Mike:

You can post it here or email it to me.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

The recommended servicing for the transmission as well as the rear end is every 30K according to the service manual that came with my car.This also is the time to do the fuel and air filters
I had the same problem with my vacuum operated trunk...they replaced the whole vacuum pump under warranty in my case....about $800...this is very common in the 140 chasis cars


Warren
1992 300SD
Columbus Ohio

Peter I took a pic of my still smoking blue. I carefully watched oil consumtion and it used a quart in 419 miles. What a bummer. I don't know what to do next because the mech said next step could be turbo leaking into motor. It sounds like I could spend a lot more money and not know that i need another engine until that occurs. Any ideas?

It sure is fun to drive....Mike

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I also notice a very strong diesel smell when parking the MB in our garage. I do not know if that is someho contributing to the problem.

Miek

It may not be your problem but a week ago, I also smelled diesel. Open the hood and see the injector return hose leaking. Got some news ones and fixed the problem.

Thanks Bo I will check it out. Since they had just replaced valve cover gasket and valve seals they may have done just that.

Merry Christmas, Mike

It is quite probable that you have a leak in your head gasket
from an oil channel in the head to the #1 cylinder.

I have a 93 300SD and I bent a connecting rod for the #1
cylinder and was using oil before. It required a rebuild at
102,000 miles. If you bend a connecting rod, you will have
to replace the complete set of pistons, etc. which basically
means an engine rebuild, which is very expensive.

When I rebuilt mine, I had a new head put on the car
because it cost almost the same amount of money to
rework the old head. When the head was replaced,
the mechanic and I noticed that the new MB replacement
head was a different design and no longer had the
channel in it.

I would recommend that you do the following:

1. Don't drive the car until you have it checked.
2. Run an appropriate wet/dry compression test
on #1 cylinder. In fact, do it on all of them. Make
sure that everything is within specifications. Note:
a compression test may not be the appropriate test
on a diesel so I would discuss the test with a MB
diesel mechanic. The objective is to determine
whether or not your head and head gasket is
intact without having to pull the head (if you can).

3. Once you get the problem identified and fixed,
get your oil changed every 3,000 miles. You should
not use ANY oil during the 3,000 period.

My car now has 177,000 miles on it and I love it. However,
there have been a lot of complaints about this engine and
oil usage problems. BTW, I am still running with the original
turbo charger. I understand that these almost never fail.

Good luck with your car.

__________________
Ralph Burnette
1993 300SD (286k + miles)
2000 SL500
2001 ML320

Thanks Ralph,

Mike

Mike:

What a beautiful car!

If you are getting blue smoke out the tailpipe with a warm engine, I would suspect that you have leaking turbo seals. Oil leaking out the turbo seals into the hot exhaust will cause blue smoke. If you are "only" using a quart in 400 miles, and have blue smoke, it isn't going into the engine -- if it was you wouldn't see it.

Check the turbo compressor side for excessive oil -- if there is considerable oil there, and it isn't coming out of the blowby pipe, you need to have the turbo rebuilt. If it isn't real bad, should be on the order of $400, but if the housing is damaged, you will be out more like $800 for a sleeve kit or $1500 for a replacement.

You can check for excessive blowby by loosening the oil filler cap while the engine is running -- don't take it off, oil will fly everwhere! If you get clouds of nasty vapor, you have excessive blowby. You will get some, but it shouldn't be much. If it chuffs like a steam engine, you have a bad cylinder.

Diesel smell means a leak, most likely return lines.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Pete you have been a huge help with my project car. She is a beauty and a real blast to drive. It is such a different feel. It is amazing how many people who first see it think it is a new car.

I hope you had as good as Merry Christmas as we did.

Regards, Mike

Mike:

Glad to help!

Had a very nice Christmas -- went to Florida to visit my sister. 2412 miles, averaged 30 mpg in my 300D!

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Thats neat. I am going to do the oil cap thing. I suppose i need to insure engine is hot? If there is blow by then that is the turbo, correct?

Mike

Mike:

Blowby is about the same hot or cold. It would be better to pull the blowby hose to check the amount, but it will probably break -- mine did when I was taking the air cleaner to turbo hose off.

Some white "smoke" drifting out of the oil filler hole is normal -- if it blows out in any substantial amount, or lifts the cap off and blows out when you set the cap down but don't lock it in place, you have more than you should. If it puffs like a locomotive, you need an engine rebuild. On this engine, you will know that already as it will be clanking, not making diesel rattle!

Blowby is the vapor that escapes past the piston rings and valve guides into the crankcase -- needless to say, vapor blowing past the rings will carry considerable oil with it as mist. The blowby hose system has an oil recovery device in it that separates most of the oil mist from the gas stream so it stays in the engine where it belongs.

If you don't have much blowby, the oil is either going down the valve guide seals or out the turbo seals, and blue smoke tends to indicate turbo seals -- diesel engines burn motor oil without smoke unless there is a very large amount going in! The vaccuum pump on this engine does not vent into the intake as the older models do, so a bad diaphram will not pump oil down the engine. When the turbo leaks on the turbine (exhaust) side, the oil partially burns in the tailpipe, making blue smoke.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Peter,

Thanks to you I have finally found and fixed the massive amount of smoke coming from engine. I had the valve seals replaced and they were bad, but no difference in smoke. I then had the turbo reapirs and they said the spindle was not turning.. Guess what der car hauls butt and der smoking has stopped. However the engine has a loud diesel knock now at idle? Everyone notices it.

I had bilsten shocks put on. My next project is to get seats or covers. The leather is worn and the seats are not as comfortable as my 1985 was. Any suggestions.

THANKS PETE, you da man!

Mike

Mike:

Experience, the great teacher. My turbo on the Volvo locked up, too.

Glad to hear it was the turbo and not the cylinders!

The diesel knock is from all the crap in the cylinders and on the nozzles from the oil -- change to synthetic if you haven't and run a bottle of RedLine or similar in the next couple tanks of fuel. Five or six hours of high speed highway running won't hurt, either -- the knock goes away on mine after it gets some highway time, then returns when I do a lot of city driving.

You probably have collapsed seat springs. Depending on how much you want to spend, you can either buy a new lower seat spring set or find one in a salvage yard -- test the one from the salvage yard before you buy it -- if it is squishy, pass.

You can either buy new covers or have some made by an automotive trim place -- the better trim places can fix what you have or duplicate -- new is about $500 per seat for MB Tex and $600 or $700 for leather, I think.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!