Hi all,

This is my first post to this forum, though i'm pretty well entrenched in another online forum for my Porsche/VW 914.

We've (girl and I) have picked a a cherry 300D for her, to eventually run bio in, but over the past months we've noticed that it loses a considerable amount of oil each month. About 3 or 4 quarts!

This seems excessive to me, and after she ran it out of oil the other day (zero reading on the dipstick and excess valve train noise) it seems clear that i need to figure out where its going!

the motor doesn't have any major external leaks, just some light dripping from the crossmember at the rear of the motor. I did however notice oil puddled in the air cleaner from the crankcase ventilation.

Could that be the oil leak? is it supposed to have oil puddled in the air cleaner area? Seemed like it could slowly be draining off into the intake to me if thats the leak, which would explain why there are no major leaks underneath.

or is it the oil blowing out the tailpipe.



I'm also looking to adjust the valves and check the timing chain and injection timing in the near future. If anyone has some quick links to these direct procedures it would be appreciated. I looked in the DIY section and found alot of searching to be done, short on time right now.

Thanks!
brer

how many miles are on this car.. how bad does it smoke at idle or while driving.. and how much did you pay for it..

If it's not leaking significantly, externally, then it's leaking into the intake via the turbo or leaking into the cylinders via the valve stems, or a combination of the two.

How many miles on the engine?

Its got 200k miles.

general driving does not generate much smoke, though accelerating onto the freeway or uphills, basically under load it will put a pretty good cloud out behind.

No smoke on idle and very little on startup. following it around town i do not see barely any smoke. Higher engine revs seem to let some loose.

we paid 3200 for the car, but had to invest in shocks and front end bushings and filters and a cigar hose.... oh and tires. So about 4k so far. Its in very good shape though. Starts right up and runs well, save for an intermittant valve rattle??? like its floating? only when under load. But thats another issue on the list.

id go ahead with that valve adjustment and start from their. any pics of this car.. like the members here told me about my car problems when i got it... "its not always the most expensive thing that is broke" in my case it wasnt..

I recently put a reconditioned head on the SD. All the exhaust valves were worn well below the limit and the seals were shot. The engine would use a quart every 2K miles or so.

This one sounds like it's burning a bit more than this. Be nice to determine if the turbo is the culprit or not. You'd have to pull the manifold and check for oil in the intake. If not, then the most likely culprit is valve guides and/or seals.

Start out with a valve adjustment. Do it yourself!

http://dieselgiant.com/valveadjustment.htm

Keep asking questions if you dont know something. We are here to help each other.

__________________
1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

How many miles during the month it lost that much oil? Unless you're a long distance driver, that's an awful lot of oil to put thru the combustion chambers.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

she drives less than 500 miles a month.
no oil slick under the car in her parking space, just some small drips.

Its a NA diesel as well.

The oil loss is quite excessive, at every tank full we are putting at least a quart in minimum, which is why i thought it may be draining through the crankcase venting system.

is that puddle of oil in the air cleaner housing normal? or should it be dry in there?

thanks for the help by the way.

I believe on that particular model, a failure of the vacuum pump diaphragm will suck oil into the air cleaner and thru the manifold. If so, there should be a white/clear hose going from the vacuum pump over to the air cleaner. Check to see if there is oil inside it.
Later models did not have this feature.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

after you adjust the valves it would be informative to do a compression test. Also, if you loosen the oil cap and rev it up a bit from idle, does the cap bounce around?

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

loosen the oil cap at idle and let us know how much it dances... we need to get this solved before it starts burning its own oil in the worst way possible..

I have an 81 300D NA with same problem but not quite a quart every week. It is not normal for that to puddle in air cleaner. I adjusted valves and it did not help much. Car ran better though. The 1980 without EGR has clear white hose from Vacuum pump My 1981 has the crank case vent into the air cleaner and the oil separtor and the excess oil from blowby will drain backt into the crankcase through a pipe under air cleaner. Make sure that is mated with the air cleaner. Also, there is a check valve at the bottom of that pipe so oil does not come up. It can get clogged and stop up.
The fix (I have read here) is to try some motor flush or something during the next oil change after you drain the oil. Not sure what that is but pour it down tube and let it come out drain hole in oil pan. Also there is a great pictorial write up on how to replace it . Parts are like $20 bucks and it looks rather simple.

Sorry have no links to that. . But a search on OIl separator check valve should turn up something . It may be on page 9 of the results though.

__________________
What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

here she is with the benz.
will check the dancin cap tomorrow.

peace,
b/

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__________________
Jason Green
1977 240D AUTOMATIC the Beast
1974 Super Beetle



Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain, a Biography