1987 300d


My car started leaking oil between cylinder 1 and 2 just above the head line. I also notice that is coming from the air intake from the turbo, I see oil at the top of the intake gasket that connects the intake 6 and the one coming from the turbo. My question is:

1.- can the turbo leak oil from the inside and get to the air intake unit?

if so, is there an easy fix


Thank you in advance

Yes, the seals on the turbo can leak oil into the intake.

And yes, it is "easy" to fix -- just take the turbo off and take it to your friendly diesel turbocharger and injection service. It will cost about $400 if the seals are shot and the bearing is worn, but the case is OK, about $750 if the case needs to be sleeved, and about $1400 if you need a new turbo.

You didn't ask if it was cheap!

Another possibility is excessive blowby -- this can be from worn valve guides (valve job, maybe $1200, if the head is good, add $1200 for a new head) or from worn liners/rings (engine rebuild). Sadly, this means big money for your car -- a rebuilt engine (with new head) is about $7000!

You may also have a bad head gasket, but that usually means disappearing coolant and/or oil in the coolant tank or coolant in the oil. The head is notorious for cracking, and the head gaskets are not very robust, either. Don't use the Elring gasket, the other supplier is better.

Check for excessive blowby by loosening the oil filler cap with the engine running -- if big clouds of vapor blow out, you have excessive blowby. Minimal blowby, you need turbo work, excessive blowby, you have engine trouble, big dollars. This engine can bend rods if crap breaks free in the intake (the crap is from the EGR system), and the cylinder walls usually go fast. If you have a funny clanking noise, high oil consumption, and poor running, you are out an engine overhaul.

Sorry for the bad news -- I bought an 87 300D this fall for a good price because it didn't run well, was expecting to do an overhaul, but seem to have only injector pump problems (fixed) and a bad head gasket.

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 for the info. Car runs great and very smooth especially at 80MPH and no oil consumption. I think that is only the turbo leaking the oil but I will find out when I get it out.

Is it hard to get the turbo out?

Thanks

Mario:

I have no idea how hard the turbo is to get out, I've never done it on this car. Doesn't look too bad.

If you aren't using much oil I'd not sweat it -- some oil leakage is pretty much the norm on diesels. If it leaks enough to cause oil spots under the car I'd fix it, otherwise not.

Watch the oil leak at the head gasket line -- if it gets worse, you will need a new head gasket. They go bad on these cars with monotonous regularity!

My 300D doesn't use ANY oil -- quite a surprise.

And they are a blast to drive -- I drove down to Hollywood, Florida from Evansville, Indiana for Xmas -- on the way back I got from Hollywood to Macon, GA in 8 hours! Only stopped once!

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!

Long distance diagnosis is always imperfect, but I would bet you need a new crossover pipe gasket and an intake manifold gasket -- that is, if your leak is between #1 & #2 on the driver's side of the engine - very common leak. Just did the same repair less than a month ago on the same engine in a 300SDL. Make sure that you clean the crossover pipe and intake manifold thoroughly while they're off. If your intake manifold gasket is original, the new one is much, much improved.

Also, this would be a great time to do both the glow plugs if they haven't been replaced in quite some time and also, I would replace all of the plastic & rubber injection line "stays" if any of them are broken. The lines on these engines are much smaller than a 617 engine and vibration *will* crack the lines if they stays are broken/missing. Also, good time for a compression check and also to replace the fuel return lines if they're getting old.

The reason that I'm suggesting all of this on this engine is because things are so much easier on this side of the engine with the intake manifold removed.

Finally, if you want to adjust the fuel mixture on this engine and you are not a contortionist, then now's the time to do that, too . . .

Richard Easley
Waco, Texas