That's exactly what happened to my 240. When I first bought it I was ultra concerned about the oil level and kept checking it to keep it near the top mark. Then I got concerned about excess oil consumption because it kept going down to the halfway point between the marks. I finally stopped topping it up and it's stayed there ever since.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

My 82 240D (616) does have a cooler, but no turbo . . . I keep it no more than halfway between the add & full, let it get down to the add, or a tad below, then fill it back to the halfway point . . . checked in the morning cold after sitting all night . . . use Rotella 15w40 . . .

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82 240D Manual 277K and still rolling!
02 Volvo S60 AWD For Sale

Yes, that explains it well....I have been chasing leaks and have them all cleared up on one car to where it hardly leaks at all. I never see much smoke even at a cold start and hardly any blowby.....wondering where the oil goes until it gets to the "correct level". seems to go somewhere fast and then its good.
The other car actually did spit something out the tailpipe this past winter. It was really cold and I had checked the oil and topped it up one day. We drove the car all day and did not shut it off for like twelve hours straight. The next day I was walking past the rear hatch and saw a spray of black slimey oilly like tar balls across the hatch. You could tell that it came from the direction of the tailpipe. I went to check the oil and the level was closer to the bottom mark now after only twelve hours of driving? maybe I cleaned some carbon out driving in cold temperatures? Lots of highway driving that day, with quite a bit of fuel additive to prevent gelling. 0w-40 rottella synthetic.

Seems strange that MB put the full mark on the dip stick, if 1/2 way between
full and add is the best place to keep the oil.

Maybe the top line should be read as "Never go past this line or
engine will self distruct".

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I read somewhere that Mercedes designed the fill marks so that they would be accurate when the owner started a diesel fill-up, opened the hood and pulled the dipstick. About 3 minutes after shutdown, IIRC.

Anyone else read that?

I would expect that 3minutes after running at temperature, substantially all of the oil that will return to the sump, has.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Sorry, not true.
Depending upon the MB diesel, and internal condition, it can retain 0.25 - 1.00 quart for a substantial time 0.75 - 1.0 hour for a good reading.

The only 100% accurate reading is in the morning (cold) before starting..

what good is the cold reading level?

Don't we want to know the running level?

edit**

or are you suggesting that the cold / full mark may be roughly equivalent to the halfway / running mark?

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Not to question your wisdom, but we're talking about a hot engine that has been run and shut down. If it took an hour for the oil to return to the sump, there very soon would be nothing for the oil pump to scavenge!

I'm of the "change it hot" crowd, and find that within 10-15 minutes after shutting the engine down, I've removed the plug and recovered all of the oil that I'll get out. It can sit and dribble for another hour and develop only a small puddle. Same with checking my oil, get back from a trip and check the oil after a few minutes, it's the same then as if I waited until the next morning.

Try it, hot oil returns quickly to the sump.


Cold might be different, dyno oil cold would be like draining peanut butter, so the time for it to drain from the valve train etc. could be a while.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Charlie,

I think that what works for one car, may not be the same for another one . . . on mine for instatnce, I do not know how it was operated in the first 236,000 miles, but now it seems to use oil faster when it is near the top, nothing wrong with running it when it is near the add mark either . . . just means one has to check it more often . . . When I ran a semi, I checked my oil every day . . . so I don't mind pulling the stick and seeing where it is at.

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82 240D Manual 277K and still rolling!
02 Volvo S60 AWD For Sale

I can give you the full history on mine. When new and until about 150k miles, I would fill to the top mark and it would stay there. After about 150k miles it began to leak or burn some oil and quickly drop to halfway between the marks and stay there. If I kept topping it off, I'd use 2 or 3 quarts between changes. I now do a change with 7 quarts and I don't have to add any between changes. That's about half way. By change time, it is down to just above the bottom mark.

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/296386-fs-1-owner-83-mb-300d-turbo-rebuild-parts.html

Just checked my '87. Filled to full mark, ~1600 miles since change, still at full mark, just like all of my other 603/602/M104 engines.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Guys, if you overfill then the crank is picking up way too much oil on the throws, the pistons may be getting too much on the skirts, ie., you start using it as fuel. This is true in older motors with less internal sealing.

Aint no windage tray on these cars, is there!?

They probably placed it so we know how much it was overfilled. Since it takes a quart from min to max, a portion of that higher than max is equivalent to a certain volume since we've got a baseline to compare to.

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

I think the first M-B diesels to get windage trays is the OM603.970 in '90.

Full is full, more than full is over-full. I don't understand the confusion some seem to have with that.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff