Couple car pics here:
http://imagesinthewind.homestead.com/badsounds.html

I'm not convinced the seller knew it used this much oil. I've run across odd oil consumption in a 616 before. My 307d motorhome seemed to lose a substantial amount of oil in one short trip but then it never did it again. Sometimes high speed driving can increase consumption well above normal.
The oil filter housing to block joint can leak a great deal of oil if it is loose. It's also (remotely) possible that reduced pressure in the intake manifold due to the missing banjo bolt caused an increase in oil consumption.

This site has been nothing if not supportive of any member in any kind of circumstances involving their MB Diesel. There have been times when I, and many others, were in the middle of a repair that took a turn for the worse and we needed real time answers to keep moving along to get the car serviceable. Someone with the knowledge nearly always steps up to lend some "virtual" experience to you.

Along the lines of the experience in this thread, I asked for help when my then brand new college graduate daughter took our well worn, but generally mechanically sound, 1982 240D across the country and back. All I wanted was some phone numbers for her to call along her meandering route "just in case" and I got many, many offers of help in the thread and via PMs. Luckily we did not have to exercise anyone as the car held up fine. A little stress in the summer going through Death Valley, but all in all, pretty solid performance for the car. I just reread the thread and see I never posted any photos. Well, I apologize for that now, as there were lots of photos.

Glad to see the adventure ended successfully. It would be interesting to hear the perspective of the passenger on this trip......

Jim

Have any Seattle members offered to check it out for you?

I think the factory knew it too. I would put that in the category of "features" of a Citroen, especially one from the days when they were sold in the US. Jim

I figured ya'll would look back and figure it was a fun trip.

That's the kind of thing I always enjoyed doing (we never did anything to that extent but I always wanted to) with my dad... sometimes semi-unwise expeditions are the most fun and the best remembered.

We still do things like that occasionally but here lately nobody's had the time or the ambition for it.

Glad the three of you made it home.

Very cool - thanks for sharing.

The standard has now been set for my three daughters.

All in all it was a fun trip. I do wish we had more time to be able to stop and see things along the way. I think it would have made the trip more memorable. But we did get to jam to good tunes, talk about life and what we want to be when we grow up.

I would do it again in a car I knew well.

I'm thinking I'll take the car over to our mech and have him diag the oil leak. I don't want to miss something and if it's a leak I can't deal with, they can.
Might also have him diag the two packs a day of smoke coming from the tailpipe. I'm wondering if the car would pass emissions in it's current state.

A most excellent adventure. A little late for a prepurchase inspection but a good idea to at least have your mech. look it over and then decide what you want to fix and what to have him/her fix.

Pan gasket or oil separator return line? Leaks when the oil all settles in the pan and the level rises? Might explain why there wasn't much leakage while driving.

Gojo or similar hand cleaner (without pumice) applied liberaly to the stain and allowed to soak in a bit has always gotten out all but the nastiest stains for me. A crusty old mechanic buddy shared that trick with me.

What an adventure! Glad you're home, safe and sound. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Jeans can be washed?.........

Ginny, these could be the notes for a great short story. Who knows, you might sell the story, take the money and fix the car up!

I think the real value in this trip is the lessons your daughter may have learned just watching you have and handle one problem after another. I hope she learned to fix her own problems. I hope she learned the value of friends (even if they are cyber). I hope she learned the value of asking questions. I hope she learned to keep driving until you get home! Some great life lessons for her.

My own daughter, who is 20 now, tells me I was a real hard-nosed Daddy. Any time she came to me with a problem, my first reply was "What are you gonna do about it?". She is pretty much a stand alone young lady now, nothing much even fazes her, and she seldom calls about a problem because she has learned to handle it herself. (The last "problem" call was for a broken heart and it broke my heart that I could not fix it for her. But, at least she learned yet another lesson in life).

Anyway, great stuff for reading. Frankly, I like my life experiences planned out, nice, and dull. I would used a trailer! Glad all three of you made it home!