As a professional tech I can say it sounds like a rod bearing has gone bad. They show themselves as a progressively louder knock accompanied by excessive whitish smoke. When the rod bearing goes out the piston doesn't get pushed all the up at TDC due to the missing bearing. This lowers the compression enough that the offending cylinder doesn't light off and dumps fuel into the exhaust, causing the smoke. It will be time for an engine. The last 2.5 I rebuilt with a reman shortblock cost the customer over 5k$. That low mileage engine posted above would be a much cheaper option.

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90 300TE 4-M
Turbo 103, T3/T04E 50 trim
T04B cover .60 AR
Stage 3 turbine .63 AR
A2W I/C, 40 LB/HR
MS2E, 60-2 Direct Coil Control
3" Exh, AEM W/B O2
Underdrive Alt. and P/S Pulleys,
Vented Rear Discs, .034 Booster.
3.07 diffs 1st Gear Start

90 300CE 104.980
Milled & ported head, 10.3:1 compression
197° intake cam w/20° advancer
Tuned CIS ECU
4° ignition advance
PCS TCM2000, built 722.6
600W networked suction fan
Sportline sway bars
V8 rear subframe, Quaife ATB 3.06 diff

PM sent; thanks!

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

A compression test should help confirm the above diagnosis... also, you can drain the oil, and remove the oil pan side sump, and look for shrapnel inside. The pan should be absolutely free of debris. If you find a bunch of metal pieces floating around... that may confirm Dux's suspicion.

Either way, $1k for a good spare engine & tranny is a great deal. If that were anywhere near me, I'd buy it just to have as a spare, lol!

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Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

If I can help, my "shop" is a few-hundred feet from US-31 in SW Michigan, or a couple of miles from I-196, and I have an engine crane to help transfer the engine from vehicle to vehicle (depends somewhat on timing also).

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Guys, your offers are more than generous. Thanks; it's humbling to be among such a decent group of folks! I'll pester Icefire about that engine and tranny, and may well see what I can swing as far as getting the car to MI to swap parts out. Thanks again to all for the help.

I am headed out the door shortly to report and out-process for my TDY. I should have email access on this trip, so I'll try to keep in touch. Thanks again everyone!

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

The group of people on here are awesome.



Kind of like a family.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

you could have a broken prechamber.the ball pin will break off and hit the end of the injector.ive had this happen.the symptoms were identical to those described by you.i recommend to pull all of your injectors and inspect both prechambers and nozzle tips

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michael cole 1980 300SD gone now but not forgotten,87tdt,90 300te 4matic 95 e320 wagon

Now I'm asking because I don't know, ... but I thought that the ball/prechamber issue was a 61x problem and didn't affect the 60x??

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

TDY?????? Haven't used/heard that term in 3 years. When I retired from the Navy..... Good luck with your issue. Knock on wood my 92 is holding up well.

Bob

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92 300D 2.5L OM602 OBK #59

Jeff, the prechambers are very similar in design, and I have heard of at least one 603 prechamber missing the spherical pin inside. This is a very rare failure, but it's possible.

Before swapping engines or pulling the head off the existing engine, I would still pull all 6 injectors, inspect the prechambers visually from above, and do a (hot!) compression test. That should at least tell you if one cylinder is much worse than the others, and will let you know which piston/rod/etc to inspect more closely if/when you take things apart...

Different engine, nearly identical symptoms. 84 300 CD suddenly making HORRIBLE noises and running VERY rough

I'm interested to know what could be causing this problem.

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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

hey folks... Just checking in en-route to our destination. We're in England today. Lots of nice benzes on base!

Thanks again for all the help. You folks are indeed like family! More later, as time permits.

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

Bumping this one back to the top...

I just got back stateside (talk about an interesting trip!), and will be digging into the car a bit tomorrow if weather allows. I have checked oil level (fine) and coolant (no oil in the overflow tank), but nothing more.

I *did* notice that the entire IP is wet with fuel, and there is fuel on the ground under the car. Some of it, I am sure, leaked when I tried running the car directly from a can of known-good fuel before I left, but there is quite a bit of diesel on the ground under the car. Looks like the IP is really leaking to me. Any thoughts on whether this might be related to my knocking/smoking issue?

Thanks again for all the input, folks. It's sure appreciated!

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

Well, I pulled all the injectors, and lo and behold, #1 (the front most -- I assume they are numbered front to back) is oily. I turned her over with the injectors out, and #1 is spewing oil. Sigh...

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

Uh oh. Sorry to hear the bad news.

Do you know what the damage is? Bad rings / piston?

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Dan
2005 E320 CDI - 246k
1987 300SDL TD05-16g, Herlevi pump, Elbe manifold, 2.47 LSD - 213k
Past: 1987 300D - 264k