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  #1  
Old 07-08-2007, 12:20 PM
JBG JBG is offline
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Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!

I posted about a week ago about how my valve cover breather hose blew off after a long day of driving. Got the part from mercedesshop, came the NEXT DAY (!), put it on and end of problem. So it seems.

Yesterday I had another pretty long day of driving. After going up a pretty steep incline in 3rd, coasting down the other side, I started hearing an increasing tick/ping (pretty loud) and then the car just shut off! Took a look underneath and there was a slow ribbon of smoke coming from the first connection of the exhaust pipe (for reference, it was right about where the back doors and front doors meet), and the same trickle of smoke coming from the fuel lines right next to the exhaust pipe. Under the hood there was some smoke coming from the air filter housing where the breather hose connects. I took off the hose and the air filter cover just to have a look. All was fine. Nothing seemed too hot, considering. The engine temp was totally fine, according to the gauge.

The car cooled down a bit, I checked the fluids, ATF appeared low, I put in a drop or two, and we headed off. No further problems after another 40 miles, a 2 hr. pause, and then about 50 miles back home. Any ideas???


Thanks guys.

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  #2  
Old 07-08-2007, 12:47 PM
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An interesting mystery, certently not an everyday occerence, surely there are a few folks out there that have been driving these beasts long enough to know whats going on. Some "blockage" in the system
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  #3  
Old 07-08-2007, 01:35 PM
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The main clues in the story are that your breather hose blew off recently and you were going downhill.
Here's my hypothesis: You built up pressure in the crankcase which caused the shut off valve to engage, turning off the engine. Pressure in the crankcase is roughly equivalent to vacuum on the other side of the shut off. Get enough pressure (by plugging the breather hose or in your case, something else) and the engine will shut down.
Something is causing high crankcase pressure. Excessive blowby? Hole in a piston?
The reason it happened going downhill is that the engine was not combusting, and burning the crankcase gases, allowing them to build up.
To test my hypothesis, T into the breather hose with a flexible hose and attach a pressure gauge and run it back into the passenger compartment and monitor your crankcase pressure.
Redneck solution: T into the breather hose with a valve and a hose running to atmosphere. Control the valve with a cable, like a heater valve is controlled. When going downhill, open the valve, temporarily venting the crankcase to atmosphere. Close the valve at the bottom of the hill.
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  #4  
Old 07-08-2007, 01:53 PM
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How is "Excessive" blow-by defined in these circumstances? My tube has certainly never popped off going down the road, but my dad was playing with things while we were changing my valve cover gasket, and he was able to kill the engine by placing a finger over the open hole where we'd taken that crankcase vent tube out... it took about 30 seconds though, before it died. Is this "excessive" or "Normal for a half-worn-out engine"
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  #5  
Old 07-08-2007, 01:59 PM
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I've plugged the PCV hole in my 300D and it died in about 8 seconds.
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  #6  
Old 07-08-2007, 02:16 PM
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I don't think the numbers are of much use. Leaking seals skew the results too much to give reliable information. There is an actual blowby measurement tool. Never seen one myself.
I propose a 30 gal garbage bag test. Put the breather tube in a 30 gallon garbage bag while holding it sealed tightly around the tube with your hands or duct tape. Time the number of seconds it takes to fill the bag. I think this test, which doesn't rely on high pressures would give better comparative results.
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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
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  #7  
Old 07-08-2007, 03:26 PM
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Good for you

That is an elegant solution. Simple, no risk to the vehicle, reasonably quantitative. I'll post results for both cars next time they're at operating temps (probably tomorrow). Let's compare.

Jeremy
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Our all-Diesel family
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2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
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Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
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  #8  
Old 07-08-2007, 04:18 PM
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I will do the same on mine

That is an elegant solution. Simple, no risk to the vehicle, reasonably quantitative. I'll post results for both cars next time they're at operating temps (probably tomorrow). Let's compare.
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  #9  
Old 07-08-2007, 04:27 PM
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Gigo

Remember to use the ShopForum-approved "standard 30 gallon garbage bag."
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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970
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  #10  
Old 07-08-2007, 08:18 PM
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First results

Wife went out to buy mealworms (so what are YOU having for dinner??? ) so I had her leave the car out when she returned. Here are the "garbage bag blowby" test results.

Test conditions
1. Car (1987 300D-T W124) was driven about ten miles in 80F weather. The engine was hot but not HOT.
2. Garbage bag measures 33 inches wide by 40 inches long (about 0.8 meter by 1 meter).
3. Garbage bag was attached with wire twist-ties to the end of the hose that goes from the valve cover to the turbo inlet hose.
4. The engine was started and a photo taken every 30 seconds.

[continued]
Attached Thumbnails
Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time000.jpg   Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time030.jpg   Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time060.jpg   Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time090.jpg   Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time120.jpg  

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970
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  #11  
Old 07-08-2007, 08:22 PM
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Part 2 of 2

[continued]

After 3 minutes, the bag was fairly full, so I stopped the test. I estimate it could have gone another minute before it really started to bulge.

As a final check, I loosened the oil fill cap and plugged the hose vent to do a "tea kettle" test. The cap buzzed around a little but not very much. This suggests minimum blowby (136,000 miles on the engine).

Jeremy
Attached Thumbnails
Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time150.jpg   Drive car for over half a day, it shuts off!?!-time180.jpg  
__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970
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  #12  
Old 07-08-2007, 08:26 PM
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We have a standard!!!
We're going to need a sticky for all the forthcoming blowby comparisons.
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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
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  #13  
Old 02-19-2010, 11:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry View Post
We have a standard!!!
We're going to need a sticky for all the forthcoming blowby comparisons.
just following up from another thread kerry, so is Jeremy's 87 300d (Jeremy may answer this) a solid running engine with little blow-by or a medium good engine , or a bad engine? lol, thanks
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  #14  
Old 02-19-2010, 12:05 PM
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... 3 years... I gotta hear the answer to this one.
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  #15  
Old 02-19-2010, 01:08 PM
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its in reference to this current thread.lol

Blowby video, how bad is it?

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