All,

I am getting a small but messy amount of oil from around the connector between the turbo and the intake manifold.

Of course, there are at least 2 issues here:

1. I have noticed that I can get new rubber O-rings for the connector. Since I have leakage there I guess I should do that.
2. But the bigger question is should I have this much oil at this point in the intake? I have removed/blocked-off the EGR and replaced the trap-ox with a bypass test pipe.

Note that I have a '85 KaliKar 300D, so my valve cover breather connections are different than most. I have tested with the oil breather line disconnected from the turbo inlet (plugged both the oil breather connection to the turbo inlet and the turbo inlet) and had the same results.

Does this indicate oil blow-by at the turbo seal?

__________________
Mike Frederick
1986 300SDL, 240K+ miles
1985 300D KaliKar, 270K+ miles

it could. did you totally clean out the turbo and intake tubing after moving the crankcase tube?

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

As you have noticed, the California version of the '85 300D-T has a different crankcase breather pipe. This different design is due to the fact that the breather line goes from the valve cover to the turbo inlet rather than to the air cleaner as it does in 49-state models. Mercedes discovered that this caused a higher level of suction on the breather line and sucked oil out of the engine. So, they added a second leg from the air cleaner to keep the vacuum in the line from getting too high.

If the leg from the air cleaner is blocked in some way (dirt, mispositioned or kinked) it will allow the turbo to suck oil out of the crankcase. That is one way of creating the oil you are seeing at the turbo-to-intake connector.

Worn turbo "bearings" (usually due to a PO's failure to keep the oil clean) can also result in oil appearing at the turbo exit.

Finally, excess engine blow-by can cause your problem.

How much oil does the engine use? If you don't have to add any, or very little, between oil changes, I wouldn't worry about blow-by. Replace the o-rings and enjoy the car.

Jeremy

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970