it looks like this might be where the oil is coming from. The oil level is about half way between high and low on the dip stick, so its not over filled. Its definately blue, and its definately NOT normal. The car has about 155k miles on it.
Black oil in the air cleaner or inlet manifold will normally be due to blowby oil vapours.

Any oil vapour entering the inlet manifold will be burned as fuel and will not leave smoke.
White smoke will be oil from the turbo seal leaking into the exhaust pipe. Check inside the exhaust for oily soot. Is there much oil deposited on the back of the car?
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Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.
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  #10  
Old 05-04-2005, 09:33 AM
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Transmission

Have you checked your transmission fluid exactly as it says to in the manual? One day out of no where mine started mysteriously flaring slightly. I hadn't checked the fluid in a few months and after checking the fluid as the manual said several times I discovered it was bellow the minimum mark on the dipstick. I added about half a quart and it cleared the problem right up. The hard shifting probably is a vacuum leak because when I broke one of the tiny hoses coming off of the brake booster it would shift crazy hard. Good luck!
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1984 300D 225K
1985 300D Donor body
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  #11  
Old 05-04-2005, 01:50 PM
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Thanks for all the replies. I'll check everything you guys have suggested when I get back in town, but I know right now that there is a lot of soot on the tail pipes, not really on the car itself though.
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  #12  
Old 05-04-2005, 02:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyFromWestOz
Black oil in the air cleaner or inlet manifold will normally be due to blowby oil vapours.
in the 92 300D, the blowby goes in after the air cleaner but right before the turbo, so there wouldnt be any in the air cleaner. the black residue in the intake manifold in the US is from the EGR, i dont think you have them in Australia (thank your lucky stars) theres usually ALOT of black goo in the intake manifold from the EGR, thats why people take them off, but in the 92, its complicated.
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1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350
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  #13  
Old 05-04-2005, 04:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grdenko
in the 92 300D, the blowby goes in after the air cleaner but right before the turbo, so there wouldnt be any in the air cleaner. the black residue in the intake manifold in the US is from the EGR, i dont think you have them in Australia (thank your lucky stars) theres usually ALOT of black goo in the intake manifold from the EGR, thats why people take them off, but in the 92, its complicated.
My AF is remarkably clean and I see that the hose from valve cover goes in after the air filter, but before the turbo, and this is where it APPEARS the oil is coming from, that's why I'm thinking it blow by and not the turbo. Plus the turbo shaft feels nice and solid. I had a previous gasser turbo where the seals went bad and shaft had noticable play in it. This one feels good and from reading others experiences the turbo's seem be pretty tough and last a good long time. I ordered a valve stem seal kit from mercedesshop.com. I'll go ahead and throw them on when I get back in town next week. I'm just a little worried about dropping a valve in cylinder bore while I'm doing it . I've never owned 5 cylinder car before, I assume 1,3,5 would be up at TDC and 2,4 at 180, is that correct?
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  #14  
Old 05-05-2005, 09:39 AM
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Hendu,
The 5 cyl is more than a 4 cyl with another cylinder. The crank throws IIRC are offset by 144 degrees.
Thus, with #1 at TDC, one cyl would be @ 288' BTDC, one @ 144' BTDC, one @ 144' ATDC, and one @ 288'ATDC.
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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.
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  #15  
Old 05-10-2005, 09:30 PM
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Tony thanks for the education. When I got back in town today I wanted to at least get something done so I decided to take off the valve cover to see how things looked. I found a bunch of oil in the pipe over the valve cover that goes from the turbo to the intake manifold. So it looks like oil is definately getting burned and not just discharged out the back of the turbo. It LOOKS like oil is going from the valve cover to the turbo inlet then into the intake manifold. I got a valve stem seal kit and will try and see if I can make some headway on that tomorrow. Thanks for the input everyone.

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