Troubleshooting oil use, trying not to miss an easy fix. How long is your dip stick and tube?

My dipstick is about average, but it keeps the wife happy.

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99 ML320
94 SL600
92 SL500
95 E320 Cabriolet
87 560SEC
86 300SDL Grease Car
80 380SLC Euro

13 Fiat Abarth
02 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa
00 BMW Z3
90 Rolls Royce Silver Spur
80 Ferrari 308 GTSI
88 Jaguar XJS12 H&E Edition
99 Land Rover Discovery

IMO - that's a very personal question...and the public embarassment associated with my answer makes me feel very uncomfortable. Sorry..But I can't offer help....

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71Inka02

62 W121 190DB - Original CA/AZ Car - Excellent Example
99 E300 Turbo Diesel - 362,000...Awesome Daily Driver
01 E320 Wagon - 297,xxx (wife's work car)
01 E320 Wagon - 131,000
02 Land Rover Disco SE- 110,000
87 BMW 325is (E30) Full Restore - Son's
06 Mini Cooper 'S' - Son's
87 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser - Showroom Condition - 152,000

84 300D - 142,xxx :cool - "Sold"
83 300D-"Sold" - 211,456
85 300SD-"Sold" - 213,789

Dipstick measuring...it's catching on! Mine shrinks until I put more oil in, then it gets longer again. But seriously, You might want to check the o rings. And the oil pan gasket. Can you tell where it's leaking? I know that's an incredibly dumb question, but if it's not leaking it, I'd say it's burning it. I don't have to wonder about mine. It's leaking from multiple orifices. This wasn't a trick question, was it??

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"Knowing is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do." Goethe

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1951 Chevy 3100

2003 Indian Chief Roadmaster

1983 GMC 1 ton Dually

1982 Chevy 1 ton Dually, service body (sold)

'90 GMC Suburban 6.2 "SS Veg-Burban"
(single tank WVO\diesel conversion) SOLD

'81 300D ~ Mama's car...my job (now my car)(but still my job) SOLD

'83 300sd ~ rescue car SOLD

2005 Ford Taurus (Mama's new car)(NOT my job!)

No puddles in the driveway, no oil trails, no dancing oil cap, 360-380 lb compression, engine runs on w/ blocked breather for 25-30 sec before stumbling, new valve cover seal, valve guide seals, dry rear main seal (checked w/ clutch job), doesn't squirt me in the eye when I open the hood, doesn't piss oil on my shoe. Cyclone separator air oil separator catches drops a week. Nothing to really explain a quart every 100 miles +/-.

Someone posted that they had the wrong dipstick, and were chronicly overfilling the car, changed the dipstick problem went away. So if I pulled & rebuilt the engine and did not change the dipstick, I'd still have the problem.

After I thought all the "dip stick' jokes had been aired, heres a serious question, what color is yours, no really, arnt the dip sticks color coded, red for yours, no really

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

I hear some famous ones are bent.

Some non famous ones too

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81 300SD daily driver/project
86 420SEL (sold)
85 380SE(in the graveyard)

Nope!

My engine says the dipstick is too big for the tube. It prefers that I check the level though the oil fill hole, unlike my other engine. The other one wanted me to check the oil though the exhaust pipe. I told it I'm sorry, you're gonna just have to suffer from oil starvation or overfilling cause I don't do that method.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

OK, thats it absolutely IT, no more dip stick jokes, I'm serious, "dip stick" needs to be placed on the banned list, hez forth to be expressed as d*p st**k I have never had a problem with my d*p st**k being too long

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Okay, I am game. How long is yours? My dipstick has a red knob on the end. Seems to be 20 1/4 inches to the base of the red knob.

Not sure of the exact year of the 616 engine as it was a replacement engine. This does not matter though as I think all those blocks and oil pans where the same. The other 616 is across the highway and it's dark and raining heavy out there.

I also would not want to be seen running back across the road with my dipstick in my hand.

Let the humour commence. I was not certain people would use the humour but on reflection it was too good an opportunity in my opinion. So had to have a look at your post. If you need a longer dipstick stretching it might get you there.

OK 20 - 1/4 from tip to where the red plastic starts. Didn't want to take it out and measure it at work. It would be hard to live down.

Ok. I do not think the measurements being talked about will answer the question.
I think you need to measure the dip stick TUBE..
then measure the dip stick down the inside from the top to THE MIN OR MAX mark.
I think this is the best way to compare for what counts.
I also think that using the FSM amount of oil and doing a careful measure job of the oil put in... then looking at where it hits the dip stick would be a good check also.

I'm surprised no one mentioned it yet , turbo dipsticks are longer than non turbo dipsticks and that's why they're different color handles on the top ~ white or red .

My old non turbo Diesels use a quart of oil every 300 miles or so then stay right there until the oil change interval .

I've been thinking of using the shorter , turbo dipstick to see if the lower oil level uses less oil........

If your engine isn't all wet & slimy like the average beater 240D is from overspeeding the engine all the time , it's quite possible it's going through the breather pipe and being burned .

I'm curious as to what turns out to be your problem - I've replaced all those little rubber elbows and O-Rings so my engine is now nice & dry but still it burns off the first quart regular as clockwork , this on the 300 as well as the 240...

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Slimy, yes, most so on the passenger side, below the manifolds. I think it's the head gasket, or front seal. Rear seal is dry, and the taboo blocked breather test indicates minimal blowby. Compression is 360-380 psi, starts fine on glows only down to 10F. I think I'll clean the engine and put UV dye in the oil, see where it comes out.