Well, I have something nasty going on with my 617; last week I made a round trip from CO to NC (about 3000 miles) and had some problems develop. On the way out, I noticed my oil consumption was increasing significantly and it would occasionally run a little rough (slight miss). By the time I arrived the oil consumption had increased to a couple of quarts every 1000 miles. Also, on a couple of occasions I had a sound like something had broken (baseball card in the spokes type mechanical sound) but it would stop after a couple of minutes.

On the return trip I developed an external oil leak from the valve cover gasket (excessive blow-by pressure maybe?) and the oil consumption increased to at least a quart every 200 miles (not sure how much was leaking). I had the same "baseball card in the spokes" mechanical sound a couple more times, but it always went away after a couple of minutes. I drove home at 55-60 mph with frequent stops to check the oil. The strange part is that it seems to be running perfectly most of the time (smooth idle, normal power, normal temperature and oil pressure, etc.).

I need to drop it off with my indy and see what's going on. I'll have him do a compression check, take a look at the valve seals, check the injectors, etc. It seems like the best case scenario is that it just needs valve seals (unlikely) and that the worst case os a bottom end problem (rings). I guess I'll have to decide it it's time to order a reman engine or if it's worth fixing this one. Well see.

do a valve adj, make sure the valve cover nuts are tight enough, time for a new gasket?

if your not blowing smoke your not burning oil, so it much be dripping from somewhere, do a compression test

run diesel purge or just get them pop tested

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1985 300D - 599,xxxk - blue interior #265 Monark Nozzle, AL129X, 15" Ronals, Gen II Big Brakes hunting
1985 300D - 491,xxxk - in prog-{A-A IC, 3" exhaust, psi\pyro, 28*BTDC, Hella Euros, IP Limiter removal
1985 300TD - 783,xxxk - parts car,used new engine with ALDA cap inplace
1987 Kenworth T-600 8LL 425 CAT Mech. - 6,000,000+k - DEI exhaust wrap, punched through resonators, 1 recent rebuild,

I think it's a little more than that, I'm not sure I would see blue smoke from a quart every couple of 100 miles. I over-tightened the valve cover to try stop the leak, I'm sure I trashed the gasket. I will recheck the valves too, if the compression it OK I'll also replace the valve seals.

It was acting a little like a bad injector, but I suspect it was ingesting oil somehow.

Kinda sounds like rings to me. The compression test should tell the tail.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I agree, is sounds like there is excessive blow-by increasing oil consumption from the rings themselves and excessive oil mist. Try the filler cap dance thing?

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For Sale: 1982 MB 300TD
1995 Chevrolet Suburban 6.5TD

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That's actually what I'm expecting (but I don't really understand why the rough running is intermittent), if so I'll be shopping for a reman engine.

I agree with him. It sounds like rings, especially the thing about the bicycle... I had a similar situation though the sound didn;t go away. Testing compression gave poor results on two cylinders.

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Rev. Dr. G. Church of the SubGenius
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Does sound like rings apart from the sudden onset. What was your oil consumption prior to this trip?

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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

Yup, it wasn't all that sudden; the consumption had crept up to more than a quart per 1000 miles so I knew something was going on (I was wondering about turbo and valve seals but I hadn't checked them yet). It's time for a compression test to find out what's really happening.

One of the oil rings could have fractured during the trip and a section fell away..........the oil consumption would climb dramatically. If the compression rings are intact, the compression test might not yield any conclusive results.

The engine would run just fine...........but consume a bunch of oil.

How many miles on it now............???

That sounds possible too, maybe it's time to take a look in the oil pan for loose parts. It has 438K at the moment, so I wouldn't be shocked by anything at this point.

I am reluctant to do anything short of a complete rebuild at this mileage. I'll get the compression test anyway (it does seem to have a lot of blow-by too) and than decide what to do. I like the idea of rebuilding and keeping the original engine, but I don't know if there's anyone around that I trust to do it. I will probably be better off with a reman from either metric or the dealer. I'll also see what kind of magic my indy can do, he's very good at finding parts.

Metric will rebuild your engine if you have the time. When you purchase the reman from them, you'll need to ship them your old one anyway. I'm not sure if the dealer requires the core or not..........but, the savings in shipping costs are a consideration there.

Because of the bicycle wheel sound I vote for damaged or poor bearings in the turbo. That might let the blades contact with metal periodically even. Or the intermittent noise might be bearing related only in the turbo Of course the seals could trash themselves somewhat if that was going on. Just pulling the boot and inspecting for oil might do it one way or another.
Most internal noises in the block would tend to be more constant in my opinion but then there are exceptions. For what it's worth and probably not worth much. Also valve seals do not in any way that I can think of create a noise intermittent or otherwise regardless of their condition.

That might be worth pricing, I wonder how long it takes metric to do an entire engine (probably several weeks once they get around to it). I think the dealer price includes shipping to the dealer (I assume they require a core). I'm not too worried about the time, but I want it done right.

That was my first thought, but the frequency of the noise seems to slow for the turbo and there does not to seem to be any leakage at the turbo. I hope you're correct, it will be much cheaper.