With the year's worth of WVO use the car had prior to me had me thinking oil control rings as well, but almost a year of soaking with MMO didn't seem to do much if that's case. Either way I don't believe at this point there's a simple fix short of inspecting the cylinders. I'm taking the following list of options:

1: Replace the 240 with either a euro 300 or turbo 300td, both of which I'll be looking at in the next few days. Then sell 240.

2: Re-assess body condition of my stick-shift 300 turbo and just go back to that mess.

3: Re-engine 240 with either NA 300 engine or stick-shift turbo drivetrain.

4: Go back to the world of the W116 and put my '80 300SD on the road.

It always boils down to time and money, time and money...

__________________
Joe Black
Get yellow fever at ACME!

Just the MB's: '82 300DT (stick), '81 240D, '80 300SD, '80 300D, '81 240D Manual

Unresponsible wvo usage can on occassion also score the cylinder walls. Again your compression still seems too high for this senario.

For the small effort involved locate the cylinder closest to that pressurized oil passage and check it out. This is not throwing money at it and very little time.

I doubt it is the reason but it should be eiminated as a possibility. Are you getting raw oil at the tailpipe?

Or sell it to me... what does it need, if I might ask?

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

1980, Manila Yellow with Tobacco interior, no sunroof, about 500,000 on odometer. Guy I bought it from was a smoker and the interior is fair at best. Body is straight and I didn't find any significant rust, basically just minor dings and scratches. Needs front and rear window seals which I have new and uninstalled. I bought it several years ago from the PO in Largo, FL, then drove it home and haven't done much with it since. The tranny seemed to late shift, maybe flare, so I figured to go through it and do a good tuning but just never got around to it. I've got Euro auto-leveling headlights for it and I think the switches too, which would go with the car. If interested let me know and I'll send some pics.

__________________
Joe Black
Get yellow fever at ACME!

Just the MB's: '82 300DT (stick), '81 240D, '80 300SD, '80 300D, '81 240D Manual

Man you be brave: 500k? Original head/engine?

Climate control functional?

Thanks

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Roy, is this where others have said oil could be getting into the fuel? Where the pump is driven?


Funola and Barry123400: I still plan on doing a follow-up compression check since I got the valves readjusted so will take a piece of white cardboard and spin the engine with the glow plugs out before I hook up the tester. I'll also note the appearance of the plugs after pulling them after engine shutdown. Between that and whatever gets sprayed on the cardboard should at least answer this line of thought. Oh the suspense! LOL!

Zacharias: I usually don't shy from higher mileage vehicles and tend to assess condition on a number of metrics based on personal experience over the years. My first car was a '71 Ford Fairlane my Dad bought me for $25 and after driving it up and down the street for a few weeks I sold it for $380, so that may clue you into the class of vehicles I've been dealing with mostly. My W116 runs strong but smokes a bit, didn't seem to use any measurable oil on the 70 mile drive home, and the climate control worked but there's a leak in the AC system that at the time would hold a charge for just a few days.

__________________
Joe Black
Get yellow fever at ACME!

Just the MB's: '82 300DT (stick), '81 240D, '80 300SD, '80 300D, '81 240D Manual

Yes, that is the potential leak point.

Okay, call me stubborn, but I just can't let this go even though my 240 is likely going to be on eBay very soon. So my question is this: How much oil could possibly be drawn through a faulty lift pump into the fuel supply? And is there a simple way to check? At first I thougt about just dumping the spin-on filter into a jar to see if there's oil in the fuel there, but then I thought I should see it in the primary filter from oil-laden fuel being returned to the tank.

Today I started being a bit more attentive to the actual oil amount I'm losing. On a 100 mile drive, 70 of which was interstate at 65 - 70mph and the rest city/highway mixed at 40 - 60mph, I used about 2 1/2 quarts. I started with the oil midway between the notches on my dipstick (red handle) and after the 100 miles it took just a bit shy of 2 1/2 quarts to get it back there. Now that's with some of that Lucas Oil Stabilizer in there, maybe almost 50%, and the last of it too as I finished off the gallon topping off prior to the drive. Glad that's over with! What should I try next? Rislone or just go straight to the 85W140 gear oil?

So the last two fill-ups I'm getting a solid 28MPG, meaning that in that 100 mile drive almost 4 gallons of fuel was consumed along with 2 1/2 quarts of oil. Is it feasible for the lift pump to get that much oil into the fuel? Maybe this is combinational, some through the rings, some valve stem seals, some lift pump and some breather. It all adds up to a pain in my tuckus! I finally gave in and bought 3 gallons of SuperTech Universal 15W40 just to get me through the week! Rotella and Delvac are like caviar at this point compared to $10 a gallon Walmart oil, lol.

I just can't stand not knowing what the cause of this issue is. Wednesday or Friday I plan to revisit compression and try checking for oil spray and residue as suggested by Funola and Barry123400, we'll see what the next chapter brings then!

__________________
Joe Black
Get yellow fever at ACME!

Just the MB's: '82 300DT (stick), '81 240D, '80 300SD, '80 300D, '81 240D Manual