Father forgive me, for I have sinned. My damned Beemer's computer warns me when I'm about a half a quart low on oil, and I've gotten a bit spoiled.

I ran my Benz a little too long with the oil too low (thirty lashes with a timing belt) and it started making a raspy noise. It gradually got worse -- I thought it was an exhaust manifold gasket going out. Couldn't find the pressure of an exshaust leak though.

A couple of days ago, the turbo really started to go. What a racket. But when I'd mash the pedal down, the noise would vanish until I'd back off a bit. At idle the noise was intermittant -- I used a stethoscope and the noise was clearly coming from the Turbo.

So, this is my first Benz or turbo diesel of any kind, do you think a bone yard turbo would be good enough? Any signs of trouble to watch out for? Would rebuilding mine be better?

I don't even have it out yet so I haven't examined the damage.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K