this may be a long shot. but engines that have sat for a long time can have issues with the rings not holing as tightly as they could. the trick and old motorcycle mechanic tough me is to pour Marvel Mystery (MM) oil in the cylinders and let the rings soak overnight. this will loosen any old oil that may prevent the rings form making good contact with the cylinder wall.

The engine I bought for my SD sat for years and had poor compression when I first tested it. after a night of MM oil it had much better compression.

ATF can be used if you have no MM oil. I've used ATF mixed with Diesel Purge before as well.

__________________

Thanks for the tip SirNik - I'll give it a go... I'm taking it apart anyway as I need to re-align the upper oil pan and sort out the front and rear crankshaft seals. Most importantly I need to check to make sure that the "Mercedes Expert" I bought it from hasn't done anything really stupid to the engine inside.

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I've found the cause of the oil leak.

A valve guide on cylinder two is sheared in half - see photos

The underside of the valves were pretty gunked up too

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!