As far as the banjo bolt for that line you showed you could plug the hole in the intake manifold with a regular bolt so you will have turbo but be carful not to over boost although I would guess you won't as most of these cars need to have the boost adjusted up. Run you hand around the oil filter housing right under the lid to see if you find a lot of oil, if not then at the base of the oil filter are the two hoses to the cooler and you might check if it is leaking here and be able to tighten the fittings but be carful not to brake anything. If you still can't find the leak/leaks go to a car was and maybe you could clean the area so you can get a better look.(be carful not to spray a hot IP or you could damage it)

Ohhh, good idea. I'll try that and report back.

Oil. What is the right one? I had Rotella T that the guy at the autoparts store gave me. I told him it was a diesel. I'll need to pick up more.
As I think about it, it should be Rotella D, right?
I checked oil in Valdosta GA, Tuesday morning. At the lower middle but I'd only driven 3 hours.

Rotella T is fine.

Any diesel rated oil for now- even the cheap stuff for now as long as you are bleeding it.

Let's not turn this into an oil thread....

Look underneath the injection pump where it mounts to the engine (it will be directly 'behind' the vacuum pump). I had a catastrophic oil leak there, and it only happened while at interstate speeds. It leaked 1qt/100 miles. The leak happened suddenly, and I found out when I lost oil pressure at 85mph. 15k miles later I've got a bad rod knock. Once I found out I had the leak I stopped every 100 miles or so and added oil. I was ~halfway (Oklahoma) on a trip to Phoenix, AZ from Starkville,MS and made the rest of the trip and back by adding lots of oil. Think I went through 6 gallons. When I got back my oil was gray instead of black!!

I would go to an auto parts store and get some stop leak for oil. If it is a good stop leak it will contain lots of 'esters' which make rubber seals swell. That allowed me to make the rest of the trip... over a period of 500 miles I was able to slowly increase my speed from 50mph (about where the leak started spewing oil) to 70mph without a significant increase in oil leakage.

If you absolutely must get home quickly buy a couple gallons of the cheapest oil you can find, and just stop every 100 miles and add oil. Also, it would be a good idea to slow down.


In regards to the other post about just putting a bolt in the intake manifold.... that is a fantastic idea! Most auto part stores will let you walk in & out to try different bolt sizes till you find the one that will fit. I think that bolt will have a standard metric thread, etc. It won't be able to connect to that boost line, but it will stop the noise and air leak.


Best of luck!! You'll get home with it eventually! :)

If you clog that hole, the ALDA will not know that there is boost present, and as a result it won't add any extra fuel. There is no worry about overboosting... The overboost protection circuit just vents the ALDA line to atmosphere anyway (which is what is happening on her car now).

John-

That's a new thing to worry us...what is this - where the pump bolt to the lump on the side of the engine? And the clogged banjo bolt is the normal condition for most turbos anyway.

Ginny- you may luck out and find a bolt to fit, maybe not. I wouldn't spend much time on it. Anything that will plug that hole and not get sucked into the intake will do to get you home. There shouldn't be all that much pressure there if the air cleaner is doing its job.

Just keep oil in it and go make those pizzas!

Rick

As you have noted, the oil runs down from gravity, and then it is blown back by the fan and air rushing by the car. So, start looking for the leak in front of, and above, where you see it on the bottom. Places I have had bad leaks from at the front of the engine are missing bolts in the support brackets for the A/C compressor and the P/S pump. These bolts go all the way into passages where engine oil runs, under pressure, and it will just leak out of a loose bolt and run out freely once the bolt falls out. Jim

She'd be better off leaving it open. With no boost signal to the ALDA there would not be enough fuel to accompany the boost. No sense adding to the cylinder pressure without the needed fuel to burn. She could have a blowby issue with all the oil leaks, that would only make it worse.

I wouldn't really worry about your noise as it is most assuredly the missing banjo bolt allowing exhaust noises.
You can't necessarily be sure that your oil loss rate will continue at the amount you have added since you started. Something could have cut an oil cooler line, or vibrated something, and all that loss could be in the last 20 miles!! :eek:
You really need to spray off the engine if it is not too cold for the manual car wash and figure out the leak point.
Again, don't worry about the noise at this time......

Duct tape will blow right off when the turbo builds pressure. It won't hurt anything to drive the rest of the way with it open if you can't find the right bolt and seals. You just won't have the turbo boost.

I just went out to get some popcorn
 

This is better than watching "LOST"! I can't wait to see what happens next.:P

It's the ALDA.
I taped it closed and the noise almost stopped. The duct tape couldn't stick totally because of the nastiness around the area. When I took the tape off, the noise started again.
As for the leak, I'll do my best to find it.

What can I expect from my engine in terms of driving and what it will do without the bolt. Driving with the noise is going to make my stomach hurt the whole time wondering if something else is going to go wrong.

What rating will the oil need to be? 15W40? 5W40? Other?

Thanks guys

So glad I could keep you entertained!:D:D:D:D:D:D

Car wash is a great idea. Those quarter-operated ones are just fine. Let the engine cool for 10-15 minutes after you pull in the bay if you're worried about cold water cracking something - but truth be told, I've hot-sprayed mine once before and didn't hurt anything.

Use the soap and get things as degreased as you can with a reasonable amount of quarters and start looking for that oil leak.

Rotella is the oil I run full-time in my diesel... it'll be fine to keep you going. Just need to be sure you aren't losing it too fast to keep the engine safe.

You're losing it fast enough the type doesn't matter at this point. I use 15w40. 5w40 is fine too.

good about the intake- just leave it open.

I would use 15w 40 for now ( thicker is better) . That may change after you address the cause of the leak

I would not recommend that stuff. It will destroy every seal in the engine eventually. Better to deal with the leaks you've got than have to reseal the entire engine.

Agreed.

At the moment, what you've got is messy, frustrating, but fully drivable, and more importantly, fully fixable.

Anything you do to get those last few hours home needs to try to keep those things the same :-D

All in all, I'd say you're doing great. Murphy's Law applies to any situation... but at least you're not walking.

yeah-

just grab 3 gallons of oil and drive. Check oil in 20 miles. If its OK go 50. Check oil. If its OK go 100. Check oil. Check oil. Check oil.

and watch the gauge like a hawk.

GO

How do you check the oil while driving?
The oil should be in the engine and not the pan, how much oil should the dipdtick show when most of the oil is up and not down in the pan?

It should settle enough to show up on the stick if you just let it sit (or even idle) for a few minutes. 5 minutes is plenty of time to let enough oil settle down to prove that it's on the stick or not.

Ditto.
You've only got 600 miles to go. Even if it's using a quart every 50 miles, it's a manageable distance as long as you stop and check the oil frequently enough. You'll have to stop the engine to check the oil and it will take a few minutes for the oil to drain back down so if you check it within 5 minutes of stopping, I wouldn't fill it completely up to the top mark because there will probably still be some draining down.
How much have you used in total so far on the trip?

By the way, the roads in Denver were horrendous this morning. Three inches of solid ice on all the side streets. I hope you don't run across these same conditions in western Kansas. Be prepared to hole up for a night if it happens. I've tried to drive across western Kansas in those conditions and regretted it.

I should have said "STOP and check oil"

Your engine will loose about 50 hp. It will feel like a real slug, but it'll get you home & it won't hurt the engine to run it that way. Did you try to find a MB dealer in KC? They may have the bolt. (See post #92 for P/N's) Won't cost that much and it will make the rest of the trip easier to bear.

http://mb-kc.com/

Not sure if this is the right place or not...

Without the bolt on the intake you will be no worse off power-wise than a naturally aspirated pre-82 300D.

PM me with your address and I will drop you one in the mail.

Go home. Stop and check oil . OFTEN.

Thanks Kerry (you guy or gal?) I knew a storm was on the way.
Do you know how far east it went?

called the mb dealership and they have none in stock but did give me an address of a close junkyard that has mb cars. I'll pull one off there and get moving

couldn't do this without you all.

Be careful removing the bolt at the junkyard, the washers will fall out when you remove it. Place your hand under the fitting before pulling the bolt out of the fitting, so the washers fall in your hand. If you loose them, just go ahead & bolt the fitting to the intake manifold without them. Worse case, you,ve got a small air leak...no big deal.

This isn't exactly off subject even if it seems like it.

When you're looking for directions and phone numbers and things... you can actually send a text message to Google now and get a reply.

You may already know about this... but it has gotten me out of trouble several times.

If you send a text on your phone to GOOGLE - 466453 I think - and all it says is "mercedes benz" followed by a zip code or a city,state combination, it will return phone book entries within 30 seconds or so.

You can also send them "directions place a place b"

You can also send them "weather city,state" for a forecast.

All free except whatever your cell phone company gets you for on text messages. Convenient in a pinch.

I like the ambiguity.
I don't have cable where I could watch the storm on the weather channel so I don't know how far east it went.
If it were me, I wouldn't bother stopping for the bolt. I drove from Denver to Southern Utah last year with that line inadvertently disconnected. Less power, but no issues apart from that.

I have to go to the bathroom
 

I'm also going to get some Doritos while I'm up. I hope I don't miss out on any action.

I know what you mean, I'm putting off going to lab as long as I can.

While we are waiting for the next episode, whenever that might be, its worth noting that if you ever need a jump start, a few gallons of fuel, or a tire change you can call 1-800-MERCEDES and they will be out, free of charge. If you're cute, you might even get a top off of Rotella....

To further muddy the waters for you Ginny - Kerry has been known to suck off a diesel benz via the vac line (manually).

Hopefully, you can at least laugh a little on this trip, in light of your current conditions....and yes, many of us have been entertained....but it's an altruistic entertainment. We're all pulling for you.

Well that counts me out. Bet they wouldnt even jump the car.....:rolleyes:

It was an emergency measure to get me through my roadtrip. I only put one bottle in and it drastically reduced my oil consumption until I had the time to properly repair it (2k miles later). It sounds like her leak isn't as bad as mine, and I retract my recommendation of it. It still does have its uses though!

The duel 150's are about to start in Daytona. I'll check in during the commercials.

Isn't the number 1-800-FOR-MERC ?

Oh yeah? I used to work right across from the track ( GE Daytona, RIP, now defunct) and this day was always a real PITA. I'm in Orlando now, so I miss that action, but general traffic is now a PITA.

I suspect she may be on her way- I don't know how she's getting this to us but we may be in suspense for awhile now.

Oops- probably is. I have never needed it. (although my wife ran her 300D out of fuel a few weeks back- I wish she had used it) I think its posted on top of everyone's cubbybox door.

Rick

And this will work for my old Benzs too????

(Sorry for the thread railroad)

Yes.

I don't know if you could get an accurate oil level reading while the engine was running due to all the oil squirting and spraying around down there :).

Shut the engine off and check it. In my experience after oil changes, the last bit from midway to full seems to take a few minutes to settle into the pan. With the engine warm, it should should show somewhere on the dipstick immediately, and won't take long to settle for the accurate reading.

FYI, I'd consider washing the engine while on a road trip an invitation to Murphy myself, especially in freezing temps (I've frozen myself out a few times doing the winter carwash thing.. great fun :)). Check the oil cooler lines for leaks because those are catastrophic and then get a baseline on how fast you're leaking it.

Hey everybody, Ginny just called. She got the banjo bolt at a junkyard and is on her way. We probably won't hear from her again till she gets home. She said to tell everyone thanks!

I'm afraid she worried way too much about that and not enough about the oil leak. I'm impressed though with how she gets stuff done.
Nice of you to help her out John....

I was thinking the same thing (fixated on the banjo).....but Gloria, I mean Ginny will undoubtedly survive.:D

From a "Driving a strange car in a strange place" perspective, alarming noises that you hear going down the road and know not to be normal... are far more of a "deer in headlights" situation than an oil leak - when you have an oil leak, you know you have an oil leak, you have spare oil in your trunk (she said she was getting a few gallons), and you know you need to check frequently and keep an eye on the gauge.

Oil leak is a larger mechanical problem.... but it's more easily handled temporarily.

It's all good :D

You know, that's an excellent point - I didn't take the time to look at it that way. I'm sitting here, bored at work, carefully reading each post and was generally at ease with the banjo being missing...I probably had lost sight of how unnerving on-the-road issues can be.

..but I don't know if the oil issue is easier to handle - you could drive forever with the bolt missing (admittedly slower) - but not so with the oil leak.

Alright - I'll stop Monday Morning Quarterbacking.....I sincerely wish the best and she's much braver than I.

Well, what I meant was... a levelheaded person can drive several hundred miles making periodic oil adjustments - and know the entire time, that as long as the oil situation is managed, the car will not leave them stranded.

Not true with weird noises if you aren't used to the sounds it would normally make.

Anyway, not trying to derail things and go off on the psychiatry of car driving. Just food for thought :D

I agree that she could have driven it home without the bolt, but 8 hrs behind the wheel hearing that leak would be like Chinese water torture and may mask another sound that she should be hearing. She's aware of the oil leak/consumption and knows it could be a recent development and will not assume she can go 375 mi per qt of oil based on what it consumed so far. She'll keep her eye on the gauge, check oil level often & should be fine.