Is my diesel dead?!?!
 

Was having a pleasant drive to work this morning in my 82 300cd, flying down the highway at 75. All of a sudden it would only do 70...then 65.....then 60....then 55. I immediately thought it must be the same fuel problem I had fixed last week. I pulled over as the car stalled out. I tried to restart it (still thinking it was fuel). The engine gave a slight turn (I think) and then wouldn't even turn. I was then thinking my batteries dead? Why would a diesel stall out from a battery being dead (Hey...It was early in the morning). I then noticed the temp gauge was hot....oh crap! I opened up the hood and my heart stopped....oil is all over the top of my engine! Is my baby dead!

I didn't have much time to look at it and couldn't see where the oil was coming out at yet. I had her towed home and will have a good look at her tonight after work. Should I start planning her funeral?

At that speed heat seizing is less than good. When engine cools off get some oil into it and try it. Some people are born under a lucky star. Unfortunatly for you I feel it was daytime. Hope not.
You are indicating the heat of friction as the likely cause of a very hot engine. All the parts expand until seizure or enough friction is present to bind the engine. Sometimes then a part fails sometimes not. You will know your answer if you can get it started again.
For others. Again one more unfortunate illustration that if you care for your car a low oil pressure warning device is manditory. Especially as these cars get older and older. Even it may not save you but at least you then have a much better chance.
Spend the twenty or twenty five dollars to construct one. Not rocket science and you may well live to regret you did not do it. Many have in the last couple of years alone on this site. Not worth procastinating over either. Strangley enough might even increase the resale value on ebay. Or another example of my crazy inverse logic is without one you may not have anything worth putting on ebay eventually period. So your low oil pressure warning systems cost around twenty dollars but might be worth thousands.

... hot... oil spray covering engine... my GUESS is your motor mount failed, and caused the power steering belt to cut into your oil cooler hose... this sprayed oil out of the motor, causing it to loose pressure, this caused your motor to bind.... only thing I don't understand is why your motor got hot... if your coolant was good... oil causing the belt driving the water pump to slip? let us know what happened, and how it all turns out.

Murdered.

An oil line must have failed. Yep its DOA.

The intense generation of heat by the unlubricated parts cannot be moved out quick enough. Remember the oil as one of it's primary function is to facilitate the movement of heat. So for example you could raise the bearing temperatures to melting or yield plasticity well before the heat could get away with no or little oil. Enough heat got generated to raise the coollant temperature when some of the heat flowed away from the problem areas.

Thermal runaway if you wish is underway. The coolant system can only absorb what it has access to in the way of heat. Plus the rate and speed of absorption is designed around known factors. Thats why he did not boil. The excess heat was present just not able to tranfer to the exchange points fast enough.

I also move for DOA...

If you caught it quick and saw the oil pressure dropping on the guage and the light on you could have shut it down and coasted to the side. But since you ran it until it seized its a boat anchor.

:grim:

What was it? You don't list the year/model in your tag line.

-Jim

Before you start throwing dirt on the coffin.....check for a pulse after it cools down!
Get the oil level back up and check oil cooler and oil cooler lines for leaks.
Remove the glow plugs or injectors and shoot some transmission fluid (yes the red stuff) into the combustion chambers and let it soak the pistons and rings (overnight). Then try bumping the engine with the starter until it loosens up and spins over without compression. Once it turns freely put glow plugs or injectors back in and try starting/turning her with full compression on a fully charged battery. There may be some heavy smoke as she burns off the stuff you poured in there.......and listen for unusual bearing noise or piston slap. It may be salvageable...........
Good Luck

Like he said, crank it over with the glow plugs removed. Definately want to do this with the glow plugs removed. It will make an awful mess, but it sounds like it is already a mess in there. If you put the plugs back in and then crank you run the risk of the engine using the ATF as fuel and running away...

-Jim

Yep......crank it through with no compression so any excess comes out the plug holes. I should have added that you risk "hydraulic" damage to the pistons and rods if put the glow plugs back in immediatly after pouring ATF in the cylinders.......it should not take much to lube those rings and loosen any coking that accured around the piston from the friction/heat

won't help melted or spun bearings though.

Ignore the panic pussies. Find the oil leak and turn it over by hand. Check oil, compression test. Don't ASSUME.

The engine not turning is not an assumption.